Dr. Toni

Becoming Your Best Self As You Age

Posted on by Dr. Toni

Why one woman has made ‘conscious aging’ her goal at 61

Have you ever been driving down the road and suddenly become aware that you don’t know how you got there? It’s scary when you recognize you haven’t been paying attention for something as serious as maneuvering a car for the last five miles. Well, that’s the way I felt when I turned 61 this year and realized I had barely acknowledged 60.

It made me think how quickly and easily I could miss out on the next 15 to 20 years — if I’m lucky enough to get them. And since life doesn’t let us have do-overs, I wanted to figure this out. Except I wasn’t sure where to start.

Then fate stepped in, as it sometimes does, and I came across an article about conscious aging. The concept isn’t new, except to me, and it will be a different experience for each individual, which is also the point. Yet I loved the idea of not only being aware, but actively participating in growing older.

Is Everyone Wrong About Aging?

Like many, I’ve been exposed to the belief that the one true thing about getting old is that no one in their right mind would want to do it. But I started asking myself: What if everyone had been wrong? What if this really was a time that could open up possibilities for a life I hadn’t even taken the time to imagine?

I recently came across the website of Ashton Applewhite, activist and author of the book and blog This Chair Rocks, as well as her Q&A blog Yo, Is This Ageist? (Editors Note: Next Avenue named Applewhite our Influencer of the Year among the 2016 Influencers in Aging.)

If I consciously acknowledged, planned and lived my older age, what would that look like?

I started reading Applewhite’s blog and found she was talking about the questions in my head. If aging is nothing more than decline, then what about the research that shows people are generally happier at the beginning and end of life? Or what about our fear of having to be taken care of when most Americans over the age of 65 live independently? Or that the older people get, the less afraid they are of dying?

Where was all the misery I’d been planning on?

Telling the Whole Story

“There are a lot of challenges to aging, but there are a lot of wonderful things, too, that get way less attention,” Applewhite said, when I interviewed her a few days later. “We need to make sure that both sides of the story get told.”

I’ve always loved old people — which is good because I’m in the process of becoming one myself — but I’m not sure I’ve ever truly considered the other side of the growing-old story. I’ve seen the happy and the sad up close, but I’ve never thought through all the possibilities.

I was beginning to see where being conscious could come in handy.

It’s eye-opening once you start challenging your assumptions about aging, which I have to admit, in my case, weren’t negative as much as they were fatalistic. I thought there was nothing I could do about getting older, but I never backed that up with facts.

Fears ‘Way out of Proportion’

Applewhite points to dementia as an example of our disproportionate fears about aging. “Yes, it’s a horrible disease, but getting dementia isn’t typical of aging. And the rates and odds of getting it are diminishing,” she said.

It’s the same thing when we think about ending up in a nursing home. “Lots of people cycle in and out, but the odds of you having to live in a nursing home are low,” Applewhite said. “Our fears are way out of proportion to the threat.”

So I wondered what would happen if I deliberately shifted my perception of aging, right there and on the spot. What if I stopped rushing through life long enough to ask and answer just one question: If I consciously acknowledged, planned and lived my older age, what would that look like?

Letting Go of Old Attitudes

And that’s when I came across Carol Orsborn, editor-in-chief of Fierce With Age and co-author of The Spirituality of Age.

Our perception of aging is so internalized for most of us, that the first thing I knew I had to do was let it go. Orsborn says we often deny, romanticize or see aging as nothing more than a sad decline. But what we need to understand is that the longer our life, the more we grow not just old, but whole. We can’t overcome everything and there is a shadow side, but it also opens up potential in other areas.

I wondered if it was too late to challenge my old attitudes. Could I honestly view growing older as a serious opportunity for meaning and mindfulness? Could I really change my mindset?

Applewhite says: Yes. “Fifty years ago, we didn’t think a woman could run a company. Twenty years ago, we didn’t think gays could get married,” she says. “This is another profound cultural shift.”

It’s Up to Us

And then she reminded me of something that made total sense. “We’re the ones making up these ideas, so we’re also the ones that can change them. It’s a tall order, but we can do this,” Applewhite says.

There are two things about aging that we can’t avoid, however: physical decline and the death of people you love. And that’s just a fact. But nothing else is inevitable, says Applewhite.

This honest face-to-face with what’s ahead and understanding how many choices I still have seems to make it possible to embrace the whole of life and not see it only as a fading away.

We need to be honest, and Orsborn says there’s nothing wrong with grieving our losses. In fact, it’s the first step. “Mourn your lost youth, illnesses or other losses,” she says. “Acknowledge that it’s happening and is a passage you have to go through.”

But remember, even with declines, there can be benefits.

“We may have spent a long life trying to keep our ego from having so much sway, but when we get older, we seek fewer strokes for who we are and that leaves us with more energy,” Orsborn says. “We find the freedom to care less about what others’ opinions of us are.”

Be Deliberate

Many of us have found things to keep us busy our entire lives, sometimes to the point of distraction. But how we’re going to live our next years is too important to shrug off.

So I think we should ask ourselves how we want to age, because we’re not finished yet. And maybe the luckiest discovery I’ve made was finding that out. But Orsborn says conscious aging takes time.

“Be patient as you learn how to ride this shiny new bicycle of old age,” she says. “It takes quiet time and some disengagement, but it’s a gift to grow into your own self.”

By Debbie Reslock

Debbie Reslock is a freelance writer who specializes in aging issues and the 55+ market. As a former caregiver, she’s also an advocate for aging-in-place whenever possible and person-centered long term care when it isn’t. She’s on the board of directors for the Colorado Culture Change Coalition and lives in Evergreen, Colo.

Spirituality of Aging e-book available now

Posted on by Dr. Toni

Spirituality of AgingSo many people in midlife and beyond have a fear of aging.
Society hasn’t helped this.
Ageism is still a factor in our experience and advertisers
keep telling us we need to be using products that are anti-aging.

I don’t know about you but I’m NOT ANTI – aging….
In fact, every day I experience new growth when I look at
what the aging process is teaching me.

I’m excited to tell you that my new E-Book is now available. It’s all about the
reflections I’ve been having on the aging process itself. Rather than bemoan
the fact that my bones are creaking and my memory waxing and waning,

I decided to look at the meaning behind it all. And, low and behold, I began
to discover that the Aging Process itself is not a matter of continual
decrepitude – but an opportunity to grow spiritually. WOW!

That changes the game considerably.
If you are in MIDLIFE or BEYOND, this is an important issue
to consider right now.

I’d love to share this e-book with you and get your help in fleshing it out
even further into a full manuscript. Please comment when you have read it.

Get your copy 

The Spiritual Dimensions of Conscious Aging Book, Video, and Audio Resources A sampling of new views of aging.

Posted on by Dr. Toni

Book Feature by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
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A “senior boom” is happening in American life, and it’s getting bigger by the day. Until very recently, most of the attention paid to this phenomenon has focused on retirement options, pension plans, health care challenges, medical ethics, and research on the biology of aging and the prolongation of life. Surveying recent books, films, and spoken-word audios about later life, we have noticed a number of hopeful signs that signal a broadening and deepening of the way we see the senior years. The added element is an interest in their spiritual dimensions. Here’s a sampling of these new views of aging. (Click on the link to read the full review.)

BOOKS

Age Power: How the 21st Century Will Be Ruled by the New Old by Ken Dychtwald (Tarcher/Putnam, 1999)
Here is a wakeup call intended to offer preventative solutions to the age-related questions we face as individuals and as a society. “How we decide to behave as elders will,” writes Dychtwald, “in all likelihood, become the most important challenge we will face in our lives.”

Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders by Mary Pipher (Riverhead, 1999)
This informative and salutary work is designed to help forge ties between the baby boom generation and their parents, who are now residing in the country of old age.

The Force of Character and the Lasting Life by James Hillman (Random House, 1999)
This imaginative, compelling, and always thought-provoking volume turns conventional ideas about aging upside down. In three bold sections, the best-selling author of The Soul’s Code shows how our characters are enriched, deepened, and made meaningful by long life.

From Age-ing to Sage-ing by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald Miller (Warner, 1997)
The Jewish elder who coined the term “spiritual eldering” presents his thoughts on the last stage of life. This is a time to for men and women to “contemplate their life journey, harvest the wisdom of their years, and transmit a legacy to future generations.”

Gray Heroes: Elder Tales from Around the World by Jane Yolen, editor (Penguin Books, 1999)
The editor has gathered a fascinating batch of stories from different cultures about “elders who wear their years well.” The tales are divided into four sections: wisdom, trickery, adventure, and a little bit of love.

On Women Turning 70: Honoring the Voices of Wisdom by Cathleen Rountree (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999)
Sixteen extraordinary women tell their stories and share their feelings on turning 70.

Passion for Life: Lifelong Psychological and Spiritual Growth by Anne Brennan and Janice Brewi (Continuum, 1999)
With the doubling of life expectancy since the beginning of the twentieth century, men and woman are challenged to become “architects of their own aging.” The second half of life has become an arena for continued growth and development, i.e. soul-making.

Spiritual Passages: Embracing Life’s Sacred Journey by Drew Leder (Tarcher/Putnam, 1997)
The author taps into all the world’s religions for insights into qualities which can be unfurled by elders. He presents a substantive and sacred model for aging that celebrates self-exploration, change, service, suffering, transformation, and facing death.

A Time to Live: Seven Steps of Creative Aging by Robert Raines (Plume, 1998)
The former director of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center has written a bright and buoyant volume about the art of creative aging. He masterfully sets anecdotes from his own life alongside poignant illustrative material from contemporary novels, films, and political events.

Toward Holy Ground: Spiritual Directions for the Second Half of Life by Margaret Guenther (Cowley, 1995)
The author uses St. Anne as a model and wisdom figure for later life when ambiguity, service of others, and wonder are given free play.

Understanding Men’s Passages: Discovering the New Map of Men’s Lives by Gail Sheehy (Ballantine, 1999)
The bestselling author presents a rounded portrait of the different stages of “second adulthood” for men including “the fearless fifties” and “the influential sixties.”

VIDEOS

I’m Not Rappaport (MCA/Universal, 1996)
This feisty drama revolves around an 81-year-old Jewish radical who is a modern-day Don Quixote fighting injustice. He and his best friend have to stand up for themselves in a society that seems determined to treat elders as if they were invisible.

Men With Guns (Columbia TriStar, 1998)
A common task in old age is to secure one’s legacy. A wealthy physician in an unnamed Latin American country who is nearing retirement decides to visit the medical students he trained to serve poor villagers in the countryside. His quest opens and softens his heart.

Nobody’s Fool (Paramount, 1995)
This movie shows that the last stage of life can be one of personal renewal. A crusty and cantankerous handyman in a small town discovers that it is never too late to stir the ashes and light up your life with the glow that comes from love of family and friends.

The Shell Seekers (Republic Pictures, 1994)
A 63-year-old Englishwoman suffers a heart attack and is compelled to review her life and her view of happiness.

The Straight Story (Walt Disney Home Video, 1999)
Alvin Straight is a stubborn and highly principled 73-year-old Iowan who sets out on his John Deere lawnmower to visit his estranged brother who has suffered a heart attack in Wisconsin. His deep yearning for reconciliation gives him the energy and strength he needs to fulfill his mission.

Strangers in Good Company (Touchstone, 1991)
A group of long-lived women take shelter in an abandoned farmhouse when their tour bus breaks down. While they wait for other transportation, they share the stories of their lives with each other.

Waking Ned Devine (Fox, 1999)
In this comedy set in a small village in Ireland, two of the town’s elders creatively expand the possibilities for community life.

SPOKEN-WORD AUDIO

Conscious Aging: A Creative and Spiritual Journey by Various Speakers (Sounds True, 1992)
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Marion Woodman, Maggie Kuhn, Ram Dass, and Bernie Siegel present their ideas on elders as bearers of wisdom, healing, creativity, and vision. This audio program was taped during a conference at the Omega Institute.

The Second Half of Life: The Blossoming of Your Creative Self by Angeles Arrien (Sounds True, 1998)
This teacher and cultural anthropologist explores the three major themes of elderhood: generativity, intimacy, and creativity. This six-cassette package is filled with soul-stirring stories and spiritual practices from indigenous peoples and Greek mythology.

Stages of Life

Posted on by Dr. Toni

by Brian Azar salesdoctor.com

Modern psychology has placed most of its focus on human development in the early years with the implied suggestion that our development stops at a certain point. For example, the work of Piaget, Havinghurst, Kegan and Loevinger ends in adolescence or early adulthood. While Jung and Bühler have explored adult development throughout the life course, the most relevant work comes from Erikson and Levinson.
Erikson describes eight stages and yet his treatment of the mature adult years is sparse. The seventh stage from age 40 to 65 is a period typified by the individual’s desire to leave their mark, to contribute to the world and to feel productive and involved. If these goals are achieved, one will attain a sense of generativity, a feeling of meaningful contribution. If these goals are not achieved, a person will be left with feelings of stagnation, a disconnected, self-absorbed sense of loneliness. Erikson’s eight and final stage is defined by the quest for integrity and a growing awareness of death. In his later life, he acknowledged that psychosocial development may continue in later life, but his work was left incomplete.

Levinson explores the life cycle as a series of “eras” or “seasons” that are composed of stable periods where life’s choices have been made, and transitional periods in which one season ends and a new one begins. His research, originally conducted only with men, highlights the importance of choice in midlife. It argues that the structure of development through the life course follows an underlying pattern for each individual that is a mix of development and socialization.

While Erikson and Levinson’s work offers an excellent basis for understanding the life cycle, it is incomplete for our modern era. Both psychosocial and neurological development has been found to continue to progress throughout the life course. The current demographic and cultural realities put forth new pressures and provide new opportunities that change an individual’s ability to design his or her futures. Building on these giants, we propose a new life course theory that recognizes life as longer, more complex and less predictable.

PART I: The new life phase
In our construction of this new theory, we suggest life phases that are more fluid and dynamic than previous academic, because we recognize that individuals vary and that physical age and psychological age might not match at every point. The traditional view of life conceived of our development in a semi-circle with its peak at age 45 or 50, followed by a quiet decline to death on the other side of that milestone birthday. Incorporating a new life phase of possibility and continued growth changes the trajectory rather than beginning a precipitous decline, our productive, generative years have been extended, allowing us to reimagine our lives differently, to embrace second careers and to continue to thrive throughout the life course.

The need for a new life phase is bolstered by the latest research in both neurological and psychosocial development throughout the life course. Research has shown that psychological resilience–the ability to adapt to stress, transitions and adversity–increases throughout midlife.[i] One possible reason may be that by middle age, the brain has learned to accentuate the positive.[ii] Another possibility may be that by middle age, we’ve had our fair share of life experiences and have gained some perspective about the relative importance of events. Indeed, psychologists find that well-being follows a U-curve, with self-reported happiness at its lowest in the 30s and 40s and increasing steadily beginning at age 50.[iii] This is in keepingwith longitudinal research that finds that our lives continue to evolve in our later years and often become more fulfilling than ever.[iv]

PART II: The Need for a New Framework
The new life phase has emerged because of demographic and cultural changes and has created uncharted territory for those who are living it. Four main factors contribute to this new life phase: Increased longevity, increased productivity, the rise of the therapeutic culture and a focus on purpose-based generativity.

Increased Longevity
Midlife and older Americans are living longer, healthier[v] lives than ever before.[vi] Some call it “ageless aging.”[vii] These added years are enhanced by increasing and continued educational attainment, making this generation more educated than previous cohorts.[viii] The spike in health and education attainment breed a new sense of optimism about the future: Midlife adults anticipate that their lives will be better in five years than they are now.[ix]

Increased Productivity
While their parents considered retirement to be a time of travel, relaxation and enjoyment,most Baby Boomers consider some sort of paid work to be part of retirement. In fact, a significant percentage of Baby Boomers report that they will never consider themselves retired.[x] Looking toward their future, 7 in 10 experienced workers plan to work during retirement, and the vast majority list social and psychological fulfillment—along with current and future financial security—as the primary reason.[xi]

Indeed, older workers increasingly see their job as an integral part of their identity, with 83 percent in 2013 reporting that their job is an important part of who they are, up 6 points from 2007.[xii] A desire to feel useful and to create meaning is increasingly important for this cohort as well.[xiii]
For those who have other ambitions for their new life phase–in addition to work, or in lieu of paid work–travel, improving health and fitness and simply enjoy their lives, friends and families top the list of goals for the new life phase. Isolation is fatal: While some mention hobbies, spiritual pursuits, and home projects, few want to relocate or “go it alone”.[xiv]

Purpose-Based Generativity
USA Today asked adults what they would ask a god or a supreme being if they could get a direct and immediate answer. The most popular question from the list they offered was not, “Will I have life after death?” (that was No.2), or “Why do bad things happen?” (that was No. 3). The top question adults would ask God or a supreme being was, “What’s my purpose here?”[xx] In fact, it’s the question of the new life phase and is very much in keeping with Erikson’s previous research on the importance of generativity in midlife.
Living with purpose means connecting to something bigger than the self and pursuing goals that are valuable and important toward achieving that end. There is increasing research pointing to the importance of positive emotion, engagement, healthy relationships, a sense of meaning and a sense of accomplishment as being crucial to overall wellbeing–not just immediate gratification, money and happiness.
Seekers in the new life phase might be searching for a new language to discuss their transitions, a sense of identity around their next steps, reassurance of their choices and a community with whom to share information and from whom to receive encouragement. Lichterman finds that self-help users “are seeking not so much a perfect self as a new language for personal life.”[xxiii] Putting words to feelings is crucial for both personal understanding and sharing your journey, and that is a valuable gift in the new life phase. In addition, those seeking self-help might be searching for hope of change and rebirth, research finds. Developing a new sense of identity can be part of this process.[xxiv] Others may be seeking reassurance or confirmation that what they are feeling and doing are normal.[xxv] Life Reimagined provides this in a framework, community and shared language for the new life phase.

Life Reimagined is grounded in the belief that “the good life” evolves over the life course, and that development may occur at any point in time. Life isn’t linear, and our journey could be one of stuttering steps, leaps, falls and plateaus as a result of a mix of internal choice and external influence. We are each on our own journey, each an experiment of one, and Life Reimagined embraces the idea that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to life. Yet at the core of our quests in a variety of different aspects of life–relationships, stress, career, learning, resources and leisure–is a focus on purpose and meaning.

PART II: Bringing “the Good Life” to a Wider Audience
Longevity, technology and changing culture have created a new life phase that is uncharted territory.Previous generations could model their adult years by the behaviors of their parents, but increased longevity means we are outliving those generations. Our cultural ideas of retirement continue to change, encouragingus to forge a new path.

Americans are rejecting the idea that opportunities are shrinking as they get older. We want to reach even higher, explore and pursue dreams and passions that may have been left behind in earlier years. But we can’t do it alone. In an age of possibilities, a growing number of people are looking for guidance to search for and discover new opportunities in work, family, health, fun and purpose in life.

This model provides an unprecedented opportunity to help people navigate life transitions—and Life Reimagined believes these opportunities should be available on a massive scale. However, policy must evolve with this new life phase as well: Navigating transitions cannot be done in a vacuum, and our social structure will need to understand, react to and reflect these shifts.

There is much work ahead, and many questions are unanswered: What is the new experience of growth in midlife and beyond? What are the building-blocks of such growth? What will inhibit it? And what advantages will be realized during this new life phase?

We embrace the idea of a new life phase with hope for a time when everyone will be able to pursue their best lives and embrace their full potential, regardless of age–that is both the opportunity and the challenge of the work ahead.

Lerner, Richard, Concepts and Theories of Human Development, (Mahwah: Psychology Press, 2001) 22.
[1] Lewis, John David, Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens, (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2008) 79.
[1] Confucius, The Analects, (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1992).
[1] Mortimer, Jeylan T., and Shanahan, Michael J., ed. Handbook of the Life Course. (New York: Springer Science+Business Media, 2006).
[1] Mortimer, Handbook.
[1] See: Guinee, James P. (1998). Erikson’s life span theory: A metaphor for conceptualization the internship year. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 29(6), 615-620. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.29.6.615; Cherry, Kendra (2014). Generativity versus stagnation: The seventh stage of psychosocial development. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/generativity-versus-stagnation.htm Accessed: 4/25/2014.
[1] Guinee, Erickson’s.
[1] Erikson, Erik H, The Life Cycle Completed, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company 1998).
[1] See Levinson, Daniel J. (1986). A conception of adult development. American Psychologist, 41(1), 3-13. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.41.1.3; Levinson, Daniel J., Darrow, C. N., Klein, E. B., Levinson, M. H., & McKee, B. (1978), The seasons of a man’s life. (New York: Random House, 1978).
[1] Ibid.
[1] Metzler, Christopher J. (2013). Fifty Is the New Thirty: unpacking myths of the New Life Phase. Unpublished Manuscript, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
[1] See: Almeida. David M., Horn, M.C. “Is daily life more stressful during middle adulthood?”
In How healthy are we? A national study of well-being at midlife, Brim,O.G., Ryff C.D., Kessler, R.C., ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2004) 425–451.
[1] van Reekum, Carien M., Schaefer, Stacey M., Lapate, Regina C., Norris, Catherine J., Greischar, Lawrence L., Davidson, Richard J. (2011). “Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information,” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, April; 6(2): 177–185.
[1] Stone, Arthur A., Schwartz, Joseph E., Broderick, Joan E., & Deaton, Angus (2010). A snapshot of the age distribution of psychological well-being in the United States, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107 (22) 9985-9990. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1003744107
[1] Vaillant, George, Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study, (U.S.: Belknap Press 2012).
[1] Vaupel, James W. (March 2010). Biodemography of human aging. Nature. 464, 25 doi: 10.1038/nature08984
[1] “Aging Statistics.” Department of Health & Human Services, Administration on Aging. Available at: http://www.aoa.gov/Aging_Statistics/; Accessed: 4/25/2014.
[1] Shmotkin, Dov. “The Pursuit of Happiness: Alternative Conceptions of Subjective Well-Being,” Understanding Well-Being in the Oldest Old. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. 27-45.
[1] “ACS Educational Attainment by Degree-Level and Age-Group (American Community Survey): Percent of Adults 45 to 64 with a High School Diploma – 2005.” NCHEMS Information Center for Higher Education Policymaking and Analysis. Available at: http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/?year=2005&level=nation&mode=map&state=0&submeasure=234; Accessed: 4/25/2014.
[1] Fisher, Linda L. (2010). Sex, Romance and Relationships: AARP Survey of Midlife and Older Adults. AARP, (7) Retrieved fromhttp://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/general/srr_09.pdf
[1] Love, Jeffrey. (2010). Approaching 65: A Survey of Baby Boomers Turning 65 Years Old.” AARP (4) Retrieved fromhttp://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/general/approaching-65.pdf
[1] “Staying Ahead of the Curve 2013: The AARP Work and Career Study, Older Workers in an Uneasy Job Market.” (2014). AARP (6, 57) Retrieved from:http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/general/2014/Staying-Ahead-of-the-Curve-2013-The-Work-and-Career-Study-AARP-res-gen.pdf
[1] Ibid, 7.
[1] Ibid, 11.
[1] Love, Approaching 9.
[1] Whelan, C. Self-Help Books and the Quest for Self-Control in the United States 1950-2000 (Doctoral Thesis) University of Oxford, Oxford, England, 2003. U187685
[1] See: Rose, Nikolas, Inventing Our Selves: Psychology, Power, and Personhood (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Bellah, R. N. et al., Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. 1996 ed(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985); Giddens, Anthony,Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991); Moskowitz, Eva S., In Therapy We Trust: America’s Obsession with Self-Fulfillment (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2001).
[1] Veroff, Joseph, Kulka, Richard A., Douvan, Elizabeth Ann Malcom, Mental Health in America: Patterns of Help-seeking from 1957-1976 (New York: Basic Books, 1981) 68.
[1] Bellah, Habits 121.
[1] Marketdata Enterprises, Inc. (2012) The U.S. Market for Self Improvement Products & Services. December 2012, 5.
[1] USA Today asked adults what they would ask a god or a supreme being if they could get a direct and immediate answer. Among the top three questions were “Will I have life after death?” (19% of respondents) and “Why do bad things happen?” (16%). However, the highest proportion of those polled, 34%, wished to know the answer to the timeless question, “What’s my purpose here?” (USA Today, May 28, 1999).
[1] The Futures Company. (2012). American Express LifeTwist Study. 2.
[1] Ibid.
[1] Lichterman, Paul. (1992) “Self-Help Reading As Thin Culture,” Media, Culture & Society, 14 (3).
[1] Simonds, Wendy, Women and Self-Help Culture: Reading Between the Lines (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1992).
[1] See: Englis, B. G. et al, “Where Social Perception Meets Reality: The Social Construction of Lifestyles,” in Values, Lifestyles and Psychographics,Ed.Kahle, Lynn R., Chiagouris, Larry(Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997); Starker, Steven, Oracle at the Supermarket: The American Preoccupation with Self-Help Books (New Brunswick: Oxford, 1989); Fried, Stephen B., Shultis, Ann, The Best Self-Help and Self-Awareness Books: A Topic-by-Topic Guide to Quality Information (Chicago: American Library Association, 1995).