se participants unveil memories and desires long buried in their bones and belly. Ray reconnected with the childhood joy of playing a musical instrument; he decided to take guitar lessons. Sara found resilience and the courage to create a new life from paying attention to the wisdom of an old body scar. Lola, playing an angel-guide in a dramatization, exercised her creative wit and reignited her purpose of joyously giYour body is filled with stories, waiting to be told. The older you get, the more it's likely to “talk” to you. Perhaps it's trying to get your attention so you can learn the emotional and spiritual wisdom that is tucked inside your muscles and corpuscles.

Take a lesson from a group of students age fifty and older in a class I teach on creative writing and living, called Writing Your Own Permission Slip. The class members are playing catch with a colorful ball to lively music. As they toss the ball they say their names, first in a normal voice, then in playful ways, such as in the tone of voice used by their parents when they were called in from playing outside as children. These active older adults are engaging in playful and creative physical activities to stimulate their body awareness, memory, and creativity. The activities are warm-ups for writing exercises that will help them rediscover and redefine themselves.

Ray, age seventy, a thin, stiff-bodied, retired engineer with a severe hearing loss, signed up for the class seeking relief from depression. He was feeling overwhelmed and defeated in the face of his wife’s Alzheimer’s. Sara, a short, talkative, mid-fifties woman with an angelic face had spent a year in intense grieving after nursing her husband through the dying process. She wanted to find a way to move on. Lola, eighty-eight, was a bright-faced, glamorously dressed elf. She came “to find my purpose,” she said. Paul was seventy. A tall man, he was slow to speak and flat-voiced, but eloquent. A composer of choral music, he wanted to recapture flagging zest and creativity.

Physical play and writing exercises helped these course participants unveil memories and desires long buried in their bones and belly. Ray reconnected with the childhood joy of playing a musical instrument; he decided to take guitar lessons. Sara found resilience and the courage to create a new life from paying attention to the wisdom of an old body scar. Lola, playing an angel-guide in a dramatization, exercised her creative wit and reignited her purpose of joyously giv

lass members are playing catch with a colorful ball to lively music. As they toss the ball they say their names, first in a normal voice, then in playful ways, such as in the tone of voice used by their parents when they were called in from playing outside as children. These active older adults are engaging in playful and creative physical activities to stimulate their body awareness, memory, and creativity. The activities are warm-ups for writing exercises that will help them rediscover and redefine themselves.

Ray, age seventy, a thin, stiff-bodied, retired engineer with a severe hearing loss, signed up for the class seeking relief from depression. He was feeling overwhelmed and defeated in the face of his wife’s Alzheimer’s. Sara, a short, talkative, mid-fifties woman with an angelic face had spent a year in intense grieving after nursing her husband through the dying process. She wanted to find a way to move on. Lola, eighty-eight, was a bright-faced, glamorously dressed elf. She came “to find my purpose,” she said. Paul was seventy. A tall man, he was slow to speak and flat-voiced, but eloquent. A composer of choral music, he wanted to recapture flagging zest and creativity.

Physical play and writing exercises helped these course participants unveil memories and desires long buried in their bones and belly. Ray reconnected with the childhood joy of playing a musical instrument; he decided to take guitar lessons. Sara found resilience and the courage to create a new life from paying attention to the wisdom of an old body scar. Lola, playing an angel-guide in a dramatization, exercised her creative wit and reignited her purpose of joyously gi

ities are warm-ups for writing exercises that will help them rediscover and redefine themselves.

Ray, age seventy, a thin, stiff-bodied, retired engineer with a severe hearing loss, signed up for the class seeking relief from depression. He was feeling overwhelmed and defeated in the face of his wife’s Alzheimer’s. Sara, a short, talkative, mid-fifties woman with an angelic face had spent a year in intense grieving after nursing her husband through the dying process. She wanted to find a way to move on. Lola, eighty-eight, was a bright-faced, glamorously dressed elf. She came “to find my purpose,” she said. Paul was seventy. A tall man, he was slow to speak and flat-voiced, but eloquent. A composer of choral music, he wanted to recapture flagging zest and creativity.

Physical play and writing exercises helped these course participants unveil memories and desires long buried in their bones and belly. Ray reconnected with the childhood joy of playing a musical instrument; he decided to take guitar lessons. Sara found resilience and the courage to create a new life from paying attention to the wisdom of an old body scar. Lola, playing an angel-guide in a dramatization, exercised her creative wit and reignited her purpose of joyously gi

ng after nursing her husband through the dying process. She wanted to find a way to move on. Lola, eighty-eight, was a bright-faced, glamorously dressed elf. She came “to find my purpose,” she said. Paul was seventy. A tall man, he was slow to speak and flat-voiced, but eloquent. A composer of choral music, he wanted to recapture flagging zest and creativity.

Physical play and writing exercises helped these course participants unveil memories and desires long buried in their bones and belly. Ray reconnected with the childhood joy of playing a musical instrument; he decided to take guitar lessons. Sara found resilience and the courage to create a new life from paying attention to the wisdom of an old body scar. Lola, playing an angel-guide in a dramatization, exercised her creative wit and reignited her purpose of joyously gi

se participants unveil memories and desires long buried in their bones and belly. Ray reconnected with the childhood joy of playing a musical instrument; he decided to take guitar lessons. Sara found resilience and the courage to create a new life from paying attention to the wisdom of an old body scar. Lola, playing an angel-guide in a dramatization, exercised her creative wit and reignited her purpose of joyously giving to others. Paul found delight in replaying a boyhood game (catch) and in dramatizing a jungle scene in which he played a friendly lion on all fours, roar and all. With his imagination reinvigorated, he soon invited class members to a premiere performance of his newest choral piece.

In this course, personal myths as well as common myths about aging get revised as participants tune in to their bodies in new ways. They are sprung free from the wasteland images of aging with a renewed sense of direction and freedom.

Whether you attend body-oriented classes such as the one described above, perform simple acts of mindful attention, or choose other ways to be physically curious, you can learn to appreciate your body as a treasure chest of your past and a window into your present. When you tap into your body as an ongoing personal resource for self-discovery and creativity, it can become your guide throughout your life. What delights might await you if you listen to your body pour out its stories—your stories.