Shows
Seniors in the BuildingSpirituality and Aging, Featuring Nancy PhillipsNancy Phillips joins us today on the podcast. A retired nurse, writer, and Spiritual Director, she developed and now leads “Growing in Wisdom” a 2-year program focused on the spirituality of aging. Nancy spent the first year of her early retirement dealing with illness and the death of loved ones at a time when she needed to rest. She tells her story of finding a way out of the weary space she was in and onto a whole new path of healing, growing and discovery, one she now offers to others. Nancy describes the four things that she has foun...
2025-11-2643 min
Seniors in the BuildingAgeism: Blatant and SubtleAgeism is not always obvious, and although it can happen to anyone at any age, it seems to particularly affect people at both ends of the age spectrum, older and younger. In our conversation we share times when we suspected ageism was involved like sitting in a queue for surgery or trying to find a job at age 62 and times where ageism was blatant. Often ageism is couched in a safety context, like when our children express concern for the activities we undertake, or when someone insists that we sit on public transit instead of stand. Ageism is built...
2025-11-1945 min
Seniors in the BuildingMoments of MysteryWhat are those moments in our lives that we found moving, profound or life changing, those moments of mystery? Although difficult to define and at times difficult to describe, we explore the topic with a sense of charting unknown waters. Mystery is the unknown and those moments of mystery that change us, affect the core of who we are as we grow older. Experiencing mystery as we walk the Camino Trail or see geese fly up above our heads while wilderness canoeing, move us and unite us with something greater than ourselves. In those moments we can experience a...
2025-11-1239 min
Seniors in the BuildingWhat It Means to be CanadianIn the current political climate Canadian identity has been front and centre in this country. We have a lively conversation about some of the things that make us Canadian and what we love about Canada. Canada is multicultural, welcoming immigrants and their cultures as well as the knowledge that they contribute to the growth of Canadian culture. We are a peacekeeping nation and value that role in the world. We share our own stories of being/becoming Canadian. We speak to the matter that not all have felt welcome to be part of Canada. We also explored the tension...
2025-11-0547 min
Seniors in the BuildingEverything is BrokenA mantra that we hear a lot today is that everything is broken. How do we respond when we hear that Canada is broken, or the climate is broken, or the relationship is broken and the only way to fix it is to throw everything out and start over? The notion that despair generalizes, and hope particularizes can be applied as a fundamental truth to help us look beyond the ‘everything is broken’ mentality to what is true about a situation. Looking at all sides of an issue in all its complexity helps to break it down into smaller comp...
2025-10-2940 min
Seniors in the BuildingWhat Does It Mean to Hope?How important is hope in our lives? How do we maintain hope as we grow older? What supports hope day to day? Through our conversation, we grapple with what hope means to us in our daily lives. As we share our stories, it becomes evident that having a community is crucial to having hope. From immigrants hoping for a new life in freedom, to moving forward together after the death of parents, hope is nurtured in the presence of others and is stronger when shared with others. Caring for others is a hopeful act, listening, sharing food, or sitting...
2025-10-2243 min
Seniors in the BuildingWhat Does It Mean to be Human Today?What does it mean to be human in today’s world? Philosophy and Religious writings through the ages have addressed this, but we wanted to talk about it from our perspectives. And perspectives we had! Humans are complex beings and out of this comes the range of emotions, thoughts, beliefs and values. How do we maintain human rights for all and offer respect and dignity to even those we oppose. How do we teach the value of human emotions and grow empathy and compassion in the world? What happens when we have bullies controlling information? How do we stand up...
2025-10-1539 min
Seniors in the BuildingPodcast: Behind the ScenesMaking a podcast is fraught with all kinds of crazy things that can happen, like our false start for this one that we didn’t edit out. It also takes on a life of its own as we talk through our topic, moving in lots of directions. We do eventually cover the reasons why we started it in the first place, why we are still doing it, and how we hope to shape it in the future, acknowledging that conversations with friends and expanding horizons are at the core. Secondary to that is the notion that we might have so...
2025-10-0841 min
Seniors in the BuildingActive Aging: Move More and Sit LessActive Living Week is coming up in our province which prompted this lively podcast about our relationships with exercise. We share our exercise stories, whether it has been part of our life or not and how we view it now. How does exercise affect our physical health and mental health? How do we make it a habit? Our conversation explores the benefits of exercise, the difficulty of keeping it up, how to get motivated and the new things we have learned lately about exercise i.e how to keep healthy bones and feet. We share the adaptations we have...
2025-10-0140 min
Seniors in the BuildingAn Excellent Adventure: Travelling as SeniorsRick and Elaine celebrated 50 years of marriage this year and honoured that, in part, by embarking on a month-long trip to Great Britain. Hear about their adventures tillering a long boat on the canals, visiting Wrexham in Wales, touring Scotland, glamping and even a trip to the A&E (emergency room). Throughout the discussion, we talk about the changes we have made in travelling as older adults now. Taking more time, locating hospitals, washrooms and other amenities, planning in greater detail and other strategies are discussed as the we share our travel adventures.
2025-09-2441 min
Seniors in the Building"Good Aging"“Good aging” - Words of wisdom from Signe’s mother!This was a fun episode to share with all of you. Ninety-two year old Joan (pronounced Joanne) has experienced much in her life and she is willing to share some of the wisdom she has gained in her own aging process. She speaks to what we face today in our political and social world, that we need to be grateful for having a life, for sharing life with others, and making the most of the life we have been given. Gratitude can help handle situations one might face a...
2025-09-1836 min
Seniors in the BuildingHow We Celebrate?An interesting discussion on celebrations and what they mean to us and in society. From very personal celebrations to national holidays, celebrations can evoke a lot of different thoughts and feelings. Canada Day, for example, is a celebration of Canada, but it does not reflect the Indigenous experience in Canada. Holidays can be hijacked by commercialism and fuel expectations that can take away from the holiday and evoke a sense of loneliness. On the flip side, celebrations can also take us out of our everyday life and create a special moment to have a conversation or commemorate someone or...
2025-09-1038 min
Seniors in the BuildingWhat are We Doing In Retirement?We return to the topic of being “retired” and explore what it means to be in the space of retirement. Staying connected to our past work, exploring other interests, moving from one city to another or taking temporary contracts have impacted our retirement so far. But we are starting to see elderhood as a time to explore new opportunities, nurture others and use our newfound freedom to curate what we have in our lives and what we don’t. Health is important and mobility, which means making adaptations when things change, taking risks and mitigating them. And as we financ...
2025-09-0338 min
Seniors in the BuildingI Can't Believe That This is a ThingWithout engaging in nostalgia, we begin by talking about trends in fashion, music and sports that started out on the fringes and are now mainstream. How we act on our beliefs and values is changing. For example, our participation in the women’s movement has gone from participating in protests to supporting female businesses, authors and influencers daily. Technological, automotive and other such trends are explored as they shifted to mainstream. Sustainability has come to the fore as second hand markets, growing produce and preserving it, do it yourself renovations and other practices are notably practiced today. The long te...
2025-08-2738 min
Seniors in the BuildingMentors, Influencers, People We AdmireInspired by a retreat with granddaughters, we look at those people who have had an impact on our lives. From Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, to family, to colleagues, to teachers, pastors, great thinkers and leaders, we identify the folks that have helped shape us. We acknowledge our children and grandchildren as our mentors in learning new things and being culturally appropriate. We discuss theologians and how some, particularly women, challenged the church to broaden and grow. That led us to talking about post modernism and the complexities of life when there are so many opposing ideas and opinions...
2025-08-2036 min
Seniors in the BuildingThe Power We Have!There are many kinds of power and we try to identify where our sense of power and agency now resides. Gendered power in terms of white male privilege, our complicit roles within it, and our struggles to push against it is primary to the discussion. Sharing our agency, leveraging our life’s journey, and supporting the inclusiveness we value is imperative to redressing the inequalities that exist. Resistance to coercive power is a means to addressing the inequities we see in the world. This can take place on both large and small scales and we explore ways to embody th...
2025-08-1341 min
Seniors in the BuildingWisdomWe’re cautious about sharing our wisdom for a variety reasons, especially without being asked to share wisdom. Though, we did give ourselves permission to talk about wisdom in this podcast. Story telling is a good way to share wisdom, especially with grandchildren, inviting them to make their own decisions without telling them what to do. We laugh about some of the wise sayings we learned from our parents and find ourselves saying today. Wisdom, we agree, is not knowledge alone, but comes with lived experiences. Religious practices can offer wisdom, or it can be found in silence, or th...
2025-08-0642 min
Seniors in the BuildingWhat is a Senior?Do we think of ourselves as seniors? What does the word senior mean to us? The word senior when applied to older people can have a negative connotation, but its origins have more positive, stately meanings. Youth culture, capitalism, privilege and lumping everyone over 65 as a senior may all contribute to the negative connotation. The boomer generation has redefined what being a senior means. They are working longer and demanding more, including having higher expectations of the health care system. They are taking a more active approach to staying healthy, active and involved, redefining what retirement means. Elders in...
2025-07-3043 min
Seniors in the BuildingAre We Having Fun Yet? Seniors and FunHaving fun elevates our spirit and connects us to others. Keeping fun in our lives as we get older can be more of a challenge when things happen to derail us. It helps to have good role models, intentionally taking moments to laugh every day, and not taking ourselves too seriously. Being open to new ways to have fun as we age can take the place of old ways. From scatological humour with grandchildren to having fun in church, looking for ways to uplift our spirits in the joy of community is critical to being vibrant and alive as...
2025-07-2340 min
Seniors in the BuildingLearning (and Unlearning) later in lifeOur topic is introduced by a reading from The Wisdom of Morrie: Living and Aging Creatively and Joyfully, written by Morrie Schwartz and edited by his son Rob. Morrie invites us to make a choice in our later years to grow and change, in short to continue to learn. Our conversation explores the ‘unlearning’ we may need to do in order to grow, such as throwing off our binary thinking and seeing life as messy instead of black and white. We explore traditional education and how it is different from the type of learning that fits for us now. We t...
2025-07-1641 min
Seniors in the BuildingGratitudeAging is complex and sometimes gratitude is difficult to practice. Our conversation about gratitude exposes some of the barriers to practicing gratitude as well as the opportunities. Worry, anxiety, pain and loss of function all get in the way of being grateful. Yet, there are natural, familiar ways to incorporate gratitude in our lives that can occur both spontaneously and intentionally, without feeling forced. Staying grounded in our bodies, or our faith, nature, or the present moment all help us to find our gratitude and to stop the ruminating thoughts that keep us from enjoying life. It is a...
2025-07-0944 min
Seniors in the BuildingWhere We Come From: Roots and ShootsWe begin by sharing our experiences of growing up in rural communities with extended family around and continue to reference the influence of extended family throughout the conversation. It is in exact contrast to the experience we had raising our own children and being separated from extended family by either distance or our parents’ death. We touch on genetics and how familial features and health care issues manifest. Exploring the gifts given to us by our parents, education had a huge impact. Strongly encouraged to get further education we work through the reasons for that and the consequences, as we...
2025-07-0249 min
Seniors in the BuildingSeniors and TechnologyStarting with a clip from our first attempt at a podcast, we marvel at how far we have come in understanding the technology, which sets the tone for our conversation. We have seen many changes in technology in our lifetimes and the themes of adapting and learning are paramount to the discussion. How do we learn new technology? Why might we resist? What happens when technology fails, and we must trouble shoot? What are the risks of using technology? We explore many aspects of technology from how it’s used in the medical field, in car manufacturing and in ac...
2025-06-2540 min
Seniors in the BuildingBeauty and Truth: What Inspires Us?Things we thought would inspire us in retirement, don’t and what we now find inspiring is surprising. That runs the gamut from thinking about hockey differently and ditching previous hobbies for new ones to the exploration of quantum physics and following Chris Hadfield’s observations from space. The gift of time allows us to explore our interests at length and to delve into a particular project or explore a museum for as long as we want. The pandemic had an influence on how our interests developed, with some positive things emerging despite the downsides. Pain has an impact on w...
2025-06-1846 min
Seniors in the BuildingDeath, Dying and Our LegacyThoughts of death are more frequent in our seventies, and the number of years ahead of us are fewer. We are paying more attention to what we do before we die, and how we want to be remembered. We recall the division of material goods from our parents and how much we should involve our children in the task of divestment of goods. We discuss creative ways to leave a legacy. We also discuss death based on cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker's book "The Denial of Death". The book suggests that we live in subconscious fear of our...
2025-06-1151 min
Seniors in the BuildingSpirituality and Our Search for MeaningSpirituality can take on deeper significance in later life, becoming a vital source of meaning, comfort and resilience. It can be a very broad topic, taking in many different religious and meditative traditions. But what does it mean for us? We reflect on our lives, relationships with our families and the broader community, connecting to something outside ourselves and finding peaceful spaces. We explore how spirituality can become a search for ways to make sense of our lives and our world. We talk about activism and how taking a stand on an issue can bring spiritual moments. Spirituality can...
2025-06-0443 min
Seniors in the BuildingFoods We Used to Eat and Other Food TalesFood is essential to life, and we thought it was important to talk about our relationship to food now. We found ourselves remembering big family gatherings for harvest or holidays, and the wonderful food we enjoyed in our Canadian, German, English and Scandinavian traditions. We explore where some of our attitudes towards food came from and how that has shaped our eating habits today. We also discuss how our eating habits have changed as we've gotten older, impacted by health conditions, a desire to eat healthier, and through the influence of other cultures.We converse about who...
2025-05-2841 min
Seniors in the BuildingNurturingWe explore nurturing - social, physical, spiritual, cognitive, emotional and familial - as we move through the space between independence and vulnerability. Once taken-for-granted routines like driving or medical checkups now demand personal advocacy and initiative. Nurturing takes effort - and raises the question, "Are we enough?".We also reflect on how aging is shared with our children and grandchildren, and how mutual care can be renegotiated. Finally, we ask: How do we nurture ourselves as we age?
2025-05-2151 min
Seniors in the BuildingI Thought Getting Older Would Take LongerFinding ourselves suddenly older can be startling. People tend to respond to us in a different way, and we see ourselves differently. We thought we had more time to think about our future. Now it is here!We begin the conversation with the emerging political climate and how false news, climate change denial and other challenging issues evident today affect our outlook and our future. What sort of planning for the future or hope do we see for the future?
2025-05-2149 min
Seniors in the BuildingSeniors Manage Fear and AnxietyIn the previous podcast we got a bit sidetracked in our conversation about coping with fear and anxiety. We decided to continue with that topic. When we are faced with threats, what is our "fight or flight" response? And what about a "tend and befriend" response? What are the things that may create fear and anxiety for older people? What causes fear and anxiety for us? We explore these questions and share the ways that we deal with our own fear and anxiety. Imagination, resilience, creativity, critical thinking, entrepreneurship, joyfulness and empathy all enter the conversation.
2025-05-1550 min
Seniors in the BuildingWho Are We Now That We Are Retired? Identity Anxiety A conversation that started out as how do we cope with fear and anxiety, became an exploration of who we are now as we are growing older. We d0 talk about how we alleviate stress in our daily lives. We share some of the past experiences that have shaped our current strategies, including silent retreats, forest bathing, and learning how to just 'be'. But the question of who we are now, since we are no longer working, is prominent in the discussion
2025-05-0846 min
Seniors in the Building"Hope and Joy in Growing Older - What Sustains Us?" A meaningful conversation about the struggle to find and maintain the things that sustain us and bring meaning to our lives as we age. With honesty and humour, the Seniors in the Building podcast members talk about family, advocacy, spirituality, sports and gratitude, among other things as they reflect on what has changed over time and what brings hope and joy to them today.
2025-05-0146 min
Seniors in the Building"The Excellent Adventure - What We Learned From Travel" From Africa to India, through Europe and across Canada, Jack, Signe, Elaine and Rick share some of their travel adventures, answering the question "What Have I learned from travelling that I take into the future? An interesting conversation develops around how their lives were changed by travel, including the shifts in worldview, cultural awareness, parenting styles and ability to adapt.
2025-05-0138 min
Seniors in the BuildingStarting a Podcast Is Easy, Right?Welcome to Seniors in the Building, a podcast exploring what it means to grow older. Meet Rick, Elaine, Signe and Jack and learn how they rekindled their friendship after 30 some years, and why they decided to start a podcast. Listen as they share with humour and honesty how it feels to learn and use new technology (somewhat awkwardly at first) then as they warm up to the topics they hope to cover n subsequent episodes. This is only the beginning.
2025-04-2338 min
Un livre & vousChaque serment que tu brisesUn thriller haletant signé Peter Swanson aux éditions Gallmeister.Hébergé par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
2022-06-1302 min
La Nuit AméricaineLa Nuit Américaine - S02E08 - Sunset BoulevardLa Nuit Américaine a pris ses quartiers dans une villa de Sunset Boulevard. Une demeure fastueuse dont les murs témoignent d’une gloire passée, où les rêves d’une Star vieillissante se confondent avec les aspirations chimériques d’un auteur peu scrupuleux, et cela au risque de se noyer dans une piscine de désillusions. Ce chef-d'œuvre signé Billy Wilder avec Gloria Swanson et William Holden est un bonheur de cinéma.
Alors que nous nagions dans l'Âge d’or, nous barbotons désormais dans le glauque, le sinistre et l’horreur. Affamés es...
2021-12-201h 41
C'est plus que de la SFPreston & Child avec Sébastian Danchin - Sponso #5Sébastian Danchin, traducteur de Preston and Child, revient sur ce duo d'écrivain pas comme les autres. Il présente pour notre podcast le dernier roman Tombes Oubliées avec l'inspectrice Nora Kelly. Cette émission est sponsorisée par les éditions de l'Archipel.
Résumé : Nora Kelly, de l’Institut archéologique de Santa Fe, est approchée par l’historien Clive Benton pour localiser le Campement perdu de l’expédition Donner, introuvable depuis 1847, afin d’y effectuer des recherches historiques… et mettre la main sur un trésor. Benton a en effet trouvé le journal d’une...
2020-12-1638 min