SEASON 4 EPISODE 12
April 19th at 10 AM PT/ 7 PM CET

PLAYful Aging: Embracing the Inevitable Kyriè Carpenter

KYRIÈ CARPENTER WRITES

Children often bemoan having to wait to grow up, and at some point adults begin to dig in their heels and attempt to freeze the aging process. In American culture there is an unattainable ideal and profitable industry dedicated to anti-aging. What if aging were not seen as a villain but as a wise teacher? What might a pro-aging perspective look like?

Could suffering be alleviated through cultivation of eldership rather than resistance? Many are attempting to cure aging and its accompanying changes. This talk explores aging through a depth psychological lens, offering a surprisingly rare perspective of aging as an inevitable and an embrace-worthy aspect of living.
Kyrié Carpenter
Save this event in your calendar

STREAMED LIVE HERE on April 19th 2018

https://thewisdomfactory.net/wp-content/plugins/Video-Comments-Plus/icons/Refresh.pnghttps://thewisdomfactory.net/wp-content/plugins/Video-Comments-Plus/icons/Fullscreen.png

Playful Ageing with Kyrie Carpenter

00:00 Intros and explanations of Mark’s absence (and yes, I DID watch) and present our guest, Kirie Carpenter who tells how she got interested in ageing people!
04:50 Not what to do or not but how to be! How to shift!
06:05 Is dementia inevitable? “The Nuns’ Study” and the value of dementia
08:05 Mark’s story of his mom and Kirie’s comments and other examples
11:40 Why “playful” ageing? Also an inside meaning: P for pacing, L for life story, A for Aesthetics, Y for your perspective
16:10 The U-shaped curve of happiness
17:08 Her book “Dementia” (see it on our website) tells what people gain in the later years
18:00 How to deal with the “discounting” an” ageing” that so many older people feel
21:00 Strange manifestations of these phenomena
23:00 Fear of ageing melts into fear of death
25:55 Ageism cuts both ways – at all ages
27:12 From the Dr. Bill Thomas tour: We live in a world run amuck without elder supervision!
More about Bill Thomas’s “Non Fiction Fiction” & ”Life’s Most Dangerous Game”
30:50 His “”Changing Aging Tour” is on YouTube in segments
31:35 New ways of learning for older people, i.e. stories
34:00 A look at American old age medical care, liability and Kirie’s childhood experience
38:50 Missing awareness as with antibiotics
41:11 Advice for olders re: how to engage with ageing: a playful attitude, practice now for later!
44:35 Finding “limitations” as a lack, the self judgement
46:00 Every person is very very unique, and more so as they grow older. Also the value of intuition. Serious conversations are hard to find, especially in person!
48:19 Intergenerational contact: Generations United, Helping Hands for the Elderly. But internalized Ageism is the worst and can begin in the 20’s
50:24 Anti-Ageing is so ironic, as it really means dying! Working with Ashton Applewhite on a clearing house for Anti-Ageism resources. Working on a theory of change to explain what ageing serves in the world. Advice regarding how we can reach younger people and talk with them about topics they might never ask, say, their grandparents
55:51: Silverline in the UK as a blend.
57:40 Takeaways, final remarks, thank you’s and good bye’s

HEIDI´S INTRODUCTION
In our culture we are losing more and more the capacity to be playful. We grew up with the exhortation to become serious adults, ready to fulfill our roles in society. Childhood play got reduced increasingly to allow for the load of things which had to be mastered for school. Today’s children are even worse off. Physical play is almost gone, maybe playing on the computer is still a means to escape the total seriousness of life. Our beliefs reduce us into a sort of numbness and immobility.

Getting older: what a relief! The things which seemed to be so extremely important in earlier life lose their grip on us and we become more and more free to just BE – and to discover playfulness. I witness it in my own life and I have heard similar reports from many other people, this fundamental change in dealing with life the older we get.

We are really curious what Kyrie Carpenter has to tell us from her experience with people getting older.

ABOUT KYRIÈ CARPENTER

She writes: I am radically pro-aging and dementia positive. I serve all people and have a passion for those living with dementia, their allies and supporting organizations.

My journey started with a question, “What better way to learn about life than in hindsight?” Many elders I met were mad, frustrated, sad and bored; these common human conditions exacerbated by years and circumstance. I began to notice those who rejected the process of aging were suffering more than those who embraced it. There is no shortcut or easy answer to alleviate the suffering of aging and dementia but there is a perspective shift that can help us. I call this becoming a crone-in-training.

My passion for story led me to a career in film, studies in Depth Psychology, and ultimately my work with aging. For the last two years I have been performing in Dr. Bill Thomas’ nationwide ChangingAging tour. Prior to this I worked with elders living in long-term care in San Francisco. In 2015 I traveled to all 50 states living in a van the culmination of which was founding a wellness center, Prosper. I blog (Huffington Post & ChangingAging) and recently published Healing Dementia. I have a Masters in Counseling Psychology and I wrote my thesis on the Anti-Aging myth in America.

AUTHOR WEBPAGES

CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW FOR FOR BOOKS ON OUR TOPIC

Healing Dementia
The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully
From Age-Ing to Sage-Ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older