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Author Archives: Gray Rabbitt
How to Do Old Age
I meant to post on ways to cheer oneself up in old age, beginning with the kind of psychotherapy that seems to be interminably extended conversations. These continue, for an hour on each of most days of the week. The process lasts … Continue reading
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Seeking Joy in Old Age
In North Europe cold dark February leaches joy from elderly lives. So in Tenerife, every 10 minutes another plane unloads a new cargo of Northern Oldies seeking brief warmth and light but also hoping for restorative happiness. We crowd down gangways, … Continue reading
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Tagged George Valliant, Harvard University Health Service, Tenerife
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Playing Games in Old Age
Old people pass their time in very different ways. My mornings are glad and confident and some work is still possible. For long gaps between lunch and gin different solutions must be found. In dank Oxford winters Internet Chess … Continue reading
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Old Age and Religion
This month, 73 years ago, I was sent 1200 kilometers away from cheerful idleness to a boarding school run by Roman Catholic Nuns. Religion became as central to my life as for any madrassa student. Now that I am old I … Continue reading
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Old Age and Lang Syne: Tread softly for you tread upon my mnemes
Ray Bradbury told a story about a time-tourist on a dinosaur-spotting safari who unknowingly stepped on a Jurassic butterfly. A tiny crunch started a time-avalanche whose cumulated effects hideously transformed the world to which he returned. In old age time travel is dangerous for exactly … Continue reading
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Talking and writing about Ageing of the Mind
To start conversations some strangers ask me what I do and, when I admit that I study Old Age, say “ interesting” and gently walk away. Others perk up and tell me about a remarkable geriatric relative. Several have looked pitying … Continue reading
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