Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Deep Aging (TM); And a Totally Different Subject

[castrohom (castrohom]

Here’s the Wall Street Journal article - it was a bit tricky to get without a 
subscription … and seriously interesting 
How to Make the Most of Longer Lives

The first person to live to 150 is alive today.
For many months I drove home past a financial-services billboard advertising 
this dramatic claim, followed by the punch line: “Let’s get ready for a longer 
retirement.”

The focus of that message, of course, is money—the size of our nest eggs. But 
the words highlight a far bigger challenge. In the early decades of the 21st 
century, we are pushing, rapidly, to extend our lives. But we’re paying scant 
attention to how we should make the most of that additional time.

Where are the innovations designed to make these bonus decades actually worth 
living? Aside from the mind-boggling prospect of saving for 50- or 75-year 
retirements, how do we make these new chapters both fulfilling for individuals 
and sustainable for society?

Life extension without social innovation is a recipe for dystopian 
disaster—what one critic characterizes as “the coming death shortage,” invoking 
images not only of endless (and unaffordable) retirements but of a society 
loaded down by a population explosion of the idle old.

As thousands of baby boomers each day surge into their 60s and 70s, it’s time 
to focus on enriching lives, not just lengthening them; on providing purpose 
and productivity, not just perpetuity.

We need to marshal imagination and ingenuity to devise new strategies for 
enhancing the whole range of experiences in later life, including education, 
faith, housing, work, finance and community.

Here are six ideas to launch us on that path.

Come up with a new name for this new chapter of life.

Naming a phase of life—giving it a coherent identity—does more than most people 
realize to make life, and society, work better. It creates a framework for 
constructing the pathways, products and policies required to make the most of 
this period. And so it should be with the new chapter taking shape between, 
roughly, ages 55 and 75.

Consider: One hundred years ago, we worried about a profusion of young people 
who were neither children nor adults. In 1904, G. Stanley Hall, the great 
American psychologist, helped put “adolescence” on the map with his seminal 
book of that name. Here, then, was a framework around which educators, 
legislators and entrepreneurs could begin developing new arrangements to make 
the most of that period.

Today, of course, we take “adolescence” for granted. But the invention of that 
stage of life acted as a stimulus for, among other breakthroughs, making 
high-school education widespread and expanding child-labor laws. (Although it 
did take several decades after Hall’s treatise for the “teenage” label to 
become ubiquitous.)

Let’s realize the same benefits for the new phase taking shape after midlife, 
starting with the nomenclature. What should we call this emerging period 
between our middle years and old age? Observers have suggested the “third 
chapter,” “adulthood II,” even “middlescence.” (Interestingly, G. Stanley Hall 
was among the first to suggest a new stage between our middle years and old 
age, describing it, poetically, as an Indian summer.)

Make the transition as easy as possible.

Remember the old rites of passage—the retirement party, the gold watch, the RV 
trip? As we create a new life chapter beyond midlife, we need to afford people 
the time and space to move to what’s next.

It’s common for young people to have four years of college to navigate the 
developmental passage from youth to adulthood, and now increasingly we are 
throwing in gap years before or after. But what about their parents? They’ve 
been laboring long hours and juggling the responsibilities of family, and are 
now heading into a stage of life that doesn’t have a name, much less a clear 
road map. There should be a gap year—or at least a few bridge months—for 
grown-ups to take a breather and figure out their next steps.

More individuals at this juncture seem to agree. Research from RAND Corp. 
reveals that a significant segment of the population is already retiring for a 
year or two, with every intention of returning to work following that respite. 
In other words, they are using the rubric of retirement to grant themselves a 
much-needed sabbatical—to take some time to rest up before readying for what 
comes next.

Still, theirs remains essentially a do-it-yourself process. It’s time to help 
make this post-midlife passage more efficient and suited to preparing 
individuals emotionally and spiritually for what lies ahead.

Some promising approaches are starting to emerge. Last fall, Rabbi Laura Geller 
of Los Angeles brought together a group of area congregations to think about 
what these new rites of passage might look like in the context of 
Judaism—observing that her religion’s life markers derive largely from biblical 
times, when lives were far shorter than today.

One answer: a kind of bar mitzvah for those moving into a new identity beyond 
midlife but far from the end of life, aimed at helping individuals reset their 
priorities and develop the right frame of mind for navigating their next phase, 
with particular focus on questions of leaving a legacy and how they might 
engage in “tikkun olam,” healing the world.

Another faith-infused effort is the Halftime Institute, which blends precepts 
of Christian faith with ideas from management gurus like Peter Drucker and Jim 
Collins, to help individuals navigate the passage “from success to 
significance.” Among other things, the Halftime Institute’s programs help 
members find their calling through developing “a personal plan for spiritual 
growth, a life mission statement and a clear action plan.”

Such rites and routes also have a place in our secular lives. I’ll soon be 
returning for my 35th college reunion, like so many other boomers who were part 
of the dramatic expansion of higher education in the 1960s and 1970s. Reunions 
are a tailor-made opportunity to help individuals graduate into the second half 
of adulthood, using to full advantage their return to a setting associated with 
new beginnings, a sense of possibility and community.

Already a number of higher-education institutions are offering reunion 
workshops on the subject of “what’s next.” Others have gone further. 
Northwestern University conducted a two-part webinar for alumni helping them 
consider and prepare for second acts aimed at improving prospects for future 
generations, featuring the accounts of classmates who had navigated that 
journey.

Design schools for the second half of life.

Nearly 50 years ago, we pioneered lifelong learning for seniors—a notable 
advance, but let’s face it: All too often these programs are great for mental 
stimulation but ill-suited to launching individuals into new life chapters. 
Catching up on the Renaissance masters or mapping your family’s genealogy can 
take you only so far.

What we need now is school designed for the second half of life, helping people 
retool to continue to earn an income, maintain a sense of engagement, and adapt 
to fresh challenges by teaching them new skills and helping them plan their 
encore careers.

In recent years, two elite universities—Harvard and Stanford—have broken 
important new ground, introducing yearlong programs to fill these needs. Both 
involve reflection, learning, interaction with colleagues, and the chance to 
explore options for a next act of purpose and productivity. Both offer an 
opportunity to customize an interdisciplinary course of study with an eye to 
helping students launch second acts as social entrepreneurs or move into new 
organizational roles drawing on past experience in creative ways.

But this is only a beginning, albeit a promising one.

What’s warranted now is a far more broad-based effort. We need a system of 
easily accessible and affordable opportunities for all those interested in 
working beyond traditional retirement age, one that includes more 
community-college and continuing-education options, and that builds on existing 
trends in education innovation, including online courses and the 
competency-based movement to provide credit for experience and learning 
acquired outside the classroom.

There’s some movement to make that happen: In March, two dozen leaders from 
across higher education came together at New York University to discuss 
democratizing and expanding their offerings for individuals moving beyond 
midlife. If they succeed, these trailblazers might not only further the 
reinvention of school for the second half of life but rewrite the educational 
script entirely.

After all, why is it that we load up all our higher education and 
higher-education spending in life’s first two dozen years, when individuals 
have so many decades stretching out in front of them? It’s hard to know at 20 
what we’ll want or need to know at 50 or 60. That’s why we should develop an 
approach to learning that allows for multiple opportunities to renew and 
retrain across the extended life course of the 21st century.

Figure out how to finance the bonus years.

Along with fashioning new kinds of education and career pathways, we should 
help ensure that Americans are able to pay for them—and for all those years 
being added to the lifespan.

Financial-services companies could provide a great service through creating and 
marketing what might be called individual purpose accounts, or IPAs—a kind of 
529 savings plan for grown-ups. Such plans could help subsidize the new 
pathways to un-retirement, funding further education and other learning 
opportunities. They might also complement individual retirement accounts and 
related savings vehicles for retirement itself.

Another potentially far-reaching idea: Allow people 50 and older to take a 
single early year of Social Security to retool for their next career, whether 
by going back to school or doing an internship, in exchange for working an 
actuarially adjusted period later before receiving full benefits.

Doing so promises a win-win: helping individuals bolster their finances through 
working longer, while also enabling society to realize the talent windfall 
present in the older population, especially in high-growth fields like health 
care. Some people will earn a robust living, while others will use their new 
skills in part-time or flexible jobs that fill a financial gap and allow them 
to delay dipping into retirement funds.

Help the generations come together.

For half a century, we’ve done much to keep young and old apart, especially in 
the realm of housing. Yet age-segregated housing for retirees runs against the 
grain of everything we know about healthy development in the post-midlife 
period, a time when connections with younger generations are linked to higher 
rates of happiness for older people. What we need instead: housing strategies 
that help to forge and solidify bonds among the generations.

One compelling example is Bridge Meadows. This housing development in Portland, 
Ore., brings together families raising foster children with older people of 
modest means, who receive reduced rents in return for volunteer work with the 
adoptive families living in the community: everything from baby sitting and 
playing catch with children to working on arts-and-crafts projects and making 
meals. It’s an arrangement that makes both economic and common sense, filling 
the fundamental human need for community and connection.

I’d like to see more housing development animated by that same compelling 
vision—especially as more families show an interest in moving in together, 
sometimes with three or four generations residing under the same roof. (A 2011 
study by the nonprofit Generations United found that approximately one in six 
Americans resides in a multigenerational household, a 10% jump since the start 
of the recession.) We now likewise have an expanding cohort of individuals 
without children or grandchildren of their own, along with millions who don’t 
live anywhere near their younger relatives. These individuals might well be 
drawn to, and benefit from, such intergenerational settings.

While we’re at it, we should create a Legacy Corps: one that recruits millions 
of older people to be extra “grandparents” for young people in early-learning 
programs and mentors for children growing up facing tough odds. In essence, it 
could be a new kind of Peace Corps for the generation that the Peace Corps was 
designed for in the first place. There’s a healthy dose of self-interest in 
such an enterprise for the boomers, who will be dependent on these young people 
as they move into their elderly years.

Get creative people thinking about how to improve our extra years.

Innovations such as those I’ve just described have drawn little attention from 
investors to date. As a result, most remain small in scale, if not solely in 
the realm of ideas.

Of 35 grants made by the federal government’s Social Innovation Fund since 
2010, only one has directly targeted aging. Philanthropy isn’t doing any 
better. According to data from the Foundation Center, less than 2% of 
foundation money—often a powerful lever for social innovation—goes into aging.

But there are promising signs in the U.K., where a new £50 million ($78 
million) investment from that country’s Big Lottery Fund is being used to 
improve the quality of life for older adults, including plans to support 
innovative initiatives in work, health and community engagement. We would be 
smart to develop our own version.

Prizes are another great option for attracting talent to tackle the issues 
surrounding second acts. A $1 million Palo Alto Longevity Prize, with a who’s 
who of Silicon Valley backing it, has been offered for the next big 
breakthrough in extending life. Why not use similar vehicles to achieve the 
same result in social innovation aimed at enriching the later years?

The X Prize, for instance, is aimed at big innovations that benefit mankind. 
I’d like to see a prize for the innovation that does the most to increase the 
productivity and contribution of older people to society—especially since the 
founder of the X Prize Foundation, Peter Diamandis, is co-founder of the Human 
Longevity Inc. startup (along with genome pioneer J. Craig Venter), aimed at 
“extending the healthy human lifespan.”

***

Does this agenda sound daunting? Here’s reassuring news. We’ve seen this 
challenge before—and met it.

In 1961, John F. Kennedy took office eight days after the first White House 
Conference on Aging. Two years later, President Kennedy gave his most important 
speech on aging, declaring that America was on the brink of a longevity 
revolution, filled with promise but marked by a gap: We had added “years to 
life,” he pronounced; now it was time to add “life to those years.”

In impressively short order, we closed that era’s gap, through first conceiving 
the idea of leisure-focused “golden years,” then proceeding to make this 
marketing slogan a cornerstone of the American dream. In a remarkable period of 
social invention, we fashioned senior centers and retirement communities, 
Elderhostel (now Road Scholar) and Institutes for Learning in Retirement, 
Medicare and the Older Americans Act. We not only enriched those later years, 
but set in motion the conditions that contributed to longer, healthier, more 
active lives.

Now, as we prepare for the sixth White House Conference on Aging, taking place 
next month, and as the years added to life continue to trend upward, let’s rise 
to the occasion again, realizing the true promise of longevity for individuals 
and for nations.

And let’s do it in time for the onrushing wave of baby boomers—but, most of 
all, for those young people projected to live even longer. I hope that when 
they sail by the virtual billboards of tomorrow, propelled by their 
self-driving cars, they will be greeted not by scary longevity scenarios but by 
an inviting vision of their own later years.

Mr. Freedman is the founder and chief executive officer of Encore.org, a 
nonprofit organization working to promote encore careers, and author, most 
recently, of “The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife.” He can 
be reached at encore [at] wsj.com.


On Dec 21, 2015, at 7:27 AM, Fred-List manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org> 
wrote:

> 
> Arthur Rashap <arthur.rashap [at] gmail.com>
> is the author of the message below.  It was posted by
> Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
> after restoring subject line.
> 
> Digest subscribers, please delete most of quoted digest and
> restore subject line when replying.
> 
> --------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------
> 
> Re: Aging dialogue and co-housing
> 
> From: Arthur Rashap
> 
> The current discussion relating to how co-housing in its continued
> development that relates to design, operation, relationships, financing,
> obligations and interactions (among other aspects) is involved with looking
> at the benefits to other residents *from* and those benefits *to* the older
> people (elders, sages, seniors, geezers) who also reside there.
> 
> I have had some 15 years now looking at the overall issue, working at an
> Area Agency for the Aging (in Charlottesville, VA); undertaking a
> several-year study and trial working projects under a grant from the
> Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, then working with several years to
> develop a pilot project with Dr. William (Bill) Thomas, the developer and
> spirit of the Eden Alternative and Greenhouses; co-founder of Eldershire;
> and serving as a consultant to several development projects looking at how
> to best create inter-generational communities that would facilitate these
> folk aging in place, outside of the long-term care network. I have applied
> to speak at the May conference in SLC and hope to be accepted and see many
> of you there.
> 
> One of the guideposts and measurement tools we developed related to
> Well-Being. Here it is:
> 
> *Well-Being: *A definition of the components of well-being was developed by
> a team* of people involved with looking at answering the question: *What
> makes life worth living and how do we measure it?* The components involve
> ways to measure one’s state of well-being as the ultimate goal of a life
> worth living. The task force defined the outcome of the person-directed
> model as WELL-BEING, that is the well-being of each individual, of their
> families and friends, of other members of the immediate community, and of
> the greater community. What then is well-being? It is the path to a life
> worth living. It is what we all desire. It is the ultimate outcome of human
> life. There are eight primary domains of well-being: *contribution*; 
> *identity;
> growth; autonomy; security; connectedness; meaning; and joy*.
> 
> 
> 
> *Contribution: the *need to feel that one makes a difference, that one has
> a contribution that will be valued. Everyone has the ability to contribute,
> what they can contribute may vary greatly.
> 
> *Identity: *being well-known; having personhood; individuality; wholeness;
> having a history. One’s own history, life and feelings of self are
> essential components of well-being. Without this, one ceases to exist.
> 
> *Growth: *development; enrichment; unfolding; expanding; evolving. Each
> individual has every opportunity to learn and grow.
> 
> *Autonomy:* liberty; self-governance; self-determination; immunity from the
> arbitrary exercise of authority; choice; freedom. Simply put, to be
> autonomous is to be one’s own person, to be respected for one’s ability to
> decide for one’s self, to be in control of one’s life, absorbing the costs
> and benefits of one’s own choices.
> 
> *Security:  *freedom from doubt, anxiety, or fear. To be safe, certain,
> assured, have privacy, dignity, and respect. The security of home and
> family, freedom from fear and anxiety must be satisfied before we can grow
> toward self-actualization.
> 
> *Connectedness: *alive; belonging; engaged; involved; not detached;
> connected to the past, present, and future; connected to personal
> possessions; connected to the place; connected to nature.
> 
> *Meaning: *significance; heart; hope; import; value; purpose; reflection;
> sacred. The search for meaning is the primary human motivation. An ideal
> environment infuses meaning into every corner, every act, and every
> relationship. In that meaning, all find life worth living.
> 
> *Joy: *happiness; pleasure; delight; contentment; enjoyment. Joy is a
> short, simple word describing the highest possibility of human life. Joy is
> a condition of human spirit that so fills a being that no amount of
> unhappiness can cast it out.
> 
> 
> 
> * Team members and their roles at the time of this work were lead by *Nancy
> Fox*, Executive Director, The Eden Alternative and *Arthur Rashap*, J.D.,
> LLM., Eldershire Development Company, Ltd. Other members included: *LaVrene
> Norton*, MSW, Executive Leader, Action Pact; *Sandy *Ransom, RN, MSHP,
> Director, Long Term Care Institute. Texas State University; *Vivian
> Tellis-Nayak,* Ph.D., My Innerview; *Dawn Brostsoki, *Beverly
> Enterprises; *Mary
> Tellis-Nayak, *RN, Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation
> Facilities; *Joseph Angelelli, *Ph.D., Pioneer Network; *Suellen Beatty, *BAN,
> MSN, Chief Executive Officer, Sherbrooke Community and Region XVII Eden
> Coordinator (Western Canada); *Leslie A. Grant, *Ph.D., Associate Professor
> and Director, Center for Aging Services, University of Minnesota; *Susan
> Dean*, MSW, The Eden Alternative; *William H. Thomas*, M.D., The Eden
> Alternative.
> 
> I also suggest those interested read the following article, particularly
> the part relating to living in community:
> http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-make-the-most-of-longer-lives-1432743631
> 
> Arthur W. Rashap
> Home phone: (434) 995-5020
> Cell # (434) 218-8927
> arthur.rashap [at] gmail.com
> 1719B Galloway Drive
> Charlottesville, VA 22901
> 
> 
> "This is why we have come: to paint eternity's vision on a canvas of
> moments and days," Ken Carey.  The Starseed Transmissions (1982)
> 
>> Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2015 11:04:40 -0500
>> From: Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net>
>> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
>> Subject: [C-L]_ Deep Aging (TM);  And a Totally Different Subject
>> Message-ID: <0DD3ECB1-01DC-40A4-A7D9-AF140E7221A3 [at] earthlink.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>> 
>> Hello all ?
>> 
>> I have become increasingly interested in the stage of aging between
>> ?active, healthy living? and death.  This is the stage in which members may
>> need assistance with activities of daily living or ADLs ? bathing, feeding,
>> dressing, etc.  The promise of cohousing ? especially senior cohousing ? is
>> that through forming strong social bonds we could through close
>> collaboration allow members to stay in cohousing over the course of their
>> lifetimes.  Some exceptions of course, for example, for those w/ dementia
>> who may be aggressive.
>> 
>> This stage finally has a name other than ?old-old.?  The term ?Deep Aging?
>> (TM) has been coined by gerontology graduate student Nancy Francis at
>> UNC-Wilmington to describe not only the physical changes but the powerful
>> spiritual deepening of aging.  Mid Atlantic Cohousing has published her
>> first essay on Deep Aging (TM) on its blog.
>> 
>> http://www.midatlanticcohousing.org/cohousing-blog
>> 
>> It?s the first item on this week?s blog posting.  (You don?t have to sign
>> up to read the blog!)
>> 
>> The interest I have in Deep Aging (TM) has been spurred by the questions I
>> have around cohousing?s ability to have folks who are not ?healthy, active
>> adults? live at home.  This includes people w/ disabilities, people who
>> become disabled, ? anyone needing long term, chronic care.
>> 
>> Is the promise of cohousing ?live with us until you need long term help?
>> or is it the promise of ?let?s figure out how we can deal with chronic
>> care??
>> 
>> If it?s the former, how does then how does cohousing distinguish itself
>> from all other healthy, active living communities?
>> 
>> If it?s the latter, what kinds of activities are coho communities engaged
>> in to deal with Deep Aging (TM)?  I know that Eastern Village in Silver
>> Spring, MD has begun an inquiry into aging through The Sages, an affinity
>> group of 55+ folks living at EVC.
>> 
>> Have you read that very fine blog post ?Aging Gracefully?  by Rick Entin
>> and another one by Jenny of Cohousing Solutions ?Aging Gratefully? - both
>> on cohousing.org/blog December 8 and 17 respectively.  Rick will be
>> giving a presentation at the upcoming Aging Better Together Conference in
>> SLC, UT, May 20-21.
>> 
>> Are there other coho communities out there looking at Deep Aging (TM)
>> issues?  Can you share with us what you are doing?
>> 
>> 
>> ???-
>> 
>> And now for a totally different subject ?
>> 
>> If you?ve been a member of this list for more than 24 hours you have
>> already met Sharon Villines.  She is a prolific contributor to this list.
>> BUT did you know that she is an equally good cook?  And that she has one of
>> the all time miracle recipes for cooking turkey?  Quantity cooking made
>> ultra simple.  It?s so simple you can use the recipe for cooking turkey
>> anytime ? not just holidays!
>> 
>> Her recipe is posted for turkey and Next-Day Turkey soup can be found at:
>> 
>> http://www.midatlanticcohousing.org/cohousing-blog
>> 
>> Just scroll down below ?Deep Aging? (TM) and ?Announcements?.
>> 
>> You can download ALL the quantity cooking recipes including Sharon?s
>> turkey and turkey soup recipes at:
>> 
>> http://www.midatlanticcohousing.org/fun-stuff.html
>> 
>> Scroll all the way to the bottom and click on  ?Download Recipes ? in WORD
>> document.?  All recipes included!
>> 
>> 
>> Best --
>> 
>> Ann Zabaldo
>> Takoma Village Cohousing
>> Washington, DC
>> Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
>> Falls Church, VA
>> 703.688.2646
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
> 
> 

_________________________
Miranda Castro
Mailing: 2349 NW 32nd Place, 
            Gainesville, FL 32605 
Phone: 352-505-8545
Email: mirandacastro [at] aol.com