Fifty year olds fear what sixty-five will look like, while thirty year olds dread fifty, and twenty year olds thirty. The fears of aging are like one long cascading domino effect of the fears of aging. And there is something to worry about, though it isn't what you'd expect: research shows that having a bad attitude toward aging when we're young is associated with poorer health when we're older. But many eighty year olds would tell people old age is better than they think. In fact, worries tend to peak in midlife, according to the "U-Bend" studies (so-called because the pattern of well-being throughout the lifespan resembles a "U") that show that the older we get, the greater our sense of well-being. In the words of philosopher William May, we learn to "travel light." Over the course of a lifetime of crises and accomplishments, we learn who we are and what our character strengths and virtues are. And we discover we may actually like ourselves. Here, Jimmie Holland and Mindy Greenstein explore positive aging and the role of character strengths and virtues along the way. They touch on compassion, empathy, kindness, justice, beauty, optimism, and hope in the context of community, experience, and culture. They go on to explore self-control, humor, courage, and wisdom, and what elderly people can teach the young. Lighter as We Go--a joint venture by an eighty-five year old and a fifty year old--explores what it means to travel light, and the fascinating process of getting there.

About the Author
Mindy Greenstein, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and author whose book The House on Crash Corner and Other Unavoidable Calamities (with a foreword by New York Times columnist David Brooks), was chosen as one of O: The Oprah Magazine's Books to Pick Up. She is co-developer of Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy, and a current research affiliate working with the geriatric psychiatry team at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, SELF, and elsewhere. Dr. Greenstein also blogs for Psychology Today. She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. Dr. Jimmie Holland is known as the founder of the subspecialty psycho-oncology in cancer. Her work has been seminal in alerting oncologists to the psychosocial needs of patients and to the evidence-based interventions available today. The development of a body of literature, an international journal, textbooks and training curricula resulted in a science of psychosocial care. Dr. Holland made the information available in a book widely read by cancer patients, The Human Side of Cancer: Living with Hope, Coping with Uncertainty.

Reviews
I happen to fall (bad word) into the fastest growing age group-the 90 and over crowd. What to do? I say go right now, no matter your age, and get Lighter As We Go because it is the last word on the subject of growing older and living well with it. Mindy Greenstein and Jimmie Holland, at middle and older ages, have great ideas that connect with my own! Live like you're 50- have a ball! When you're 90, act any way you please! This book will help you see the rewards you haven't even thought about. * Liz Smit *
This delightful, highly readable book utilizes personal stories and a bit of human history to paint a picture of successful aging in which the mind and spirit triumph over physical limitations, and generativity and eudaimonia prevail. This outlook is consistent with information emerging from neuroscience and molecular medicine that not only are physical activity, hedonic satisfaction and good self-regulation of health behaviors important for sustaining good mental and physical health but also that finding meaning and purpose in life can be enormously beneficial. * Bruce S. McEwen, Ph.D., Alfred E. Mirsky Professor and Head, Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch, Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University *
Drs. Greenstein and Holland have a unique ability to draw the reader into this ongoing and enchanting review of aging writ wide and in the spirit of 'lighter as we go.' The book is truly uplifting and fun, not didactic or sterile, unlike anything I have read about successful aging. One cannot read this book dispassionately or in isolation, so prepare yourselves to join this symposium just as Cicero called his listeners to join him through his treatise On Old Age. And like any good conversation, Jimmie and Mindy leave us prepared and eager to continue our reflections and discussion far beyond the occasion of the book. * Dan Blazer, MD, PhD, J.P. Gibbons Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Division of Community and Family Medicine, School of Medicine *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199360956
Author Mindy Greenstein
Format Hardback
Page Count 306
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 349g
Dimensions(mm) 127mm * 178mm * 23mm