Abstract
The experience of aging remains uncharted for many. For Gene Cohen, a renowned expert on growing older and creative potential in later life, aging was a phenomenon he experienced not through the accumulation of chronological years but through the biological consequences of intense cancer treatment. This article describes Gene's views on aging from several perspectives: as a career choice, as an opportunity for positive brain behavior changes, and as a time for hope even in the face of certain loss. Above all, the article reinforces the importance of creativity, especially in later life.
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Notes
Wendy Miller is an artist and art therapist, a psychotherapist and expert on creativity and healing. She will publish a book on the material she and Gene wrote together over the past five years. This essay is excerpted from that work.
1. Executive Function is a term used to describe a set of mental processes that influence judgment and complex problem solving. It enables us to connect past experience with present action, to organize information efficiently, to plan effectively, and to carry out actions with a good understanding of the context in which we are operating.