Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Beautifully and eloquently written...Thomas Moore convinces us that we age best when we embrace our age, live agelessly, and remember every day to find the endless joy nestled inside our soul." - Dr. Rudolph E. Tanzi, New York Times bestselling author of Super Brain and Super Genes

Thomas Moore is the renowned author of Care of the Soul, the classic #1 New York Times bestseller. In Ageless Soul, Moore reveals a fresh, uplifting, and inspiring path toward aging, one that need not be feared, but rather embraced and cherished. In Moore's view, aging is the process by which one becomes a more distinctive, complex, fulfilled, loving, and connected person.

Using examples from his practice as a psychotherapist and teacher who lectures widely on the soul of medicine and spirituality, Moore argues for a new vision of aging: as a dramatic series of initiations, rather than a diminishing experience, one that each of us has the tools--experience, maturity, fulfillment--to live out. Subjects include:
*Why melancholy is a natural part of aging, and how to accept it, rather than confuse it with depression
*The vital role of the elder and mentor in the lives of younger people
*The many paths of spiritual growth and learning that open later in life
*Sex and sensuality
*Building new communities and leaving a legacy

Ageless Soul teaches readers how to embrace the richness of experience and how to take life on, accept invitations to new vitality, and feel fulfilled as they get older.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgments (p. ix)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part 1 Rites of Passage
• 1 The First Taste of Aging (p. 13)
• 2 Old Bodies, Young Souls (p. 31)
• 3 The Passages of Life (p. 49)
• Part 2 Becoming a Deeper Person as You Age
• 4 Melancholy: A Way to Happiness (p. 67)
• 5 Processing Life Experiences (p. 83)
• 6 The Maturing of Sexuality (p. 99)
• Part 3 Imagine Aging Differently
• 7 Illness as an Initiation (p. 119)
• 8 Kindly Curmudgeons (p. 135)
• 9 Play, Work, Retire (p. 149)
• Part 4 Open Your Heart to the Future
• 10 Being Fulfilled as an Elder (p. 169)
• 11 Legacy: The Future of Your Life Experiment (p. 185)
• 12 Transforming Loneliness (p. 203)
• Part 5 The Spirituality of Aging
• 13 Friendship and Community (p. 221)
• 14 The Angel of Old Age (p. 241)
• 15 Living with Dying (p. 261)
• Conclusion: Let Things Take Their Course (p. 273)
• Index (p. 287)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Moore, a former monk, current psychotherapist, and author of the classic Care of the Soul (1992), contemplates aging in this thoughtful book. Successful aging is more than growing older, he writes. It's going through the steps and passages of life proactively to finally arrive at your true self. Moore sees melancholy and loneliness as feelings to embrace, explore, and work through. Instead of fighting aging, he urges readers to accept it and become mentors or elders to younger people, sharing both wisdom and compassion. Moore doesn't belittle the challenges that older people face, but instead counsels them to use these obstacles as the means to develop the soul. He urges everyone to be open to opportunities, to use retirement as a time to focus on arts and relationships, and to think of leaving legacies. He understands older people's need to be seen and heard as well as the draw of formal religion and the quest for meaning. And he speaks of death as the natural progression of life. Moore, who is in his late seventies, follows his own advice as he continues to speak and write about spirituality. This gentle book, filled with specific suggestions and thought-provoking examples, will be inspiring to older readers and a comfort to their caregivers.--Smith, Candace Copyright 2017 Booklist