Lighter as we go : virtues, character strengths, and aging / Mindy Greenstein, Jimmie Holland.
Greenstein, Mindy.; Holland, Jimmie.
2015
HQ1061 .G717 2015 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection

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Title Lighter as we go : virtues, character strengths, and aging / Mindy Greenstein, Jimmie Holland.
Author Greenstein, Mindy.
ISBN 9780199360956 (hardcover)
0199360952 (hardcover)
Published Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2015.
Language English
Description xix, 285 pages ; 19 cm
Call Number HQ1061 .G717 2015
Dewey Decimal Classification 305.260973
Summary "The fears of aging have been one long cascading domino effect through the years: twenty year-olds dread thirty; forty year-olds fear fifty; sixty fears seventy, and so it goes. 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. These worries tend to peak in midlife; but in Lighter as We Go, Mindy Greenstein and Jimmie Holland show us that, contrary to common wisdom, our sense of well-being actually increases with our age--often even in the presence of illness or disability. For the first time, Greenstein and Holland--on a joint venture between an 85 year-old and a fifty year-old--explore positive psychology concepts of character strengths and virtues to unveil how and why, through the course of a lifetime, we learn who we are as we go. Drawing from the authors' own personal, intergenerational friendship, as well as a broad array of research from many different areas--including social psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, humanities, psychiatry, and gerontology--Lighter as We Go introduces compassion, justice, community, and culture to help calm our cascading fears of aging."--Jacket.
"Contrary to common wisdom and the fears of mid-lifers, our sense of well-being actually goes up in older age, even in the presence of illness or disability. Lighter as We Go is the first book to explore how and why that is, drawing on positive psychology concepts of character strengths and virtues."--Publisher information.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Added Author Holland, Jimmie.
Record Appears in On-Campus Resources > Books
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Introduction
pt. 1. Character, character strength, and continuity over time
The Oak Tree and the U-Bend: age, well-being, and the experience of me'ness
A look at the grownup years: early, middle, and later adulthood
Character strengths and virtues
Older age in the olden days: a brief history of aging in the western world
pt. 2. The virtues
The virtue of transcendence: beyond the self
The underappreciated virtue of humor: you can't spell joy without the oy
The virtues of humanity and social justice: do unto others
The virtue of courage: if I only had the nerve
The virtue of wisdom: knowing what we don't know
The virtue of temperance: moderation in all things (almost)
The virtue of passing on to the next generation: the bridge between past and future
pt. 3. Putting the virtues to work
When older doesn't feel lighter: loneliness and social isolation
The virtue of appreciating the cycle of life in elders
Appendix: Vintage Readers Book Club Readings.

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