Spirituality and Aging   Dr. Art Cross

  A broader, more inclusive view of the aging process sees it as a spiritual journey. The Community Council on Spirituality and Aging (CCSA), an affiliate program of the Senior Resource Alliance is an organization dedicated to promoting this enlarged view, which may offset the age-ism we often encounter in contemporary society. Many personnel involved with elders often have limited preparation for addressing the spiritual issues of aging. Now that increasing numbers of us live longer and remain in good health, we face new questions of meaning and purpose in later life. CCSA is a group comprised of persons of diverse faiths as well as a variety of professional and personal backgrounds who all share a passion for the spiritual aspects of healthy aging.

                                Finding this meaning as we age revolves around identifying the spiritual aspects of our lives. Whether through nature, music, meditation or our various faith practices, spirituality becomes a core need of an aging society. If getting older bothers us, I believe it has its roots in the inability to see the gifts of aging such as our gathered wisdom, appreciation of beauty, the preciousness of each day, and our social connections with the world around us.  We need to nurture these gifts in all our services, including our faith communities, for aging families.

                Spirituality also enables us to cope with the aging process, especially its changes and demands, to our body, mind and spirits.   It builds our inner strength and emotional resilience. CCSA believes spirituality is essential to any conversation about aging or the elderly and the services provided to them.  Our focus at CCSA is on calling attention to the quality of lives, not just increasing our years. Our primary mission is to think about and talk about ways to bring spirituality back into our conversations whether its in our living rooms, our board rooms, or our waiting rooms Such spiritual care for elders or their caregiver creates spaces where souls may show up, places where we may travel together as authentic companions no matter where the road may take us.

For more info on CCSA, contact Frank Faine at  Franklin.Faine@orlandohealth.com or visit www.sraflorida.org/ccsa  to sign up for future communications.  The Community Council on Spirituality and Aging is an affiliate program of the Senior Resource Alliance.