The wisdom of mindful ageing

A gentle and reassuring look at how mindfulness and compassion can help us all to age positively and make the most of our later years.

Berit makes it clear that we aren’t talking about spending hours in a full lotus, mindfulness can be applied to our everyday lives. The book offers a framework to help us deal with negative thoughts, illness,treat ourselves with compassion and gain insights to help us to live happier lives. There is an accompanying website with guided meditations for each step of the process.

The book is well researched and left me thinking of the ways I can use mindfulness to my benefit.

I was attracted to this book by the title yet I missed the word 'mindfulness' on the front page. So when I started reading I thought 'oh, just another mindfulness book'. But having read it, it isn't just another mindfulness book, it's possibly the only mindfulness book you need. I really liked the author's writing style, which is spare, professional, clearly laid out and well researched. There is a easy framework to follow (easy to understand, not so easy to practice!) and a very good website linked to the book which includes further information and some very good meditations.

The book is aimed at older adults, but I think it would be very useful for anyone interested in mindfulness related to ageing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of the book for review.

this was very clearly outlined and useful, i'm sure, for some people. pretty much a quintessential self-help book. it was just kind of dry for me.

Berit Lewis' Ageing Upwards: A Mindfulness-based Framework for the Longevity Revolution, Is an insightfully written look at our ideas and attitudes about ageing. How are they serving us, personally and as a society? What would happen if we reframed our long-held beliefs associating age with decline? What if we challenged ageist views and created a new, more positive framework?

Lewis combines both years of research and experience in mindfulness and meditation to guide us through the process. By noticing our emotions surrounding ageing, we can reframe our thoughts (and thereby our emotions) in a more positive way. "Paying more attention to the pleasant and beautiful moments in life can give us richer lives," she tells us. She argues that we are constantly creating ourselves and if we use a beginner's mindset, we can become empowered to be the people we would like to be. So much of ageing is out of our control, but we can always control our reactions to what life brings our way, she says.

This mind-expanding shift may be exactly what we need to level up our lives after the age of 5o. Instead of accepting the popular rhetoric that decline is all we have to look forward to, we can enrich our lives and ourselves by being intentional and practicing acceptance and self-compassion. A wonderfully eye-opening read. This book will appeal to lovers of self-help and psychology.

From ‘Ageing Upwards’: “Do you see yourself as ‘old’?” Or maybe ‘middle-aged’.” How old is ‘old’? This book is all about dispelling the stereotypes that society has imposed on us regarding the notion of age and aging. How do we grow older instead of merely getting older? There has been a large amount of research done on the prediction of traits that affect a person's well-being. And although these personality traits aren’t apparent in all of us, the ability to make changes for our own benefit is a possibility. Herein is where meditation and mindfulness come into play. Maybe you’ve tried meditation and looked into mindfulness but got nowhere. Like all things worthwhile, it takes practice. And patience. Maybe it’s time to practice patience. Take some time to read this book. It’s not just another book that talks to you about how to meditate. If you think that working long hours early in life so you can save sleeping and resting until retirement is what life is all about, take a look at what this book has to say to you. Perhaps a better balance in our lives now is what should be happening to avoid the burnout that eventually will come; sooner than you think if your mind-set is set in the past.

I always try to include a book each month that focuses on positivity around ageing. This book re-frames ageing by applying Mindfulness techniques. It gave me an appreciation that ageing should be seen not as an issue, but as a different opportunity.

If you think of a knife that's too old and blunt to be used for cutting vegetables, you might consider it could be used for other purposes. And that, in a nutshell, is Lewis's approach.

I very much agree with her statement that ageism is the only "ism" that still seems acceptable in society. The problem is so deep rooted that even older people are ageist, and we see this all the time with celebrities and people on Instagram trying to look younger with quick fixes such as Botox.

Lewis provides a set of tools to re-train the mind to explore what each of us can do to take responsibility for our own life and ageing process. She warns that it's a long process and you need to be dedicated, but the outcome is worth it.