The Inner Work of Age, Connie Zweig
The Inner Work of Age, Connie Zweig
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The Inner Work of Age
Shifting from Role to Soul

Author: Connie Zweig, Harry R. Moody

Narrator: Kristy Gill

Unabridged: 15 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/07/2021


Synopsis

• 2022 Coalition of Visionary Resources Gold Award

• 2022 Nautilus Gold Award

• Award Winner in the Health: Aging/50+ category of the 2021 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book Fest

• Award Winner in Non-Fiction: Aging and Gerontology category of the 2021 Best Indie Book Award

• Offers shadow-work and many diverse spiritual practices to help you break through denial to awareness, move from self-rejection to self-acceptance, repair the past to be fully present, and allow mortality to be a teacher

• Reveals how to use inner work to uncover and explore the unconscious denial and resistance that erupts around key thresholds of later life

• Includes personal interviews with prominent Elders, including Ken Wilber, Krishna Das, Fr. Thomas Keating, Anna Douglas, James Hollis, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Ashton Applewhite, Roshi Wendy Nakao, Roger Walsh, and Stanislav Grof

With extended longevity comes the opportunity for extended personal growth and spiritual development. You now have the chance to become an Elder, to leave behind past roles, shift from work in the outer world to inner work with the soul, and become authentically who you are. This book is a guide to help get past the inner obstacles and embrace the hidden spiritual gifts of age.

Offering a radical reimagining of age for all generations, psychotherapist and bestselling author Connie Zweig reveals how to use inner work to uncover and explore the unconscious denial and resistance that erupts around key thresholds of later life, attune to your soul’s longing, and emerge renewed as an Elder filled with vitality and purpose. She explores the obstacles encountered in the transition to wise Elder and offers psychological shadow-work and diverse spiritual practices to help you break through denial to awareness, move from self-rejection to self-acceptance, repair the past to be fully present, reclaim your creativity, and allow mortality to be a teacher. Sharing contemplative practices for selfreflection, she also reveals how to discover ways to share your talents and wisdom to become a force for change in the lives of others.

Woven throughout with wisdom from prominent Elders, including Ken Wilber, Krishna Das, Father Thomas Keating, Anna Douglas, James Hollis, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Ashton Applewhite, Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao, Roger Walsh, and Stanislav Grof, this book offers tools and guidance to help you let go of past roles, expand your identity, deepen self-knowledge, and move through these life passages to a new stage of awareness, choosing to be fully real, transparent, and free to embrace a fulfilling late life.

About Connie Zweig

Connie Zweig, Ph.D., is a retired psychotherapist, former executive editor at Jeremy P. Tarcher Publishing, former columnist for Esquire magazine, and contributor to the LA Times. Known as the Shadow Expert, she is the coauthor of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow and author of a novel, A Moth to the Flame: The Life of the Sufi Poet Rumi. She lives in California.

About Harry R. Moody

Harry R. Moody, PhD, is a gerontologist and the author of The Five Stages of the Soul. A former Vice President at AARP, he has taught at Columbia and Fielding Graduate University and writes widely on aging, dreams, and spirituality. A long-time member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, he lives in San Mateo, California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Anne on July 28, 2021

I recently turned 65 and it is becoming more and more apparent to me that I am in this “aging” category. I have read some books on this topic, but this one has met might needs much more than any other. The author offers practices from shadow work and spiritual contemplative traditions, And this alon......more

Goodreads review by Eugene on August 15, 2021

This book acts as a practical guide to do the inner work of age. To know how to orient oneself when faced or facing age. To do inner work of self-reflection that facilitates awareness and overcoming inner obstacles. Humans used to have shorter life spans with many years of decline and loss of capaci......more

Goodreads review by Kerri D on September 04, 2023

This book was a lot. The rating is only because maybe I’m not in the mood for a bunch of shadow work. We read this for ripening book club. It’s a book I’ll go back to tho.......more

Goodreads review by Jim on May 08, 2024

A densely written but highly illuminating book about reconciling ourselves with the inevitability of age, illness and death. It’s not really a book to read in linear fashion but more of a guide or workbook with passages to reflect on and absorb at random. Having read some Jungian psychology over the......more

Goodreads review by Rick on November 03, 2021

I took my time reading this book. I underlined extensively, and I wrote in the margins. When I was finished reading, I reviewed all my notations. I probably gained some wisdom, but it's not apparent to me yet. I'll keep the book as a reference, along with other similar books of the same genre. As an......more


Quotes

“As Connie Zweig points out in her deep and comprehensive book, it isn’t easy to age well when a human life is seen as a problem to be solved. In this time of rapid change, we need more of an inner experience. This valuable book will help you sort out what is important in life from what is a distraction. Getting old is a challenge, but it can be a joy.”

“The Inner Work of Age is an inspiring roadmap to uncover our motivations for what we do with our precious long lives. Even after many years of teaching positive aging and activism, this book has me questioning and exploring my inner self to consider my future choices.”

“We need stories of possibility. This is a rare book distilled from Connie’s deep and broad experience studying the leap from adulthood to elderhood. When I read it, I knew I was in the presence of a wise guide.”

“Connie Zweig expands on my invitation to ‘refirement.’ The Inner Work of Age offers us a veritable resource book on healthy aging and refiring of the soul that honors the rite of passage that eldership is and that our society neglects to its peril. I highly recommended her diligent and insightful contributions!”

“This is a profound book. Take your time with it. You will find a broad range of ideas, interviews, and spiritual practices pointing to the inner work that we need to undertake for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our planet. Choose from among the vast array of insights and practices that Connie makes available to you and get to work.”

"Instead of simply slipping into old age without an appreciation for the process, Zweig encourages her readers to mine their lives for all the gold and silver that’s there. This is a book to take your time with, to savor the feelings and memories evoked and to dive into the wisdom you’re bound to find within yourself. You’ll learn not to just grow old, but to let yourself become an elder filled with vitality and purpose." Krysta

"Dr. Zweig reminds the reader that 'as each of us chooses not to merely grow old but to grow whole, to intentionally step across the threshold to become and Elder, we discover that aging can be a spiritual path.” There is a lot of 'stuff' that comes up as one ages and reaches certain milestones that are too often associated with redundancy, where one feels relegated to the corner of the room, no longer viable, when one’s 'doing' slows down and as such, one might be termed a liability to society and instead of an honored and revered member. This inner work, this move to self-awareness will greatly benefit the reader in particular - and one’s community as well. Do the inner work necessary to transition to the role of elder–you’ve earned that crown. Wear it with pride."