This document discusses strategies for pursuing vital and successful aging. It begins by exploring how views of aging have changed as average lifespans have increased dramatically. Positive aging is framed as an "age wave" opportunity rather than a problem. Research shows that negative stereotypes about aging can negatively impact health, while positive experiences and role models can shift mindsets. The document encourages shifting from views of aging as physical and mental decline to seeing it as a process of ongoing growth, learning and contribution. It promotes pursuing a balanced life with opportunities for work, play and learning at all stages rather than separating them into fixed boxes. Keys to vital aging are said to include focusing on what you can influence rather than things outside your control and paying attention to

1. Age-Full Living:
The Art and Conscious
Pursuit of Vital and
Successful Aging
UT FORUM, Fall 2012

2. Sue Ronnenkamp, MHA
Retirement Living & Later Life Transition Expert
Vital Aging & Positive Change
Coach, Speaker, Author

3. “I guess I never realized that getting old
was such a big part of the aging process.”

5. 1. The Longevity Revolution: Viewing
Aging in a New Light
2. Keys to Vital and Successful Aging
3. Live the Seasons, Embrace the
Change
4. Creativity and Artful Aging: Limitless
Living in the Second Half of Life
5. Living with the End in Mind
6. Pulling It All Together and Making the
Most of the Rest of Your Life
The Art and Conscious Pursuit
of Vital and Successful Aging

6. Is a class
like this
worthwhile?

7. How to Set a Positive Course?

8. CHOICES:
Which ones can
make a difference for
later life?

9. Circle of
Concern
Where to Shift
Your Focus?
SOURCE: Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of
Highly Successful People
Circle of
Influence
Circle of
Concern
Circle of
Influence

10.  Make this worth your time.
 Show you how to pursue vital
and successful aging.
 Give you tips so you can do it.
The Art and Conscious Pursuit
of Vital and Successful Aging

13. The Longevity Revolution:
Viewing Aging in a New Light
UT QUEST, Spring 2012

14. “No blood will be shed
in this revolution, just a
lot of preconceived
notions.”
- Unknown

16. Dr. Robert
Butler
 Coined the term “ageism” in the 1960s
 Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975
 Was the Founding director of the
National Institute on Aging
 Challenged long-held conceptions about
aging, calling it “the neglected stepchild
of the human life cycle”
1927-2010

17. Change Over Time in
Average Length of Life
18
33
40.9
49.2
66.7
78
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
(Years)
Bronze
Age
Middle
Ages
1834-
1854
1900-
1902
1946 2008
Source: The Longevity Revolution by Robert Butler, M.D.

18. “In fewer than 100
years, humans made
greater gains in life
expectancy than they
did in the preceding
50 centuries.”
- Dr. Robert Butler

19. Age
Wave

20. “Half of all the people
who have ever lived to
age 65 are alive today.”
- Marc Freedman

21. Growth in U.S. 65+ Population
3
21
39
72
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
(Millions)
1900 1970 2009 2030
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

22. Growth in U.S. 85+ Population
4.7
9.6
20.9
0
5
10
15
20
25
(Millions)
2003 2030 2050
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

23. Growth in U.S. 100+ Population
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
3000
84,000
214,000
834,000
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
800000
900000
1960 2008 2020 2050

24. Silver Tsunami
A glum world filled with
“greedy geezer” old people
who will be the problem, NOT
the problem solvers.

25. Silver Sunrise

26. “I believe profoundly that if we
can get beyond our prejudices
and preconceived notions about
aging, the odds favor the growth
of an active, engaged, and
productive older population.”
- Dr. Robert Butler

27. Age Wave
Opportunities
 To transform stereotypes
about aging.
 To transform the personal
experience of aging.
Source: The Longevity Revolution, Dr. Robert Butler

28. “These are the
yeastiest of
times.”
- David Wolf

29. Stereotypes
& Mindsets

30. Setting a Positive Course?

31. “Preparation doesn’t
begin with what you
do. It begins with
what you believe.”
- John C. Maxwell

32. “If you want to live a
long life, you’re
going to get old.
That’s the deal.”
- Sylvia Waters

33. What do you
believe?

34. It’s only downhill from here…….

37. What comes to mind
when you think of
someone who is old?

38. Do any of these kind of
adjectives come to mind?
Decrepit Dried Up
Frail
Worthless
Cranky
Forgetful

41. “More than you might
realize, the quality of life
in your later years may be
tied to what you think
about old age today.”
- David Wolf and Robert Snyder

44. Mary Maxwell, Comedian

45. Research Study Conducted by a
Yale Epidemiologist found:
1. When older people were exposed to
negative images of aging, they
experienced significant increases in
blood pressure and heart rate.
2. When the same people were presented
with positive images of aging, signs of
cardiovascular stress fell significantly.
NOTE: Study conducted by Becca Levy, Yale Epidemiologist

46. Another Study Compared Memory
Performance Among Three Cultures
1. Young and elder residents of Mainland
China.
2. Young and elder members of the
American Deaf Population.
3. Young and elder Americans with
normal hearing
NOTE: Study conducted by Becca Levy, Yale Epidemiologist and
Ellen Langer, Harvard Professor of Psychology

47. Positive Views on Aging
Resilient
Worthy of
Respect
Wise
Rich in Spirit
Seasoned
Full of Grit
Centered

48. Key Results:
1. The elder Deaf and elder Chinese
groups clearly outperformed the elder
hearing group.
2. There was no difference in memory
performance at all between the young
and elder Chinese age groups.

49. Negative thoughts,
images, and views
about aging CAN
hurt us.

50. IF this is TRUE, how do we make
the shift from this……
Decrepit Dried Up
Frail
Worthless
Cranky
Forgetful

51. Positive Views of Aging?
Resilient
Worthy of
Respect
Wise
Rich in Spirit
Seasoned
Full of Grit
Centered

52. Positive
Personal
Experiences

53. Home Town:
Bancroft, NE
Pop: 550

56. “Growing older is
something you get to
do if you’re lucky.”
- Groucho Marx

58. Definition: Mindset that we accept
unconditionally, without considering or
being aware of alternative forms that the
information can take.
Premature Cognitive
Commitment

60. “Unconditional acceptance of
information occurs frequently
with information that initially
seemed irrelevant, such as
information about old age
encountered in childhood.”
- Ellen Langer

62. Positive Role
Models

63. “One of the reasons we have
such negative images of
aging in our society is that
there has never been a
critical mass of
positive role models.”
- Dr. Brent Ridge, Geriatrics Physician

68. View Aging in
a New Light

69. “When we
[consciously] think
about aging differently,
then our experience of
it changes.”
- Marianne Williamson

71. Physical
Economic
Human
Birth
Death
Birth Death
Birth Death
Three Peaks of Life
Source: Murphy & Hudson, The Joy of Old

72. Aging is a Value-Added Process
Source: Murphy & Hudson, The Joy of Old
Value Added
in Elderhood
Value Added
in Adulthood
Value Base
Built in Youth

73. We can Ripen into Wholeness
and become MORE as we age…

74. Changing Picture of
Functioning in Later Life
Death
Source: The Creative Age, Gene Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.

75. “We have a choice
between getting old and
growing old.”
- Helen Luke, Old Age
MINDSET
MINDSET
MINDSET

76. CHOICES:
Which ones can
make a difference for
later life?

77. Mind Your
Mindset!

78. What other
mindsets
might need to
be shifted?

79. The Linear Life Plan
The
World of
Education
The World
of Work
The World
of
Retirement

81. Three Boxes of Life
Education
Work
Retirement

82. “It is cruelly arbitrary to
put all the play and
learning into childhood,
all the work into middle
age, and all the regrets
into old age.”
- Margaret Mead

83. Retirement –
time for being
TIRED?
OR a time for
RENEWAL and
RE-CHARGING
your Life?

84. The Balanced Life Plan
Learning
Play
Work
Work
Learning
Play
Play
Work
Learning

85. “Retirement is not about not
working; it’s about redirecting
your efforts toward other
purposeful pursuits.”
- Marvin Tolkin
Play
Work/Purpose
Learning

87. How to Set a Positive Course?

88. Circle of
Concern
Where to Shift
Your Focus?
SOURCE: Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of
Highly Successful People
Circle of
Influence
Circle of
Concern
Circle of
Influence

89. Keys to Vital and
Successful Aging
UT QUEST, Spring 2012

90. “It’s not the years in the life that count.”
“It’s the life in
the years.”
Abraham Lincoln

91. Your Homework
Pay attention to
your own mindset
about aging and
being old.

92. Thank
You!
Questions and
Comments