Meaning in Life: Psychometric, Clinical and Phenomenological Aspects (PDF)
[Dominique Louis H. M. Debats, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands - 1996] Summarizing this thesis on the above topic, the author concludes with this quote from Camus: "I have seen many people die because life for them was not worth living. From this I conclude that the question of life's meaning is the most urgent question of all."

A tale of two bellies: The remarkable demographic difference between America and Europe
[The Economist - 22 August 2002] Demography should set Europe's agenda, too. Europeans already know that their societies are ageing, and that they have to find ways to ease pension and health burdens. What these demographic trends also suggest, however, is that enlargement of the European Union to take in the poorer countries of Central and Eastern Europe is even more urgent than was previously thought. It will not make Europe younger, for the eastern countries' populations are also ageing, but it will bring some new entrepreneurial spark .... Enlargement alone will not be enough. ... Instead, Western Europe needs to bring the new sparkiness right into its midst, both by becoming more open to immigration and by encouraging more entrepreneurial vigour among existing citizens. It is not a case of having to copy American ways. It is a case of returning to the European ways that in the 1960s brought rapid economic growth�before public spending climbed, welfare states spread and regulations multiplied. History can help destinies, too.

See also: UN's "Population Ageing 2002" wall chart (PDF)

Parker Palmer - "Now I Become Myself"
[YES! A Journal of Positive Futures - Spring 2001] A vocation does not come from �out there.� It�s what you find when you reclaim your original gifts.

What Matters Most to Americans? FranklinCovey Study Suggests Post 9/11 Priorities Out of Synch with Daily Activities
While the majority of people have identified what really matters most to them, significant gaps still exist between what Americans value and how they actually spend their time.

A New Way of Measuring Complexity
[Physics News Update - August 2002] A new way of measuring complexity for biological systems has been proposed by researchers at Harvard Medical School and University of Lisbon .... Their method suggests that disease and aging can be quantified in terms of information loss. ...

Male and female seniors use the internet differently
Male and female seniors use the internet differently. Silver surfing is encouraging Britain's older people to turn 'techie' and get their hands on other new technologies such as mobile phones. ...

Education and the Creative Workforce
Read regular headlines about this topic from the Center for Arts & Culture, which also sends out a regular e-newsletter on creative sector news, events and opportunities. See also: Creativity, Culture, Education and the Workforce, an issue paper (part of the Art, Culture and the National Agenda series) by Dr. Ann Galligan of Northeastern University.

Facing the challenges of world's aging population
[The Christian Science Monitor - 22 April 2002] Baby boomers are going to live considerably longer on average than members of generations past. ... Meanwhile, every month 1 million people turn 60. And more than 70 million people in the world have marked their 80th birthday. This over-80 group is the fastest growing of all.

Fairy tales can be great tools for thinking metaphorically about ageing � both the reading of fairy tales and the writing of fairy tales. Some great resources on this topic include �EXPANDING THE POSSIBILITES OF OLDER ADULTHOOD� by Allan B. Chinen who �tells us how these tales give instruction about the positive aspects of aging.�

Another great resource from Chinen on this topic is the book Once upon a Midlife: Classic Stories and Mythic Tales to Illuminate the Middle Years, available here from Amazon.com.

Well-Being and Vitality
University of Arkansas lists ideas concerning "Well-Being in Later Life"
Many people think of later life as a time of increasing complaints and decreasing abilities. It may seem that later life is a time to dread. But there is another side to the story. Some things actually get better in later life. ...

The Institute for the Study of Aging and the International Longevity Center-USA has a good workshop report from 2001 on "Achieving and Maintaining Cognitive Vitality With Aging".

British population aging rapidly; 80-plus group to double by 2040
[National Statistics, UK Government - 15 August 2002] By 2025, the number of people aged 80 and over in the United Kingdom is projected to increase by almost half, from 2.4 million in 2000 to 3.5 million. Longer-term projections suggest that the 80 and over population will then grow more rapidly, to 4.9 million by 2040, more than double the number in 2000.

Population projections for the UK and its constituent countries are prepared by the Government Actuary and are based on the estimated population at the middle of 2000.

Study shows that siblings of centenarians also more apt to live to 100
[Medbroadcast.com - 12 June 2002] Want to live to be 100? Your best chance is to have a brother or a sister who also lives to be that old, according to a study. Researchers analysed the family health histories of 444 centenarians - people who live to be 100 or more - and found their 2,092 siblings had a high likelihood also of living to be very, very old.

HealthierUS Initiative
[Administration on Aging - June 2002] Designed to educate Americans of all ages about the vital health benefits of simple and modest improvements in physical activity and nutritional habits. See also: USA on the Move: Steps to Healthy Aging

Stimulation Boosts Brain Cells in Aging Mice: Study
[Reuters - 16 August 2002] A stimulating environment in middle to late life may be just the trick to bolster a region of the brain associated with memory and learning, according to the results of a study in mice.

Mental Aerobics, Diet to Stave Off 'Senior Moments'
[Reuters - 7 August 2002] If those "senior moments" - when you can't remember why you opened the refrigerator door or where you left your keys - are becoming more frequent, mental aerobics and a healthy brain diet may help.

Study: Aging Attitudes Impact Longevity
[ABCNews.com - 29 July 2002] If you look forward to aging with the same enthusiasm with which you anticipate root canals, you may want to consider making an attitude adjustment.

Seniors Online - Europe
Age is one of the main discriminating factors in computer use. The Internet seems to be a matter of youth, and statistics certainly indicate a negative relationship between age and Internet access. The data available shows that the number of people over 55 going online is far below the EU average ....

Included in Business Week's cover story on "25 IDEAS FOR A CHANGING WORLD" are:
The Art of Brainstorming
And where do good ideas come from, anyway? How can we nurture better ideas? These are not new questions. Yet they resist quick or certain answers. When I asked a neurologist what is it that we really know about the origin of ideas, he snapped: 'You're treading in some of the deepest waters in all of science.

and ...

Rethinking the Rat Race
Already there are signs that Americans are starting to find more balance. As job time has encroached on leisure time, so too has leisure crept into the job. Workers increasingly are Internet shopping, exercising, chatting with friends, or otherwise building breaks into their day. They may work at midnight, but they also feel free to take off at 3 p.m. to see a child's school play. The aging of the workforce and the need for constant education are creating a less rigid view of careers--one that lets people dip in and out of the job market, work into their 70s, or take time off in their 30s to study, travel, or raise children.

"If we really want to live, we'd better start at once to try;
If we don't, it doesn't matter,
but we'd better start to die."
- W. H. Auden

It doesn't matter what age we are. We have a choice. Biological life is an automatic process. To live creatively - purposefully - won't happen by chance. It takes hard work, like exercising physically takes hard work.

Every seven seconds a person turns 50. "Whether we like it or not," says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in Finding Flow, "our lives will leave a mark on the universe." This is an awesome responsibility and an awesome call -- whether one is 50, 15 or 105.

How might we "achieve a society that continually seeks to develop the capacities of all its members and to provide them with the opportunities for exercising these capacities"? (W. White, Beyond Conformity, 1961)

"Older persons need a dream as well as a memory." (Rabbi Herchel)

Bernard Baruch said: "During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think."

The Power to Learn Longer
"The aging mind holds sizeable potential for new learning," say Paul Baltes and Jacqui Smith in their keynote from the Valencia Forum. These researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany, highlighted several points of "good news for the third age (young old)," including:
* Substantial latent potential for better fitness (physical, mental) in old age.
* Successive cohorts (generations) show gains in physical and mental fitness.
* Evidence of cognitive-emotional reserves of the aging mind.
* High levels of emotional and personal well-being (self-plasticity).
* Effective strategies to master the gains and losses of late life.

See also this short article on mental fitness.