Reframe Your Life

After a two year hiatus, Reframe Your Life is back. It took a special guest to get me to record another episode. Ann Douglas was Canada's go-to expert on all things parenting for decades. Now that her kids have grown up and left home, she's turning her attention to the glorious messiness that is midlife. And she hasn't just been researching it; she's been living it: trying to find her way through all that messiness-career curveballs, mental and physical health challenges, a house fire, relationship highs and lows, the death of a parent, and so on. Ann is the author of twenty-five non-fiction books, including many bestselling titles in the parenting category, such as The Mother of All® series, and a passionate and inspiring speaker who delivers keynote addresses and leads small-group workshops at conferences & online events. The book recommended in this episode:  One Long River of Song by Brian Doyle [https://amzn.to/3KtZnwB] (affiliate link) Subscribe to Reframe Your Life so you don't miss any future episodes!

We had a great time talking to Cait Flanders author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller The Year of Less. It may seem like an odd time to publish a book about opting out and yet, as we discovered, this is the perfect time to get serious about leading an intentional life. Find out more about Cait here [https://caitflanders.com]. Follow on IG @caitflanders Find out more about Sandy here [https://www.sandyreynolds.com]. Follow on IG @sandyareynolds  Find out more about Patti here [https://pattimhall.com]. Follow IG @pattimhall

About the book: It has long been thought that artistic output declines in old age. When Emily Urquhart and her family celebrated the eightieth birthday of her father, the illustrious painter Tony Urquhart, she found it remarkable that, although his pace had slowed, he was continuing his daily art practice of drawing, painting, and constructing large-scale sculptures, and was even innovating his style. Was he defying the odds, or is it possible that some assumptions about the elderly are flat-out wrong? After all, many well-known visual artists completed their best work in the last decade of their lives, Turner, Monet, and Cézanne among them. With the eye of a memoirist and the curiosity of a journalist, Urquhart began an investigation into late-stage creativity, asking: Is it possible that our best work is ahead of us? Is there an expiry date on creativity? Do we ever really know when we’ve done anything for the last time? The Age of Creativity is a graceful, intimate blend of research on ageing and creativity, including on progressive senior-led organizations, such as a home for elderly theatre performers and a gallery in New York City that only represents artists over sixty, and her experiences living and travelling with her father. Emily Urquhart reveals how creative work, both amateur and professional, sustains people in the third act of their lives, and tells a new story about the possibilities of elder-hood.

Art crashes into life for author Erica Cantley when she finds herself behind a podium in front of a class of high school seniors, teaching HAMLET as her father died, thousands of miles to the south in Costa Rica. Interspersing interactions with her teenage students and memories of her father, desperately sick and difficult to reach in his adopted jungle home, Cantley guides her students through HAMLET -- written four centuries ago -- while reflecting upon the impending loss of a parent in the never-ending now. The result is a powerful memoir of a love that will not die, the timeless story of the bond between parent and child, the magic created by a gifted teacher and willing pupils, and finally, the exploration of the timeless themes of HAMLET, the study in the transition of power through the generations. For those of you who aren't acquainted with Hamlet - don't let that deter you from this book or podcast.  The themes in this book and discussion are themes we can all relate to in our lives.  For more on Erica visit her website [https://ericawcantley.com/about/].  And your cohosts can be found here:  Sandy Reynolds [https://www.sandyreynolds.com] and Patti M. Hall [https://pattimhall.com]

This week on Reframe Your Life we interview award-winning producer Michelle Parise about her book Alone: A Love Story. This memoir is about falling in love, the fallout of infidelity, and everything messy in between — and the inspiration behind the hit CBC podcast. Parise has worked for CBC Radio and Television for over two decades. She was born and raised in Toronto in a gigantic Italian immigrant family.