The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life

Was perplexed by a negative review of this book, so I wanted to find out, firsthand what the author really said and I am so glad I did. Nowhere does the author chastises older people who try to take care of their health. Just the opposite. Not only does the author have fifty year old plus folks on the cover, kayaking, swimming, painting etc but on page 188 he writes of 'More on the Effects of Creativity on Health' . Heck the whole book is about embracing the second half of life and taking personal responsibility for making needed changes so that you live to one hundred and do so eating healthy, interacting with others, becoming involved in ones community etc etc etc. On page 10-11 , the author notes that studies of aging people and in my work with them, four aspects of creativity stand out: 1) Creativity strengthens our morale in later life 2) Creativity contributes to physical health as we age 3) Creativity enriches relationships 4) Creativity is our greatest legacy. That 'Increasing numbers of preliminary findings from psychoneuroimmunological studies-research that examines the interaction of our emotions, our brain function, and our immune system-suggest that a positive out look and a sense of well being have a beneficial effect on the functioning of our immune system and our overall health' These findings are particularly strong among older persons.' The many examples of famous and everyday folk who have been or become creative after age fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty are empowering. In Chapter 9 titled Creativity us Everyday Life: Letting It Start with You,' the author gives some excellent examples of how as the quote he gives from Lao Tsu notes 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step'., and how we do have the choice to think outside the box, and live life to the fullest. And that we need to make the effort to get involved in a variety of activities that will stimulate the mind from different directions. Be it painting, reading more, walking more, volunteering more. Anything that will stimulate the brain which in turn will stimulate the rest of the body. I am so impressed with the book I am buying a copy for a physician friend as well as the library over at hospice, where our widow/widowers group meets.

This "easy-read" book offers both professional and lay people alike a very refreshing and encouraging perspective on maturity. When coupled with a gentle sense of spirituality and wisdom which comes from life experience, it should help the reader to establish and reinforce a sense of purpose and resilience that engenders hope and creativity unimagined by most youth. This book is to become a part of my professional counseling practice for senior patients to read and discuss as they search for a deeper meaning and ultimate purpose in their lives. In a sense, I anticipate it will help to set the stage for welcoming passions of an existential nature, heretofore unknown in many individual's lives.

If ever there was any question about our ability to make meaningful contributions at midlife, this book will dispell all doubt! I found the continual notes (on the outer edges of the pages) encouraging, as they documented the multiple contributions made by individuals of "advanced" years. This is absolutely exciting, and gives me hope for the future!

This is one of the best books I have read on the subject of Creativity in Later Life. I recommend it heartily. Dr. Cohen, M.D. & Ph.D. has become the acknowledged leader in this field with his brilliant synthesis of his 25 years of experience working with older adults as a geriatric physician and creativity researcher. "We need a new frame of reference in which to picture ourselves growing and recognize how the influence of inner resources and life circumstances can present us with opportunities to revive our lives in meaningful and satisfying ways," Cohen maintains. His experience with his patients and his studies of aging and creativity in the arts led him to revise Erik Erikson's model of adult development in the later years. He divided Erikson's final stages of generativity & integrity into four developmental phases which he claims shape the way our creative energy grows and the way we express it. Each phase, he says, is shaped by our chronological age, our history, and our circumstances. And each phase is characterized by changes in how we view and experience life in a combined psychological, emotional and intellectual sense. The four phases are: 1. Midlife Reevaluation/Quest Phase 2. Liberation Phase (Formerly called Retirement) 3. Late-life Summing-Up Phase 4. The Encore Phase If we look beyond age markers for the Retirement of Liberation phase and search, instead, for the underlying developmental phase here, we find that it is defined by a kind of personal liberation combined with life experience that lifts inhibitions and gives us the courage to ignore social conventions that restrict our creative expression. In this Liberation phase creative endeavors are shaped with the added energy of a new degree of personal freedom that comes both psychologically from within us and externally through retirement. Our creative juices may be mobilized by the thought "If not now, when?" People tend to feel pretty comfortable about themselves at this time , knowing that if they should make a mistake it won't undo the image others have of them, and more importantly, it won't undo the image they have of themselves. This psychological and emotional understanding provides a new context for experimentation, and retirement often provides a new feeling of finally having free time to try something new. Both these inner and outer elements are liberating and additive. This new sense of available Time and personal Liberty in later life, combined with significant life experience, produces new feelings of freedom, courage, and confidence commonly described by men and women of advanced age. Here, too, contrary to negative stereotypes, the feeling of being more free allows older individuals to experiment, to take a risk, to try something new. Most of us, as we head into our sixties, have become more comfortable with who we are. If we make a mistake while trying something new, it doesn't shatter our self-image. So whil