The Inner Work of Age Quotes

“We all have the opportunity to radically reinvent and reimagine the process of aging for ourselves. And I don’t mean merely doing more or doing differently. I don’t use “reinvention” in the way that many experts do—from the outside in. That’s the topic of most books about aging.
Rather, my emphasis is on the internal, less familiar terrain of soul—those subtle yearnings that appear in images and fantasies, the ways we respond or fear to respond to those messengers, and the symbolic meanings we glean from them. As we learn the psychological and spiritual practices in this book, we discover how to orient to our inner worlds, deepen our self-knowledge, and reimagine age for ourselves, eventually shifting from denial to awareness, from self-rejection to self-acceptance, from obligation to flow, from holding on to letting go, from distraction to presence. Even from role to soul.
The result: a newfound freedom from the constraints of past roles and identities, an emerging sense of becoming who you were always meant to be, and a profound gratitude for the way that your life unfolded.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“we are betrayed in the very same close relationships where primal trust is possible. We can be truly betrayed only where we truly trust—by brothers, lovers, wives, husbands, not by enemies, not by strangers. The greater the love, the greater the betrayal. Trust has in it the seed of betrayal.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“And this is what I mean by “aging from the inside out.” If we merely move around our internal furniture, redesigning our roles and maintaining high gear, we do not see through the ego’s charade. Instead, we permit it to continue its endless efforts at control. And this does not carry us deeper into our spiritual center, beyond ego.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“As Ram Dass puts it, “The ego is a tiny room. But the soul can merge into the One.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“Meditation also appears to slow age-related degeneration in our brains. Neurologist Eileen Luders at UCLA looked at the link between age and the volume of the brain’s white matter, which typically shrinks with age. She reported that this decrease was less prominent in meditators as compared to non-meditators. On average, the brains of long-term practitioners appeared to be seven and a half years younger at the age of fifty than the brains of non-meditators.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“This is a key task of late life—to recognize early self-concepts and rejected parts, begin to repair them, and cultivate a broader, deeper sense of identity.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“Spiritual Practices In Hindu myth, Hanuman, servant of the god Ram, tells Ram: “When I don’t know who I am, I serve you. When I know who I am, I am you.” Can you see the evolution of your soul through service? How can you be the change you long to see in the world?”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“As Gandhi put it, “Those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion really means.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“For beginners, you can try mindfulness, guided visualization, transcendental meditation, centering prayer, or a mantra practice from any tradition, such as the Jewish Shema. These practices reduce negative thoughts and enhance concentration and a sense of self-control. Calming”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“the shift from role to soul. This phrase was coined by spiritual teacher Ram Dass, a Harvard psychologist who returned from India in the 1960s and became a renowned guide and bestselling author. He describes this shift in identity from the active roles that we have fulfilled during our lives to something deeper, something connected to a spiritual essence that has inherent value and does not depend on our productivity, accomplishments, or self-image. Ram Dass calls this spiritual essence loving awareness. Whether we call it soul, Spirit, Higher Self, or God, when we begin to identify with That, we begin to become who we really are. With this next stage of development, we can unearth the treasures of late life.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“Pure Awareness Meditation This practice from Ram Dass helps us move our identification from the mind and the senses to identify with pure awareness. We can do it as beginners or as advanced”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“, like the archetype of Peter Pan. But, he writes, “we are betrayed in the very same close relationships where primal trust is possible. We can be truly betrayed only where we truly trust—by brothers, lovers, wives, husbands, not by enemies, not by strangers. The greater the love, the greater the betrayal. Trust has in it the seed of betrayal.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul

“In late life, we can pose this question internally no matter what activity we are engaged in, whether we are quietly drinking a cup of tea, sitting in a noisy meeting, cooking a festive family dinner, or running a marathon. Our identity or self-sense at any moment can be rooted in ego or rooted in soul. It’s not what we’re doing but how we’re doing—our state of mind—that makes the difference.”
― Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul