Aging Queer/Queering Age, conversations with Ryan Backer, part 2

On this week's podcast we discuss Cecilia's plot twisting interest in the mystics. 

We're back. And still twisting our plots. Listen to our new podcast where we discuss Hannah's latest creative project.

Pain. Do we ever really talk about it? Nobody wants to have it. Everybody wants it to go away. But what do we do when pain visits? And visit it will, to each of us. Listen to our new podcast where we consider Hannah's recent pain and its reverberation on her life.

Join us for part two of our conversation with Ryan Backer.    Ryan Backer is an age activist striving to undo ageism within an intersectional context. They identify as a white, non-binary 'old person in training' and they have an undergraduate degree in Gerontology. They are a co-founder of OldSchool.info, a clearinghouse of anti-ageism resources and an international hub for age activism.

Ryan Backer is an age activist striving to undo ageism within an intersectional context. They identify as a white, non-binary 'old person in training' and they have an undergraduate degree in Gerontology. They are a co-founder of OldSchool.info, a clearinghouse of anti-ageism resources and an international hub for age activism. Join us for a two-part conversation with Ryan. We talk about aging and the problem with binaries. We imagine how queering age could open possibilities for us all. Together we contemplate being old persons in training.

This week we bring back one of our most popular podcast guests, Laura Davis, to talk about the power of writing our stories. Laura, who wrote the award-winning memoir The Burning Light of Two Stars, tells us how she writes to gain perspective and make sense of her evolving life. To our delight, she shares her process in teaching students who take her classes and join her writing retreats. We love this conversation. We, like Laura Davis, believe in writing as a tool for self-awareness and transformation. But she explains it so well. Take a listen.   For more information about Laura Davis, her books and her writing retreats, visit www.lauradavis.net   Write, Travel, Transform…and Eat! Join me for a magical retreat in Tuscany in May of 2023! www.lauradavis.net/Tuscany Writing as a Pathway Through Grief, Loss, Uncertainty and Change: Experience the power of healing, the gift of supportive community & the profound impact guided writing can have in facing the unknown with courage. Learn more here. Free Ebook: Writing Toward Courage: A 30-Day Practice. Click here to receive this beautiful, thought-provoking creative gift. www.lauradavis.net/courage/   Check out Laura Davis on Facebook Check out Laura Davis on Instagram

We did not go into this conversation easily. Talking about money isn't something we're comfortable with. The question, what about money is important to you, is a hard one for us to answer. We don't want to think about it. In fact, the culture of consumption, accumulation, marketing and money-making turns us off, provokes waves of nausea. And even brings up shame. But this conversation was different. Laura Rotter brought a plot twist. It was pleasant, open, hopeful and even spiritual. Take a listen, if you can, we promise you will have fun. Laura Rotter, CFA, CFP is the owner of True Abundance Advisors, a heart-centered, values-based financial planning firm based in New York. After a successful career managing money for institutional investors including Citicorp and Para Advisors, Laura discovered mindfulness practices and was drawn to guide professionals facing a big life change to achieve both financial security and life satisfaction. Since making her shift, she has been featured in CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Westchester Senior Voice, is on the advisory council of Impact100 Westchester, a women's group giving organization, and volunteers with Savvy Ladies and My Money Workshop, teaching financial literacy to underserved communities.    Check Out TrueAbundanceAdvisors.com Laura Rotter on Facebook Laura Rotter on LinkedIn Laura Rotter on Twitter Laura Rotter on Instagram

Hannah and Cecilia sat down to chat recently, and found the conversation moving in an unexpected direction. We started asking, what matters now at this stage in our lives? Up until recently, our lives have been driven by external markers, jobs, degrees, partners and successes. But now there seems to be some buried impulse, more internal, emerging and wanting to take the lead. Listen to this week's podcast as we try to figure out how to listen to ourselves in different ways and forage new paths to live by.

Sleep is not a dead space, but a doorway to a different kind of consciousness – one that is reflective and restorative, full of tangential thought and unexpected insights. In winter, we are invited into a particular mode of sleep: not a regimented eight hours, but a slow, ambulatory process in which waking thoughts merge with dreams, and space is made in the blackest hours to repair the fragmented narratives of our days.  - Katherine May from Wintering   It's here, the pull for the long winter's nap. Time to slow down, time to review, time to take in and make sense of all that's been.  We crave it.  Rest. We have a feeling we are not alone.  So much is demanded of us day in and day out. And resting isn't baked into our cultural course. In fact, most of us feel uncomfortable, even anxious, when trying to take a break from busyness. We don't know how to do it. We don't know how to be still. We have forgotten how to listen to ourselves, or how to notice our dreams. We are too busy to stop and remember what's past, to savor the moment, or imagine a future. Still, we can try.  It's been a full year. We're getting older and thinking and feeling differently about things. Listen to the Twisting the Plot podcast and learn how we want to give our plots the twist of rest and digest.

We all tell stories about our lives, some we make up, and some we inherit.  Through stories, we figure out who we are, where we've been, and where we're headed. Stories grow as we grow. Our stories about ourselves as individuals and as a collective, are not static things that once set, never evolve. In fact, most of us encounter crossroads or thresholds of change where the past, present and the future become unclear. It is during these transitional times that our past stories must be retold, roles transformed, and feelings re-experienced and then reconfigured into a new life script. In this way, our life story making is not just for our pleasure.  It is also our work.  Life Story Work is the process of making meaning and connecting more deeply to ourselves and with others. It is the work of expanding our identities, resolving our traumas, and integrating our losses.  It is the creative act of growing, personally and culturally. It's hard work, and it's also the way we evolve. On Twisting the Plot Podcast, Dr. Shoshi Keisari explains life story work as a therapy, and tells us why it is crucial to our ongoing development, especially as we age. Take a listen.   Dr. Shoshi Keisari is a drama therapist and a lecturer at the School of Creative Arts Therapies, University of Haifa, Israel. She researches arts participation in aging, clinical gerontology, and the use of drama therapy in grief work and palliative care. Dr. Keisari has published numerous articles and co-authored a book, An Introduction to Psychotherapeutic Playback theatre: Hall of Mirrors on Stage