Itineraries Winter 2008 | Partnerships In Aging

Contents:

Life Planning for the Third Age by Meg Newhouse

The InternShop by Julie Lopp

Making a Public Difference by Jim Scheibel

Opening Doors for Encore Careers by Phyllis Segal

Resources for Following Your Heart by Emily Kimball

Work in the Third Age of Life by John G. Sullivan

Books of Interest: Barbara Kammerlohr reviews a trio of books on work in later life

From the editor…

The six articles in this issue of Itineraries describe creative approaches to addressing the challenge and expanding older adult engagement with meaningful work.

“The Life Planning Network” is a new community of professionals who provide a broad spectrum of life planning services and resources for the Third Age. Meg Newhouse is the founder of the New England-based network, an experienced career counselor, and co-author of Life Planning for the Third Age: A Design and Resource Guide and Toolkit.
“The InternShop” provides opportunities for midlife interns to try out vocations that fit their skills and passions through paid or unpaid internships. Its founder, Julie Lopp, is an entrepreneur and a faculty member at the Fairchild Institute in Santa Barbara, CA.
In “Making a Public Difference,” Jim Scheibel, former mayor of St. Paul, MN, and the director of VISTA and the Senior Corps during the Clinton Administration, argues that the best work of one’s life may likely be in one’s future. The opportunity to give back, to be involved with an issue about which one is passionate, and to leave a legacy can be filled through service.
“Opening Doors for Encore Careers” describes the challenge taken on by Civic Ventures to inspire non-profit employers to tap the talent pool of Older Americans. Phyllis Segal, Vice President of Civic Ventures, is directing this effort from Boston, MA.
“The Aging Adventurer” has published a resource guide to help older adults find ways to follow their hearts. Emily Kimball, founder of Make It Happen!, shows how volunteering, education, and travel adventure qualify as meaningful work.
“Work in the Third Age of Life” tells a story about the nature of right livelihood, to encourage those in the Third Age to do everything with more attentiveness, gratitude, and joy. Now based in North Carolina, John Sullivan is Powell Professor Emeritus at Elon University.
Finally, Barbara Kammerlohr, Second Journey’s Book Page editor, reviews three books that complement the articles and show how meaningful work exercises all of the dimensions of wellness: physical, mental, social, emotional, vocational, and spiritual.

We’ve embellished the issue with two especially relevant poems — “The Seven Seeds of Meaningful Work” by Dave Smith and “To Be of Use” by Marge Piercy. At the start of most articles, you will also find a brief excerpt from David Whyte’s wonderful book on work, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity. Its rare mix of poetry, stories from the workplace front (like the one below), Whyte’s own unusual take on the industrial revolution, and his account of his personal search for meaning through work will delight you.

Why is meaningful work — paid or unpaid — through the last breath so important?
Read on . . .

— Janet Hively

The Seven Seeds of Meaningful Work
By Dave Smith

Meaningful work comes alive
With faith in others as well as ourselves.
And that requires Hope…

Meaningful work comes alive
When hope engenders positive change,
And that requires Justice…

Meaningful work comes alive
When justice acts from care and compassion.
And that requires Temperance…

Meaningful work comes alive
When temperance moderates thoughtless greed.
And that requires Prudence…

Meaningful work comes alive
With the prudence of a creative democracy.
And that requires Courage…

Meaningful work comes alive
When purposeful courage fits community needs.
And that requires Love…

Meaningful work comes alive
With love of others as well as ourselves.
And that requires You and Me.

from To Be of Use (2005)

Life Planning for the Third Age by Meg Newhouse

Meg Newhouse is a nationally known pioneer in Third-Age LifeCrafting and an experienced group facilitator, teacher, coach, and program designer. As a catalyst for living with passion, purpose and grace after 50, she gives talks and workshops, writes, and consults to organizations, helping people create vital, fulfilling later lives that express who they are and how they want to contribute. She is currently working on a book on purposeful legacy. The founder of the Life Planning Network, she is the co-author of Life Planning for the Third Age: A Design Guide and Toolkit. Meg holds a BA from Wellesley College, MAT from Harvard University, and PhD in political science from UCLA. She is an avid learner/seeker on many fronts, a serious amateur flutist, and devoted friend, family member and grandmother. Visit her website at www.passionandpurpose.com.

“We must continually forge our identities through our endeavors.”
— David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity

Imagine a large room filled to capacity and buzzing with excitement. About 140 participants from all over the US and as far away as Canada, France, Russia, and Switzerland have gathered for the first national conference on Life Planning for the Third Age (aka, the post-midlife “bonus years” of extended middle age and active elderhood). They are applauding Gene Cohen, the keynote speaker. Author of The Creative Age and The Mature Mind, he has just inspired the audience with his compelling, data-driven, delightfully illustrated case for positive psychological and neurological growth with — not despite — aging. And they are looking forward to the next day’s pre-conference, followed by two more days of life-planning offerings as part of the first National Positive Aging Conference, held in December at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Why was this conference significant in the context of meaningful work on the Second Journey? And why should it excite a broader audience of third-agers and professionals?

Let me start with the bottom line and a bald assertion: We are on the cusp of a paradigm shift from a deficit model of aging and retirement to a model of continued growth, contribution, and possibility, which features meaningful work as an essential piece. Because the time is ripe and the need is clear, a national network is emerging to support diverse professionals working to establish an integrated approach to life planning for these 20–30 bonus years of (mostly) positive aging.

In this brief article I will outline the context that suggests the need for life planning, briefly describe The Life Planning Network, and recap the genesis and outcome of the recent conference.

The Context

Because of the longevity revolution of the last century, most of us can expect 20–30 “bonus years” of extended middle age and active elderhood, presenting opportunities as well as challenges. Because this involves a major transition to largely uncharted territory, many people need help in consciously creating a next phase of life that falls between their career-building years and eventual retirement. Answering questions such as “What will fulfill me?” and “How can I use my talents and gifts to serve others?” initiates a process of exploring choices among a wide array of life activities. This process includes but moves beyond financial planning and the newer need for later life career planning to include all dimensions of vital aging. As people become more engaged and fulfilled citizens during the “third age” of their lives, the ripple effects will gradually raise the value society places on this rich resource as well as on aging itself.

The Life Planning Network

Helping to catalyze this paradigm shift is the Life Planning Network (LPN), a small but vibrant New England-based community of professionals from diverse fields who share a commitment to providing a broad spectrum of life planning services and resources for the Third Age. Founded in 2002 and incorporated as a 501(c)6 since 2005, the LPN offers professional development, support, and opportunities to shape the burgeoning field of third-age life planning. It equips and mobilizes its members — working together and with strategic allies — to bring life planning into the mainstream and to advance the cause of self- and social renewal in the third age.

A small, values-driven organization of committed volunteers can accomplish a lot — including organizing a national conference — under nourishing conditions, including an inspiring mission/vision, a model of co-leadership and collaboration, and a value of learning and professionalism leading to valuable educational programs, study groups, and projects to increase our members’ knowledge and competencies. A commitment to diversity and a holistic framework has generated contributions from a range of professionals helping people intentionally design their later lives. In addition to life, career, and executive coaches, our members include financial and estate planners as well as housing, health, educational, and HR professionals, who refer to, collaborate with, and learn from each other.

The Conference

Two years ago LPN articulated a vision to hold a national conference to bring together others from diverse professions and locales to share and expand our knowledge, enhance our professionalism, and create ways to further conversations and collaboration. In the early planning stages we were fortunate to join a group of national leaders in the Positive Aging movement1 in planning for the first national Positive Aging conference. We were also blessed with a substantial sponsorship from Secure Path by Transamerica, a farsighted financial services company who shares our vision.

The conference program was designed to maximize participation, ensure high quality, present a mix of theoretical and practical information relevant to our work, encourage both structured and spontaneous conversation, and ascertain the need, desire, and capacity for creating a national network of aligned organizations.

Based on both written and informal evaluations, we can say that we exceeded our goals. “Energizing, inspiring, empowering, exciting, challenging, cutting-edge, encouraging, community, connection” were among the repeated descriptors. Most important perhaps was the response to the session on “Growing Life Planning Networks”, suggesting a desire and initial commitment to form aligned organizations in different parts of the country.

The LPN Board has committed to co-creating a process of organizational development with those who offered to take leadership roles. This will include:

Offering an orientation session to acquaint regional leaders more thoroughly with our values, guiding principles, structure, and lessons learned.
Setting up communication vehicles (e.g., web-based and tele-conferences) to enable us to continue our conversation.
Working with Secure Path by Transamerica to establish a task force for collaborative ventures.
Exploring the development of a national Advisory Group to formulate strategy for high-level partnerships and advocacy in the policy arena.
Holding another national conference in 1–2 years.

For our existing LPN, the challenge is to maintain the excitement and momentum for growth while honoring our local needs and capacity constraints. No one doubts the value of the enterprise — to support and enhance a redefined profession and ultimately to benefit the third-age “consumer” and transform our cultural concepts of aging.

Notes

1 Conference organizers: James Frasier (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute [OLLI] at Eckerd College) (lead), Donna Butts and Claire Wilker (Generations United), Gloria Cavanaugh (Gloria Cavanaugh Consulting), Nancy Ceridwyn (American Society on Aging), Judy Goggin (Civic Ventures), Steve Lembke (Elderhostel), Ron Manheimer (NC Center f or Creative Retirement), Harry R. Moody and Michael Patterson (AARP), Meg Newhouse (LPN), Susan Perlstein (National Center for Creative Aging), Sabrina Reilly (National Council On Aging), Ara Rogers (OLLI at University of South FL).

The InternShop by Julie Lopp

Julie Lopp was raised in Minnesota, taught Language Arts in California, worked in public relations and advertising, and enjoyed a minor career in theater, radio, and TV. She is currently the owner of JoMax Property Management Co. and founder of Grandma’s Enterprises, specializing in candy manufacturing in high-volume tourist retail stores. Her own career transition was as the Executive Director of Life Plan Center in San Francisco, the first national non-profit offering career and life-planning services for men and women over 50. She currently lives in Santa Barbara, CA, where she consults and provides workshops dealing with Internships for men and women in mid- and later life.

“At every stage in our journey through work, we need to be in conversation
with our desire for something suited our individual natures.”
— David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity

Internships? Aren’t they for students and young people?

Not any more! Just as we need new language to describe the Third Age as a new, vital stage of mid- and later life, we also need to remodel some of our traditional ways of thinking about working. Internships for men and women at this mature stage of life are ideally suited for a win-win for individuals and organizations.

An internship is a temporary position with the purpose of providing hands-on work experience to see if there’s an interest in a particular field, to create a network of contacts, and possibly to gain access to full-time employment. An internship is generally designed for a college student; unpaid or partially paid, sometimes with course credit; and it is usually offered to fit within a student’s schedule, i.e., either full-time summers or part-time in the school year.

The difference in emphasis between the student intern and the midlife intern is that students primarily draw on the talent of the organization, while mature interns contribute the talent of their experience, contacts, and expertise.

The InternShop© program takes the traditional internship and tweaks it to address the current needs of adults in midlife transition. These internships are short-term, part-time, and project oriented. They are initiated by the Internshop© in either of two ways: “Outside In” or “Inside Out.”

“Outside In” Approach

The “Outside In” approach takes internships that are already out there and modifies them to suit the midlife population.

The first step is to research some of the thousands (yes, thousands) of current internships published every year, by using the internet, library, bookstore, or career center, to look up internships of interest.
The second step is to select up to four or five actual internships and remodel them to suit the specifics of the mature intern.
The third step is to apply and propose the remodeling to the organizations. An application package can include a resumé, application information, and a list of accomplishments. In the cover letter, special attention needs to be paid to highlighting skills and what age and experience can offer to the organization. According to William Bridges, an earnest desire will often trump all other considerations. This is also a perfect laboratory to practice negotiation skills, e.g., “I don’t need a salary, but how can we be creative with health benefits (or transportation, expenses, etc.)?”

“Inside Out” Approach

The “Inside Out” method is a “tailor made” approach. It’s more work, often more satisfying, and more likely to land an actual job. This approach comes from a personal need to explore or grow that tends to arise from deep inside.

The first step begins with self-exploration using a life review process which pays special attention to secrets, dreams, desires, and work fantasies. Is there something you’ve always wanted to do or a work adventure that you’ve always wanted to have? What cause do you truly care about? Where would you like to make a contribution or leave a legacy? What’s missing that could offer a greater sense of meaning or that you’d be proud to accomplish?
The second step is to get as specific as possible. This is an “inside job” and doesn’t depend upon anything except creativity. YOU design the internship. What does the project look like? What purpose is it going to serve? What is the organization you’d like to work for? What is your particular personal situation and how does it apply to your project? How many hours, days, or weeks are you willing to commit? How will you measure your accomplishment?
The third step is to thoroughly research organizations where you’d like to intern. Learn who’s who and what the organization (or person in charge) NEEDS. The one universal is usually money, which translates to sales for companies, and fund-raising for nonprofits; but there are lots of other unmet needs in both the expansion and conservation phases of an organization. What contribution will the internship make to the organization? How can you save them time or money? What is the need for which this internship is the answer? The design can be as limited or as extensive as you choose. Basically, what’s in it for them as well as for you?
The fourth step is to write a mini proposal or plan for the project. Include a bio or resumé, why you’re interested, and what you can do for the organization. The proposal should include what you want to accomplish, how many hours you’re willing to devote, how much time you’d like in review or discussion of the project, what resources of materials, space, and people are needed, how to fund it, and finally, when periodic evaluation meetings are to be scheduled.
While facilitating adult internships for the last several years, I’ve been surprised by the receptivity of the workplace. I had expected to have to “pitch” the overwhelming talents and skills of the experienced worker to overcome resistance. What I heard was, “You’ve got someone who’s got the values, skills and work ethic of the older generation? I’d love to have that kind of an intern!” Mature interns come “pre-packaged” and have done all the work. They’ve learned about the organization; they bring an experienced set of skills, are self-directed, and can generate their own reporting and accountability standards. It’s a great deal for an organization.

There are many advantages to a midlife internship, not the least of which is trying out workplace conditions that match shifting perspectives about time. There is a reluctance to spend time doing unchallenging projects, or with people or values that aren’t compatible. Interests such as travel, visiting, or caring for family, attending workshops, classes, and conferences all beckon. The InternShop© process responds to David Whyte’s admonition: “At every stage in our journey through work, we need to be in conversation with our desire for something suited our individual natures.” You can try out your dream — with confidence that there is an escape clause!

Making a Public Difference by Jim Scheibel

The author, Jim Scheibel, helped to create Vital Force, one of the programs he describes below, as a new initiative of the Vital Aging Network in Minnesota. Scheibel’s career includes serving in public office in his hometown of St. Paul, MN, as a City Council member and Mayor. During the Clinton administration, he directed VISTA and the Senior Corps; during his tenure, the Experience Corps began as a demonstration project. Jim hopes and believes that we have arrived at the day that service by older adults is a common expectation we will all share.

“Work is not a static endpoint or a mere exercise in providing, but a journey
and a pilgrimage in which the core elements of our being are tested in the world.”
— David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity

Older adults and especially baby boomers want “to make a difference,” “to give back to their community,” and “contribute to issues they feel passionate about.” One questions whether one can even have a successful life without service being a part of it.

I hope that “volunteer” will become a strong and powerful word in the vocabulary of baby boomers. We have the opportunity to give the word new meaning. I have found it useful to encourage people to focus on doing public work as older adults. Many have done their job work and provided for their family; now they want to contribute to the public and build their community.

The Center for Citizenship and Democracy and its co-director Harry Boyte have developed a useful definition of public work. First, it should involve something one feels passionate about; it should allow a person to demonstrate or share his or her talents and expertise. It should also provide the opportunity to learn. Public work should be work that connects a person to a larger issue: for example, the person building a Habitat for Humanity home is involved in creating affordable housing. Finally, public work should connect people to the larger fabric of society; it should be an opportunity to interact with diverse groups of people.

There are some good examples of where people can participate in public work.

Hands on Network

Volunteering for one-time projects is a good first step for many people. These kinds of experiences can help a person explore what their passion might be, as well as protect them from feeling over committed. Giving a school a “make over” or planting trees in a park can be a good introduction to service. Hands On websites throughout the country can direct people to these projects.

Many Hands On organizations are also training volunteers to design their own projects. Baby boomers could serve as an important leadership resource for Hands On. Volunteers could also explore the “citizenship academies” that some Hands On affiliates are hosting. These are opportunities to learn more about the issues facing our communities and their root causes.

Vital Force

Through the Vital Aging Network and the Center for Citizenship and Democracy, pilot Vital Force projects have been developed.

Because of their experience, older adults sometimes are interested in using their problem-solving and entrepreneurial skills in their community work. Building on the Experience Corps model that I helped develop with the Corporation for National Service, Vital Force gives people the opportunity to create their own public work.

Under this model, a person acts as a convener and brings together a small group of eight to fifteen people. They might be recruited on the basis of their neighborhood, their church affiliation, their union, or their employer. They begin with some basic questions: “What is important to us?” What needs to change?” “What would improve our community?” In the process of answering these questions, issues are identified, then research is conducted: Who is addressing this? What needs to happen to make a difference? Who has the power to make change? Who might we work with? Out of this process a project is designed, usually with a six-month to one-year timeline. The project might include direct work/service or advocacy. The plan is implemented and completed. The group evaluates, reflects, and celebrates. The group is now ready to take on the next project.

In St. Anthony, MN, a group of adults chose to work on making recommendations to the city for new and relevant programming for older adults. The project included surveying residents and designing programs.

It is worth noting that Vital Force doesn’t necessarily focus on issues for older adults. In fact, many volunteers express the desire to partner and work cooperatively with young people.

Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC)

IVC was started by Jesuits and has some similarities to the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC). IVC recruits adults age 50 and older to spend 15 hours a week for 9 months working with organizations that address the issue of poverty. A placement might be working with students at a school or serving at a drop-in center for homeless people. Two of the features which have made IVC successful and which can be replicated are:

City meetings. Once a month the volunteers gather to share their experiences and learn from one another. This provides an opportunity for social interaction, but it also gives the volunteers the opportunity to support and learn from one another.

Reflection and journaling. Each volunteer is encouraged to keep a journal. They are also assigned a “reflector”, someone trained to assist the volunteer in reflecting on their experience. This process enhances the depth and meaning of the volunteer’s experience.

VISTA, AmeriCorps, Peace Corps

One should keep in mind that AmeriCorps and Peace Corps are open to people 50 and over. The best job someone might ever have could come from one of these government-supported programs. AmeriCorpS, in particular, should do more to create meaningful and effective placements for older adults.

An Agenda for 2008

I can never remember a time when so many candidates for President have already issued statements on service. Throughout the election year I hope candidates take time to address and promote policies of service — and not just for 17 to 24 year olds.

What is needed is an umbrella, a united symbol that would inspire all older adults to give back to their country. People want to be part of something larger than their individual service. There should be a common expectation and desire for people to serve at least part-time for two years. A part of every person’s legacy should be their years in adult service.

Opening Doors for Encore Careers by Phyllis Segal

Phyllis N. Segal, vice president at Civic Ventures, directs the BreakThrough Award program and other initiatives aimed at inspiring and enabling encore careers. She also teaches executive education courses sponsored by MIT’s Institute for Work and Employment Research and Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. Before beginning her encore career, Segal led organizations and practiced law in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors for more than 30 years.

Imagine the power that will be harnessed when older adults seeking a new phase of work are connected with social sector organizations that need talent for solving our communities’ most pressing problems. Encore careers are being invented by baby boomers and pre-boomers who want to work in new ways and on new terms to realize a deep interest in leaving the world a better place than they found it.1 The experience dividend this offers our nation should be good news, given growing labor shortages in education, health care, government, and the nonprofit sector. But as with all uncharted terrain, capturing this dividend presents challenges as well as opportunities. Nonprofit and government employers are only beginning to recognize their self-interest in tapping the passion and talent of encore seekers. And pathways are just beginning to emerge to bring these individuals and work opportunities together.

A number of organizations are blazing the trail. Of particular note: The ten employers and pathway programs that recently won the MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures BreakThrough Award for their work in capturing encore talent to get critical societal work done.2 The diversity of these winners signals the broad potential for others to follow their lead. They range from small nonprofits in rural Kentucky and central Pennsylvania, to a large public university, to one of the largest YMCAs in North America. Some operate with as few as 20 employees, others with over 2,000. Their employees are engaged in a wide range of important social-purpose jobs in direct service and organizational roles — as child care workers, teachers, advocates for the elderly, environmental stewards, non-profit program managers, fundraisers, administrators, marketing executives, and more.

These leading-edge employers are clear about why it is in their interest to tap this talent pool. At Leesburg Regional Medical Center/Villages Regional Hospital, recruiting and retaining employees over 50 became a central strategy for opening a new hospital with big staffing needs and the challenge of industry-wide nursing shortages. For the Rochester YMCA, an expanding older adult membership led to hiring fitness instructors who know from experience the aches and pains of aging and the limits of older bodies. And at the University of California at Berkeley, temporary vacancies (resulting from transitions including parental leaves and sabbaticals) are being filled through an innovative online resource created by the Retiree Work Opportunities Program.

The experience of BreakThrough Award winners shows how including encores in the workforce produces high-quality service for clients, and valuable cost savings. For example, in contrast to typically high and costly turnover rates among child care workers, turnover is virtually nonexistent at the Rainbow Intergenerational Child Care Center. Frail elders are well served by the unusually stable 50+ workforce at the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency. Job performance is strengthened, and the costs of employee training reduced, when veterans who become teachers through the innovative Troops to Teachers program bring to their new careers the leadership, discipline, teamwork, planning, and organizing experience that is essential to success in the military and teaching alike. And the life and work skills developed by former truck drivers over 50 who are hired by Allied Coordinated Transportation Services create an experienced workforce that safely transports children whose moms are in welfare-to-work programs and kidney dialysis patients going to medical appointments. Yet another benefit is that the entire workforce is strengthened when encore employees mentor younger colleagues.

BreakThrough Award winners also show other employers how they can boost workforce recruitment efforts, shape flexible work options, and get creative with compensation. For example, at Leesburg, flexibility has become the norm, with scheduling options including shifts ranging from 4 to 12 hours, compressed schedules, seasonal jobs, job sharing, and telecommuting. And in Ohio, the Cleveland Metroparks OWLS program — which is attracting 50+ adults to seasonal and part-time positions — found a way to help its part-time workers with their health insurance needs without extending insurance as an employer-paid benefit.

Finally, this vanguard has developed innovative strategies for connecting demand with supply. For example, two “connector” programs at opposite ends of the country, ReServe in New York and Mature Workers Connection in Arizona, help social purpose employers find well-qualified employees over 50. The programs offer two different approaches for handling the recruitment and screening of jobs as well as people. Both work closely with employers and employees to assure a good fit.

Although the marketplace for encore careers is still far from robust, doors are being opened by these organizations and others. Community colleges are developing programs to help boomers launch the next phase of their working lives. Corporations like IBM are supporting employees who want to transition to teaching and other social purpose work. The InternShop offers a path for encore seekers to explore their interests and possibly gain access to paid work (see article by Julie Lopp in this issue). Search firms, retraining programs, and specialized job listings, including on-line resources, are helping individuals find their encores. New and innovative programs are emerging to fill the need for easily accessible pathways for encore seekers to find opportunities for social purpose work. And we are becoming clearer about the barriers to overcome, including employer misconceptions about older workers; nonprofits with limited resources to invest in human resource management; hiring practices that get in the way; and a dearth of flexible work opportunities.3

In short, seeds of change are beginning to sprout all around us. But more must happen before we can become an encore nation, where millions of people realize a distinct and compelling vision of work in the second half of life. To bring the passion and talent of older adults into the workforce in meaningful ways, we will need many more persistent pioneers who push through doors that are not yet open; innovators who create ways to keep them open for others to follow; determined advocates who challenge entrenched barriers; and social sector employers who recognize and act on their self-interest.

You can learn more and become part of the movement that will build this future at www.encore.org.

Notes

1 Marc Freedman, Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life
(Public Affairs, 2007). See review in this issue by Barbara Kammerlohr.

2 2007 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures BreakThrough Award (Civic Ventures, 2007).

3 Jill Lasner-Lotto, Boomers are Ready for Nonprofits, But Are Non-profits Ready for Them? (The Conference Board, 2007) and Max Stier, Are You Experienced? How Boomers Can Help Our Government Meet its Talent Needs (Civic Ventures Policy Series, 2007).

To be of use
By Marge Piercy

The people I love best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amorphas for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

from Circles in the Water (1982)

Resources for Following Your Heart by Emily Kimball

The Aging Adventurer, Emily Kimball speaks nationally on Creative Aging, Taking Risks and Making Dreams Happen. She is a longtime outdoor enthusiast who takes lessons learned from her adventures and applies them to everyday life. Her company, Make It Happen!, is based in Richmond, VA.

Jan Hively offered a fascinating — and inspiring — definition of meaningful work at her session at the National Positive Aging Conference in St. Petersburg, FL, in December:

Paid or unpaid productivity that benefits you and/or your family, and/or your employer, and/or your community.

In Jan’s session, we divided into small groups to discuss a “work” experience we’d had recently that matched our passions and skills and expressed our values. Somewhat sheepishly, I chose to describe a recent Florida bike trip riding from Key Largo to Key West and back. It matched my passion for the outdoors with my bike touring skills. I was happily involved with the other 100 riders while swimming, bird watching, and sharing meals. At the end of each day, I felt physically tired but mentally satisfied. The trip gave me a great sense of freedom and renewed my spirit.

Later I asked Jan, feeling a little guilty about my work example, could this really fit under her definition of work? Her enthusiastic affirmation led us to discuss how older people can find meaningful ways to spend their time and follow their hearts.

I believe in mixing fun with mission in retirement. Given that many retirees feel they just don’t have the resources for adventure and travel, I have developed a Resource Guide for Aging Adventurers that helps elders find opportunities for volunteering, learning, travel, and adventure. Living on a fixed income is certainly a challenge, and my guide includes some inexpensive options. The 14-page guide lists 55 well-researched opportunities that encourage seniors to pursue their passion without breaking the bank. It stimulates people to think about the possibilities available in their later years — locally, nationally, and overseas. In addition to including e-mail addresses, web sites, phone numbers, and brief descriptions of each listing, it provides a bibliography of other helpful books.

The booklet has something for everyone: those interested in low-cost home stays, home exchanges, travel clubs, working on a cruise ship or in a national park, traveling as a courier, caretaking others’ exotic properties, teaching English in China, volunteering at archeological digs, or trying out a “vocational vacation” to see what it is like to do something totally different. The number of opportunities out there boggles the mind!

If you like to do volunteer work, learn about the American Hiking Society’s Directory of Voluntary Positions on Public Land. As I travel the country, often staying in National Parks, I run into seniors who are working as campground hosts, naturalists, gardeners, trail maintainers, or computer helpers. Many parks offer free RV or tent sites to their volunteers. Grandparents often choose parks near their grandkids, so they can visit on their days off without being a nuisance. If you choose to work for wages at facilities serving parks, you often can live in the dormitory. There you can mix with all the smart foreigners who find this a way to see America “on the cheap”!

I encourage you to allow yourself to dream without boundaries and to follow your heart in pursuing new opportunities. Take the plunge, and make your third stage of life unforgettable!

Work in the Third Age of Life by John G. Sullivan

“We have to realize that our lives are at stake, the one unique life, entirely our own, it is possible for each of us to live. Death is much closer to each of us then we will admit; we must not postpone that living as if we will last forever.”
— David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity

HERE IS A STORY ABOUT WORK:

For several weeks strange sounds had drifted over the mountains from the neighboring valley. There was much talk in the village about what these noises could be, but no one could make sense of them. Even the village elders had never heard anything like them. Finally one of the young men of the village was chosen to cross the mountains and see what was going on.

After two days of hiking he reached the mountaintop and saw in the valley far below a hive of activity with dozens of people working. As he drew closer, he saw a line of people, each with a huge stone in front of them that they were hammering and chiseling.

When he finally reached the valley floor he approached a young man at one end of the line and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Huh!” grunted the young man. “I’m killing time until I get off work.”

Puzzled, the hiker turned to the second person in the line, a young woman, and asked, “Excuse me, but what are you doing?”

“I’m earning a living to support my family,” she responded.

Scratching his head, the hiker moved on to the third person and asked again, “What are you doing?”

“I’m creating a beautiful statue,” came the reply. Turning to the next person, the hiker repeated his question.

“I’m helping to build a cathedral,” came the answer.

“Ah!” said the hiker. “I think I’m beginning to understand.” Approaching the woman who was next in line he asked, “And what are you doing?

“I am helping the people in this town and generations that follow them, by helping to build this cathedral.”

“Wonderful,” exclaimed the hiker. “And you, sir? He called to the man beside her.

“I am helping to build this cathedral in order to serve all those who use it and to awaken myself in the process. I am seeking my salvation through service to others.”

Finally the hiker turned to the last stone worker, an old, lively person whose eyes twinkled and whose mouth formed a perpetual smile. “And what are you doing?” he inquired.

“Me?” smiled the elder. “Doing?” The elder roared with laughter. “This ego dissolved into God many years ago. There is no ‘I’ left to ‘do’ anything. God works through this body to help and awaken all people and draw them to Him.”1

This is a story of how what we do takes on meaning and purpose through the mode of consciousness which gives context to what we do.

“What are you doing?” asks the young man. There were six answers and then a seventh. Let’s look at the first six:

“I’m killing time until I get off work.”
“I’m earning a living to support my family.”
“I’m creating a beautiful statue.”
“I’m helping to build a cathedral.”
“I am helping the people in this town and generations that follow them, by helping to build this cathedral.”
“I am helping to build this cathedral in order to serve all those who use it and to awaken myself in the process. I am seeking my salvation through service to others.”

The first pair of responders do not prize the work at all. For the first person, work is an obstacle to get through in order to have “free time.” For the second, work has value solely in terms of the money earned. Of course, the goal of supporting one’s family is surely a worthy one, but many activities — ethical and unethical — gain recompense. So recompense is only externally linked to the work itself.2

The next pair of responses center on what is being done — building a statue, building a cathedral. Work here has the mark of a craft with its own intrinsic standards of use and beauty. Statues may be well made or ill made; they may be beautiful or not. Furthermore, the cathedral as a whole is marked by standards of use and beauty. Such structures may be poorly built, hazardously built, built without taste or beauty, or they may be well built, safely built, beautifully built, inspiringly built.

The next pair of responses broadens the context still further. What is the point and purpose of the work, in this case building a cathedral? Who is to be served? “The people of this town and generations to come,” says one. “Myself and all who use it,” says another who adds, “I am seeking my salvation through service.”

Here the context broadens. For the sake of whom or what is the work? What is its point and purpose? Who is to be served? The answers given are instructive. The first brings in place and people; in fact, people of this generation and generations to come. The second answer adds the person him or herself as part of a community that extends to all who use the work, and this answer explicitly brings in the spiritual as well — seeking salvation through service.

And the seventh answer?

“Me?” smiled the elder. “Doing?” The elder roared with laughter. “This ego dissolved into God many years ago. There is no ‘I’ left to ‘do’ anything. God works through this body to help and awaken all people and draw them to Him.”

This is the answer of a sage — one who has reached a high level of development. There is a sense of no work (in the usual sense). Work and play merge, and gratitude fills the heart. Robert Frost’s lines might apply when he says:

But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation with my vocation
As two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future’s sake.3

But what is the nature of work? And is there a special opportunity to relate to whatever we do in new ways as we enter our third age? I think here that the first age is that of being a student, and the second age is being a householder and often having care of a family. I think of the third age as what are now called retirement years. In the Hindu frame I am following, this age invites us to simplify and reconnect with nature in a way similar to the forest dweller of old. And it also holds out the sage beckoning. Surely just as the work of student can continue in different ways throughout life, so the work of the householder can continue into retirement years. We learn much of the ways of the world in the householder stage. We can offer much to many sectors for the upbuilding of the community. Yet perhaps our gifts for the household or the kingdom or commonwealth (to put it in the older way) can be offered in a different spirit, more mindfully and less beholden to the forces of fame and fortune.

Perhaps there is a way to do everything we do in this third age with more attentiveness and more gratitude and more joy.

Philosopher–economist E. F. Schumacher speaks of good work and says that good work has these three purposes:

First, to provide necessary and useful goods and services.
Second, to enable every one of us to use and thereby perfect our gifts like good stewards.
Third, to do so in service to, and in cooperation with, others, so as to liberate ourselves from our inborn egocentricity.4

In thinking of these three purposes, perhaps we might look to the three levels of body, mind/heart, and spirit.

First, at the physical level, there are goods and services to be provided, and we may aid in providing them through our labor, whether volunteering or working for pay. Some are done within the sphere of the home; others, outside the home. Wherever done and however recognized, such work can be done in large mind and heart. Such work matters in all of the ways the cathedral builders discovered.

Second we have talents of mind and heart and hand, and to continue to develop those talents is a second dimension of good work.

Third, we work in and for communities. We work with others and for others as well as ourselves. How we are with family, friends, and colleagues who companion us in this third age is itself an opportunity to grow, and to do this with laughter and lightness of being. “Ah, there I go again, doing and saying that. How foolish at times, how wise at times. How human always.” Our egocentric stance lessens and we acknowledge our true size, between everything and nothing.

So simplification and a reconnection with nature befit the forest dweller stage. And the sage-in-us beckons. At moments we, too, can burst into laughter.

May we experience a few “sage moments” along the way — utterly and completely through grace, as the trees in autumn stand golden and red in the sunset. Then the sage-in-us may think, along with the poet Anna Akhmatova:

And the sunset itself in waves of ether
is such that I can’t say with certainty
Whether day is ending, or the world, or whether
The secret of secrets is again in me.5

Notes

1 Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999), pp. 60–61.

2 For example, selling illegal drugs or engaging in other socially or environmentally destructive behavior can be a way to support one’s family.

3 Closing lines from “Two Tramps in Mud Time.” See The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969), p. 277.

4 See E. F. Schumacher, with Peter N. Gillingham, Good Work (New York: Harper and Row, 1979),
pp. 3–4.

5 See Anna Akhmatova’s poem, “On the Road,” in Anna Akhmatova, Poems, selected and translated by Lyn Coffin (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983), p. 100.

Books of Interest: Barbara Kammerlohr reviews a trio of books on work in later life

“The consummation of work lies not only in what we have done,
but who we have become while accomplishing the task.”
— David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity

The stage is set for a major shift in the workplace. While 78 million baby boomers near traditional retirement age, a mere 40 million GenXers wait to take their places. Prognosticators predict dire consequences for the economy as too few workers contribute to Social Security, Medicare, and other social programs.

Is this a looming crisis or an opportunity in disguise? Researchers are just beginning to understand the needs and reservoir of skills the generation that is the beneficiary of 20 to 30 extra years of life brings with it, along with — for most — good health and energy. Even as this research goes on, the landscape is changing in critical ways. Benefit retirement packages are mostly a thing of the past, and few boomers have saved enough to support themselves through those extra years. New also is the fact that Boomers want to work. They need it as much for psychological health as for financial support. Even neurological research on brain health points to staying active and solving problems as a hedge against senility. Doing crossword puzzles is not exactly what these researchers have in mind!

In this issue, we review three books that focus on the changing nature of work.

Marc Freedman, the author of Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life (Public Affairs, 2007), is recognized as one of the most visionary and incisive observers of the American social landscape. In Encore, Friedman focuses on the growing social movement that is displacing retirement as the central institution in the second half of life. Growing numbers of boomers are finding “encore careers” — careers that contribute to the well-being of others and draw on the true gifts and experience of the individual — at an age when previous generations would have retired.

Freedman identifies the convergence of three social trends as responsible for this new relationship with work and sees it as an opportunity to change the world of work into a more meaningful institution:

The working lives of Americans have been extended by longevity and other advantages not available to our grandparents.
By 2030, more than one in four Americans will be over 60, creating the potential of too few workers to sustain our society and its economy.
Few boomers have access to defined benefit plans and have saved enough to support a traditional retirement. They need to work, both for the meaning it gives their lives and the money it will provide.

Taken together, these three trends could signal the largest transformation of America’s workforce in over half a century.

Information for Encore came from interviews with hundreds of people in their fifties and sixties. All are true stories of life entrepreneurs who changed careers for work that is personally meaningful and self-satisfying. These were people who created “encore careers,” and their experiences show the rest of us the possibilities for changing work and our feelings about it.

Freedman recognizes that a gap still exists between having a job work and finding work that is significant and deeply satisfying. His history of “retirement” and critique of the American workplace notes changes that must occur in order to persuade boomers that work can be a satisfying and meaningful part of their lives. He reports that these changes are already happening in industries feeling the effects of too few workers to complete the job.

One section of the appendix contains a step-by-step guide and resources for identifying your own encore career. While the steps seem simple, many of them are quite difficult because they require serious soul searching and thinking about what you like to do and what is truly meaningful in your life.

Encore is one of the significant books of our generation, a “must read” for anyone interested in the institutional changes that accompany the approaching age wave.

In Claiming Your Place At the Fire: Living the Second Half of Your Life on Purpose (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2004), authors Richard Leider and David Shapiro use the campfire as a metaphor about how to restore respect and dignity to elders in our society. The idea came to Leider in Tanzania as he sat around a blazing campfire with members of the Hadza tribe, a group of hunters and gatherers who still live as the Earth’s first tribal societies had for thousands of years. He noticed that the elders of the tribe sat closer to the fire; younger members formed a circle around them, according them respect and listening to the wisdom of their stories. The experience brought into sharp relief the contrast between the respect accorded those elders and that accorded elders in our society.

His conclusions about this sad state of affairs can be instructive for those who would change the experience of aging in “modern” society:

“It is not just that they [tribal elders] are acknowledged by their people; that is a given. As importantly they claim themselves as vital resources for their communities… A person closest to the flame has to have something valuable to bring forth and must take the initiative to do so. In this way he or she claims that place of respect at the fire…”

This practical guide for how to claim one’s place at the fire makes the assumption that we will succeed by

“…recognizing what we have to offer our communities and figuring out the best way to share it. In doing so, we make ourselves a resource for success in our communities and thus, carve out the place in which we belong.”

Susan Crandell’s research into the growing trend among boomers to reinvent their lives is a guide for all of us who strive to re-define our own lives at any age. Thinking About Tomorrow: Reinventing Yourself at Midlife (Waner-Wellness, 2007) profiles 45 boomers who left traditional jobs and made time to seek their authentic selves. These people show us the power of service to others and how to re-define family and find support for change in a nontraditional family.

Crandell’s profiles were all about people between ages 41 and 59. Initially, this was disappointing. She had written a book about specific activities that lead to healthy, successful aging, but confined her research to people under 60. I soon realized, however, that this was not an impediment to profiting from the book. In this new age of longevity, “mid-life” has no specific numerical definition. In her profiles, the reader finds a blueprint for what we must do to reinvent our lives. That blueprint calls for careful attention to the things that give life meaning; the older we become, the more important that careful attention becomes. Age is not the issue.

For those interested in making more modest changes than those in the profiles, the book includes “50 ways to jumpstart your life—little reinventions with big payoffs.” These suggestions are scattered throughout the book and include such advice as:

Walk 10,000 steps a day.
Mentor a teen.
Organize a Scrabble tournament.
Write a business plan.
Write a novel about yourself.
Take a flying lesson.
Learn to meditate.
Throw a reinvention party.
Spend the day at the library.

Susan Crandell left the top editorial job at More, a magazine for women in their forties and fifties, to launch a new career and explore new areas of life. Thinking About Tomorrow evolved from her resolve to understand the social revolution of which she was a part, “a quiet revolution, an underground movement…in which men and women in midlife were writing new scripts for themselves and boldly launching new lives.” It is an easy read — a book with stories about courageous people that will inspire you to look at your own life.