Older And Wiser

You can't change the fact that you are getting older. And, indeed, you may not want to! Age brings many gifts and opportunities for continued growth. In this nine-session LifeGuide® Bible Study, Dale and Sandy Larsen help you discover the Bible's perspective on aging. You'll discover how God can effectively and powerfully use those who have grown wiser with the passing years. This LifeGuide Bible Study in IVP's revised format features questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, as well as a new "Now or Later" section following each session to help you act on what you learn. For over three decades LifeGuide Bible Studies have provided solid biblical content and raised thought-provoking questions—making for a one-of-a-kind Bible study experience for individuals and groups. This series has more than 130 titles on Old and New Testament books, character studies, and topical studies. PDF download with a single-user license; available from InterVarsity Press and other resellers.

We are all aging. We can view this situation as fraught with danger and decline, or as full of promise and possibility, claims the author.

Youth mentoring programs must change in order to become truly effective. The world’s leading expert shows how. Youth mentoring is among the most popular forms of volunteering in the world. But does it work? Does mentoring actually help young people succeed? In Older and Wiser, mentoring expert Jean Rhodes draws on more than thirty years of empirical research to survey the state of the field. Her conclusion is sobering: there is little evidence that most programs—even renowned, trusted, and long-established ones—are effective. But there is also much reason for hope. Mentoring programs, Rhodes writes, do not focus on what young people need. Organizations typically prioritize building emotional bonds between mentors and mentees. But research makes clear that effective programs emphasize the development of specific social, emotional, and intellectual skills. Most mentoring programs are poorly suited to this effort because they rely overwhelmingly on volunteers, who rarely have the training necessary to teach these skills to young people. Moreover, the one-size-fits-all models of major mentoring organizations struggle to deal with the diverse backgrounds of mentees, the psychological effects of poverty on children, and increasingly hard limits to upward mobility in an unequal world. Rhodes doesn’t think we should give up on mentoring—far from it. She shows that evidence-based approaches can in fact create meaningful change in young people’s lives. She also recommends encouraging “organic” mentorship opportunities—in schools, youth sports leagues, and community organizations.

OWS is an intimate collection of 83 poems from Jane Seskin, a working psychotherapist and author. Seskin, authentic, funny, insightful, quirky and heartfelt, acknowledges the disappointments, physical vulnerability and emotional loss taking place in her senior years. She is able to discover within herself a solid sense of power, resilience and new-found joys through her struggles to acknowledge, accommodate and accept her aging. Seskin's ability to make the very personal universal, will resonate with readers seeking to discover new ways to honor the past, celebrate the present and welcome the future. A Reading Guide to the poems will inspire further reflection and discussion for book and women's groups.

In Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot, eminent neuropsychiatrist and bestselling author Richard Restak, M.D., combines the latest research in neurology and psychology to show us how to get our brain up to speed for managing every aspect of our busy lives. Everything we think and everything we choose to do alters our brain and fundamentally changes who we are, a process that continues until the end of our lives. Few people think of the brain as being susceptible to change in its actual structure, but in fact we can preselect the kind of brain we will have by continually exposing ourselves to rich and varied life experiences. Unlike other organs that eventually wear out with repeated and sustained use, the brain actually improves the more we challenge it. Most of us incorporate some kind of physical exercise into our daily lives. We do this to improve our bodies and health and generally make us feel better. Why not do the same for the brain? The more we exercise it, the better it performs and the better we feel. Think of Restak as a personal trainer for your brain—he will help you assess your mental strengths and weaknesses, and his entertaining book will set you to thinking about the world and the people around you in a new light, providing you with improved and varied skills and capabilities. From interacting with colleagues to recognizing your own psychological makeup, from understanding the way you see something to why you’re looking at it in the first place, from explaining the cause of panic attacks to warding off performance anxiety, this book will tell you the whys and hows of the brain’s workings. Packed with practical advice and fascinating examples drawn from history, literature, and science, Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot provides twenty-eight informative and realistic steps that we can all take to improve our brainpower.

In "Poe's Heart and the Mountain Climber," neuropsychiatrist and bestselling author Richard Restak takes an in-depth look at the science of anxiety, offering a fresh perspective and a straightforward approach to exploring and understanding our anxiety before it paralyzes us. In clear, accessible language, Restak addresses such pivotal questions as: - How does anxiety differ from fear and stress? - Which areas of the brain are associated with anxiety? - Do we actually need a certain level of anxiety in order to be creative and live life to the fullest? With the help of this fascinating and practical book, we can learn how to control daily anxieties that plague our lives and discover new ways to harness the positive effects of this often misunderstood condition.

"We who are old did not ask to be tested by time, to learn through our suffering or to become heroes. Transiting my seventies, I am overflowing with more emotions than I know what to do with. At once, grieving and celebrating-age-appropriate and well-earned. And what is it I've found on the final stretch of the journey? How magnificent this life we're living, if only we let it be."Inspired by timeless wisdom, bestselling author Carol Orsborn speaks to a new generation coming into age with honesty, passion, and grace. Hailed as a classic in the conscious aging genre, this fierce book of essays serves as both a record and instigator of profound spiritual growth.

In the realm of amusing, deadpan greetings cards, Cath Tate is the original and best. In her thirty-year career she has created thousands of witty, original and often subversive cards, featuring grim-faced old ladies, ludicrously dressed 1920s gentlemen and bizarre-looking children, paired with text that perfectly captures her highly individual and devastatingly funny view on the world.This hilarious book – an ideal birthday gift – brings together the best of Cath's work on ageing. Wise, cynical and – very occasionally – warm, it is packed with insights into this sadly universal process, whether we choose to embrace it or defy it. After all, as Cath says, 'Age doesn't matter – unless you're a cheese.'