Positive Ageing: Living Well After Fifty
Abstract
Ageing has a bad reputation, portrayed in popular culture as being ‘downhill all the way’. A decline into decrepitude and death. Ageism is common but even more toxic to our mental health is the internalised ageism, where we believe all the negative stories about getting older. This is one of the greatest barriers to Positive Ageing and yet contrary to expectations, happiness goes up after age fifty rather than down. In Breaking the Age Code (2022) Becca Levy shows that people with more positive perceptions of ageing perform better physically and cognitively than those with more negative perceptions. The positive news is that negative age beliefs can be resisted and reversed, leading to positive psychological outcomes. In this workshop we will challenge the fake news about ageing and explore The Ten Steps of Positive Ageing (Robertson, 2020), which draw on positive psychology, CBT and mindfulness. Just as we need to learn how to grow up, we also need to learn how to grow old so that we can enjoy a happier later life and make the most of life’s third act.
Content:
- The Top Five Myths about Ageing
- What is Positive Ageing?
- The Ten Steps to Positive Ageing
Learning outcomes:
- Gain awareness of your personal beliefs about ageing.
- Challenge the negative preconceptions about age.
- Understand the benefits of age.
- Learn how positive psychology practices can help us age well.
- Create a vision for a positive later life.
Ideal Audience: Anyone who is getting older.
About Miriam Akhtar
Miriam Akhtar MAPP (www.positivepsychologytraining.co.uk) was one of the first wave of positive psychologists in Europe and qualified at the University of East London. She works as a trainer, coach and consultant delivering wellbeing and resilience programmes. She developed Positive Ageing and Resilience Training (PART) for the Gulbenkian Foundation’s Transitions in Later Life project. She consults on Positive Ageing and Menopause campaigns in the UK with clients including Royal Holloway, University of London, The Daily Telegraph, Dove and Ryvita. Miriam is the author of Positive Psychology for Overcoming Depression, What Is Post-traumatic Growth and The Little Book of Happiness. She is a contributor to The World Book of Happiness, The World Book of Hope, Gratitude – How to appreciate life’s gifts and Real Calm, the Psychologies’ guide to resilience. Miriam is a visiting lecturer on the Executive Masters in Applied Positive Psychology (EMAPP) at the University of Lisbon in Portugal and has been invited to speak to the European Parliament in Brussels.
