The Inner Work of Becoming an Elder

Thomas Steininger in dialogue with Connie Zweig

Our extended longevity is a new opportunity for extended spiritual development. To become an elder is not simply about being older, though. It offers us the opportunity to leave behind past roles, to leave behind the expectations of our careers, and to become who we are authentically meant to be.  The Jungian psychologist Connie Zweig, known for her writings on shadow work, wrote The Inner Work of Age: Shifting From Role To Soul about conscious aging. She tells us that the last part of life has a very particular shadow – the unlived life that we could have lived. Confronting ourselves with this shadow opens up a new opportunity to use our freedom to become ourselves in the deepest possible way.

Connie Zweig reveals how inner work can help everyone uncover and explore the unconscious denial and resistance that erupts around key thresholds of later life, attune to your soul’s longing, and emerge renewed as an elder filled with vitality and purpose. Encountering the obstacles in this transition can be a call to reclaim creativity and allow mortality to be a teacher.

In this episode of Radio evolve, Thomas Steininger talks with Connie Zweig about the call to become an elder.