Chronologically Gifted: Conversations on Life after 50

Captain Paul Watson has been a lifelong activist and passionate defender of the oceans. He was a founding member and director of Greenpeace until he left in 1977 to found the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society . He serves as its president and executive director. Sea Shepherd is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization that uses direct action to “expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas.”

In celebration of the fourth anniversary of the show, we are rebroadcasting an interview with Margaret Morganroth Gullette on processing the past election. Margaret is a scholar at the Women’s Research Center at Brandeis University. According to Brandeis website, she is “a cultural critic and prize-winning writer of nonfiction (and) an internationally known age critic, essayist, and activist.” Her latest book is entitled Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People (Global Perspectives on Aging) . She is also the author of Agewise: Fighting the New Ageism in America , Aged by Culture , and Declining to Decline .

Chronologically Gifted celebrates its fourth anniversary with a look back at some of our favorite interviews. Anne Karpf is a British writer, award-winning journalist, sociologist, scholar, and teacher. Her latest book is How to Age. Anne spoke on the topic of aging while female. She stated, "There is such a degree of age shame and age shaming that goes on in both countries (US and UK)...We have to challenge the language, protesting when people make ageist comments because we internalize that kind of language and turn it back on ourselves. That's the most pernicious form of ageism: the one that you impose upon yourself."

Chronologically Gifted celebrates its fourth anniversary with a look back at some of our favorite interviews. First up is author Victor Lodato who talked about his cross-generational friendship with a woman named Austin. His piece When Your Greatest Romance Is a Friendship appeared in the New York Times and describes how he met Austin when he was in his 40s, and she was in her 80s. He wrote, "Friendship, like its flashier cousin, love, can be wildly chemical and, like love, can happen in an instant." Victor is a playwright, poet, and novelist. He has published two novels: Mathilda Savitch - which the New York Times called "a Salingeresque wonder of a first novel" - and Edgar and Lucy which Lynn Freed called "a wonder, beginning to end."

Dr. Edith Bone was released in 1956 after seven years of solitary confinement, and her story started Michael Harris’ journey into exploring and practicing solitude. As he read her memoir , he realized that there was “a certain art to being alone that she had practiced…I wanted to learn how to practice solitude in the same way.” Michael is a widely published author who writes about a broad range of topics. His books include The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We've Lost in a World of Constant Connection and Solitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World .

What are three steps to hardwiring happiness in the brain? First, "notice the good facts" as they are happening. Second, "feel something." Third, "take the experience into yourself." Dr. Rick Hanson provides insights into how to go well beyond mindfulness in part two of his interview on Chronologically Gifted. Rick is a co-founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, a Senior Fellow at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and the author of the New York Times bestseller Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidenc e.

Dr. Rick Hanson wrote, "...to help our ancestors survive, the brain evolved a negativity bias that makes it like Velcro for bad experiences but Teflon for good ones." Rick is a co-founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, a Senior Fellow at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and the author of the New York Times bestseller Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence.

Two things surface as being of paramount importance for people at the end of their lives: "people they love and who loved them - and the memories of that - and work they were proud of, work that made a difference, work that was contributory." On Chronologically Gifted this week, Dr. Charles Garfield continues the conversation on happiness, focusing on the deep level meaning of what makes us happy throughout our lives. It may not be what we imagined. Charlie is the founder of Shanti, a widely acclaimed volunteer organization that focuses on increasing quality of life for people with life-threatening illnesses, an author, and Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco as well as a Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Charlie's latest book is entitled Life's Last Gift: Giving and Receiving Peace When A Loved One Is Dying .

How do we live a happy life in this digital age? Dr. Sophie Janicke advises that we "approach our use of technology in a much more aware and meaningful way." Sophie is an assistant professor in the School of Communication at Chapman University. She is described on her website Rewire Happiness as “a positive media psychologist who investigates the role that new and traditional media play in promoting and affecting character development, self-transcendent emotions, prosocial behavior, and well-being (aka happiness).”

"It is much more likely that we will be happy if we fulfill our deepest needs, our needs that originate from the heart." Dr. Charles Garfield joins Chronologically Gifted for a two part interview in which he offers his perspective on the pursuit of happiness in our society. He is the founder of Shanti , a widely acclaimed volunteer organization that focuses on increasing quality of life for people with life-threatening illnesses. He is also an author, Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco, and a Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

"Meaning, mission, and purpose – I’ve come to believe this is the biggest wellspring of resilience. If you can find something to connect to that is larger than self, that is one of the most important protective factors in resilience." Dr. Andrew Shatté returns to the program with part two of his interview on resilience. Andrew is an author and the founder and President of Phoenix Life Academy, a training company that specializes in measuring and training for resilience. He is a Research Professor in the Medical School of the University of Arizona and co-author of the book The Resilience Factor.

"The key I think is not to change the style but help people become aware of their thinking styles, where they are vulnerable to faulty thinking, how that might rob them of resilience, and then teach them a skill to be able to get around that style." Dr. Andrew Shatté is an author and the founder and president of Phoenix Life Academy, a training company that specializes in measuring and training for resilience. He is a Research Professor in the Medical School of the University of Arizona and co-author of the book The Resilience Factor . He shares his thoughts on resilience in part one of this two-part interview.

How do we live a happy life in this digital age? Dr. Sophie Janicke advises that we "approach our use of technology in a much more aware and meaningful way." Sophie is an assistant professor in the School of Communication at Chapman University. She is described on her website Rewire Happiness as “a positive media psychologist who investigates the role that new and traditional media play in promoting and affecting character development, self-transcendent emotions, prosocial behavior, and well-being (aka happiness).”

"I think in the United States, we're mostly on the wrong path to happiness. We do the pursuit, but we don't get to the happiness as much as we could if we understood what happiness is." Dr. Ellyn Kaschak returns to the show to talk about happiness, the ways in which many people in the U.S. see happiness as a kind of birthright, and the differences in how happiness is defined between Costa Rica and the U.S. Ellyn was a professor of Psychology at San Jose State University. She is one of the founders of feminist psychology which she has practiced and taught since 1972. She has an extensive list of books and journal publications, as well as numerous awards. She also has a keen understanding of the cross-cultural differences between the U.S., where she lived until her retirement, and Costa Rica where she lives now.

"Your opportunities to not be alone are really limitless." Writer Marissa Higgins wrote a piece titled " Five Signs You Should Spend Less Time Alone ." She talks about warning signs of too much solitude as well as ways to balance solitude with social contact. Marissa is based in Washington, D.C., and her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Salon, and many other publications.

"Solitude. I think that’s one of the major food groups in my life." Dr. Kathleen Doty provides a personal perspective on what solitude means to her. Kathleen is a Professor in the English Department at HSU with an impressive list of publications and research in the areas of linguistic analysis of literature, language of the Salem witchcraft trials, and stylistics. She's also an introvert who works to balance her need for solitude with her enjoyment of an active social life.

“We don't have rich enough inner lives to start with, and we pay too much attention to the external. We shouldn’t be waiting until we're 65 or 70 to develop just as rich an inner life as an outer life.” Dr. Ellyn Kaschak shares her thoughts on the need for and beauty of solitude in our lives. Ellyn is professor emerita in Psychology, having taught at San Jose State University. She is one of the founders of feminist psychology which she has practiced and taught since 1972, and she is the current editor of the academic journal Women & Therapy.

Sofia Dembling notes that people may feel uncomfortable around introverts, and they often “fill our quiet with their assumptions.” She is this week's guest on Chronologically Gifted and speaks about solitude from an introvert's perspective. Sophia has published two books: Introverts in Love and The Introvert’s Way , and she hosts a blog called The Introvert’s Corner for Psychology Today.

Creativity surges in later life, in part because older adults have greater distractibility which works in their favor in that they are more able to see and process additional information that younger adults might filter out because they are more focused. They are able to consider more novel approaches as they take in this extra information. Perhaps being free of earlier life responsibilities may help account for some of the creative bursts that can occur in later life as well. Pam and Annie talk about what they learned about creativity in later life from their guests who ranged from neuroscientists to an amazing jazz singer.

Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist and songwriter Rene Marie has a perfect metaphor for how to spark creativity: "I think the creative bent is a shy little animal that only comes out when it's safe, when it feels that it's going to be heard or listened to. At least that's the way it is for me. If I ignore it, then it just goes back under its rock, but if I feed it, encourage it, play with it, acknowledge it, 'Hey, little guy!' then it comes back out more and more." In 1997, when she was in her early 40s, she returned to her musical career. Over the past 20 years, she has made numerous recordings and stage performances including at the Morris Graves Museum, brought here by the Redwood Jazz Alliance . She's this week's guest on Chronologically Gifted talking about her creative process and creativity in later life.