Welcome to Writing Down Our Years!

My goal for later life is to Age with Spirit. Through daily or weekly writing we learn to attend to the present moment, reflect on our past, and make wiser choices for the future.

My monthly Blog Aging with Spirit profiles older adults who write life stories and poems as part of their vital aging, presents Writing Exercises, and demonstrates benefits of writing for self and others. We focus on writing in the context of Aging with Resilience through a sense of purpose within community.

I invite you to learn more about Aging with Spirit and Writing in Later Life through the Writing Down Our Years book series, Resources, and Blog Archives on this website and to explore my other website Hamilton Aging in Community.

Ellen Ryan, McMaster University

Intergenerational Memoir Project Publication

Our Intergenerational Memoir Project (Hamilton Aging in Community and McMaster University) is featured in a set of nine articles in the January 2024 issue of SAGEING, a Canadian online journal. I am sending you the link to a special issue of a journal, featuring 9 articles from our Intergenerational Memoir Project in Hamilton, Ontario. This […]

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Passing on Our Lessons: Writing Ethical Wills and Legacy Letters

Ellen Ryan and Loretta Jaunzarins will lead an online workshop on the writing of ethical wills, alternatively called Legacy Letters, on Saturday October 1, 9:30am -11:30am. The webinar will be followed up by 4 opportunities to practice writing letters conveying your values through story to younger generations. See Event Description for more information and for […]

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Pilgrim Shadows – photography exhibit

Ellen Ryan to host Photography Exhibit at Gallery Dundas (Ontario) for 3 months (October-December 2022). She will make an online presentation about Late Life Creativity (showing slides of her shadow photography) on November 9th, Wednesday, 3:30pm. Contact Ellen at info@writingdownouryears.ca for details and registration link. You can read her brief essay My Pilgrim Shadow here: […]

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Contact Info
Ellen Ryan, webhost: info@writingdownouryears.ca
Dep’t of Health, Aging and Society, KTH – 226, McMaster University Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1
(905) 525-9140 Extension: 27035
Ellen B. Ryan Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus,
McMaster University
Specialist in Aging: Psychology, Communication, Spirituality, Writing Facilitator
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