Every Breath, New Chances

Tools and anecdotes to reframe aging from the bestselling author of Work as a Spiritual Practice and Aging as a Spiritual Practice. Aging is not just a process, but a journey: a decades-long adventure of new opportunities and surprises. And while loss, tragedy, and decline are inevitably part and parcel of getting older, so too are joys, gifts, and new discoveries. For men in particular, the decline in virility and power that accompanies age is a tough pill to swallow: when these fall away, what remains? And without them, what does it mean to be a man? As life unfolds, a man's identity is renewed, reviewed, and negotiated: the markers that make him himself at 20 won't be the same at 35, 50, or 70. This book shows readers how to turn toward these changes, to come into their own as older men by reframing the losses of age as strengths and opportunities for growth. Drawing from interviews and personal anecdotes, each chapter includes a contemplative practice called Deep Mind Reflection to help readers navigate aging and topics like divorce and single living; illness, death, and emotions; relating to partners; health, denial, and substance abuse; retirement and encore careers; and reframing a masculine identity once predicated on strength and virility. For every challenge or difficulty men face as they age, there are positive outcomes and fresh possibilities. This book encompasses the totality: fears and aspirations, new careers and next steps, and spiritual preparation for the final decades of life.