Most of us over 60 would say we are happy to be growing older, as long as we can be healthy. In this session I want to share from stories of ageing and explore the process of transcendence that occurs naturally in numbers of older people. I also want to share examples of the lived experience of frailty of some older people in residential care homes. A serious question for all of us is, what are these added years of life for? Are these added years a gift, or something else? We may ask ourselves what legacy we will leave for our grandchildren. More of us in the future will spend these added years not as residents of long-term living establishments, but living in our own homes. How then can we find meaning in our later years of life? The rules of living well into late life seem to be changing. This session will consider a spiritual model, focusing on transcendence, inner strength and some of the fears about growing older, while holding hope in the midst of uncertainty, as life seems to become more precarious. — Elizabeth MacKinlay is a registered nurse and an Anglican priest. She is Director of the Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Studies at St Mark’s National Theological Centre, Canberra, and a Professor in the School of Theology, Charles Sturt University. Elizabeth was Chair of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing in 2008 and is the ACT Senior Australian of the Year for 2009.
