Percy suggests that rather than resigning ourselves to growing old we can choose to become an elder. This can be a time when we can make great contributions to our community. This deep dialogue explores what it means to be to be proactive in approaching aging and becoming an elder in the 21st century. Percy’s research points out that growing older does not mean we can no longer actualize new and healthier futures. These years may be our most influential ones yet. She writes, “When we have lived enough life, experienced enough love and enough wounding, and repeated the pattern of loss and renewal enough times, we become skilled at healing, at learning. Always this starts with yourself first. Through a deeply focused inner cycle of reflection and application this cycle builds the wisdom; it builds the elder.”
