Conscious Living, Conscious Aging: Claiming the Gifts of Elderhood (10th Anniversary Edition)

This book is a guide on growing older and wiser. I plan on attending one of the authors workshops on eldering. I am reading this and re-reading as I go along. This book is making a huge difference in my life and in my growing as an elder. I highly recommend this book to anyone of any age who wants to age wisely.

Ron Pevny’s book Conscious Living, Conscious Aging is a gem of a book that I would recommend to every self-reflective person at or beyond mid-life. It will entice you on a journey of inner growth that makes the elder years richer and more satisfying and vital than most people can imagine. It could change the paradigm of aging and how elders can reclaim their traditional social roles as wise stewards and mentors. Ron brings to the book the wisdom of his great experience, both personal and from leading “Choosing Conscious Elderhood” retreats and other nature-based programs (full disclosure: I participated in one recently). Each chapter takes up one of the issues we need to confront and work through to be conscious elders––for example, healing and releasing the past through reframing our stories , healing relationships, forgiving ourselves and others, and letting go of outworn identities; facing our mortality; building legacy, and balancing serving and savoring. Each chapter ends with an illustrative “story by the fire”; one of the most compelling for me was “From Grief to Gratitude in the Death Lodge,” about a mother’s healing from her daughter’s suicide several years previously. Resources and exercises are appended. The writing is elegant and lucid, and yet at the same time it’s as though you are having a conversation with Ron around a campfire. I’m gifting this book to friends for the holidays.--Meg Newhouse

Ron Pevny's book offers helpful information and useful tips those retiring and facing decisions about the next stage of life. Ron thoughtfully explores such topics as life review, forgiveness, grief, building a legacy, among others.He implores the reader to consciously look deeply into the call of Spirit inviting us to grow in wisdom and grace. He also offers a chapter on practices that can help the reader delve into the topics for growth that he suggests. The stories that are included are by people who have attended the Conscious Eldering retreats that he leads around the country. The stories are testimonies of the life changing work that attendees experience as they go through the rituals necessary to transitioning into the next phase of life. Ron humbly share stories of his own physical and spiritual crises that led to his growth and the writing of this book. I found it thought provoking and also challenging as I transgress into elder hood.

Ron Pevny condenses the wisdom he has gained from decades of experience leading rites of passage retreats into a very readable first book on the passage so many of us Baby Boomers are now facing. He focuses on the rite of passage into elderhood and his book is a narrative describing the various aspects of his weeklong nature based retreats. I recommend his book highly for anyone over fifty-five who wants more out of their later years than simply growing old.

I found Ron Pevny’s book “Conscious Living/Conscious Aging” compelling. I underlined and wrote in the margins on just about every page. Clearly written and thorough, Ron took me from where Reb Zalman’s book “From Age-ing to Sage-ing” led to the next level of consciousness, all the more committed to becoming a conscious elder intent on living into my full potential in later-life.

Oh how I wish this book had been available 20 years ago when I was about to retire! But it is never too late. Now in my early 80's, Ron Pevny's inspiring work has given me an incredible and timely boost to live and age with purpose and optimism. I still have lots of time (the rest of my life, in fact, like everyone else) to explore the opportunities presented here. This highly motivating resource already is helping me greatly to live as a conscious elder. You will not regret buying this book. It is a blessing for anyone seeking spiritual growth and a meaningful purpose for the second half of life.

It made for good discussions at my book group, and had some good suggestions for positive maturity. "Elder" was too male of a word, with many in-firming characteristics for many of us. I am sure that his retreats work for many people and there were inspiring areas of the book for everyone.

Prophetic wisdom!!! This book should be required reading for all who turn 50! The author's writing is a culmination of sages across all time lines and cultures. The book is definitely most beneficial when it is used in a circle -- in other words, when you put the words into action -- for the purposes of personal reflection, support, and affirmation. When you engage the book on this level, you reap a treasure trove of gifts.

It is a good book. I was looking for it.

Extremely practical and timely.This whole area of retirement is sadly lacking in good helps.Penny has offered good concrete practises as well as offering affirmation to the sense of lost ness in an unmapped time of life.

Excellent read - a great reflection on aging consciously.