University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects Capstones 8-1-2018 You Only Live Twice: Midlife as a Creative Transition Into Our 'Second Act' Erik Otto Driessen University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone Part of the Business Commons, Counseling Commons, and the Other Psychology Commons Driessen, Erik Otto, "You Only Live Twice: Midlife as a Creative Transition Into Our 'Second Act'" (2018). Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects. 141. https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/141 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/141 For more information, please contact [email protected]. You Only Live Twice: Midlife as a Creative Transition Into Our 'Second Act' Abstract Our rising life expectancy mandates a re-design of our life span and redefines midlif‘ e’ both technically and conceptually. Lagging behind other life stages in its scientific study, midlife is often connoted with a ‘crisis’ of sorts. Yet historically, midlife represented an apex in life; moreover, conclusive ‘crisis’ evidence has yet to emerge. Some manage to thrive in midlife by maintaining an attitude rooted in The Good Life, a concept tracing back to Aristotelian ethics. Positive psychology, the science of what makes life worth living, has studied The Good Life in modern times and contributed to understanding midlife in well-being terms. Together with neuroscience, positive psychology can help dispel myths regarding midlife, reframing it from the onset of decline into a creative transition for our ‘second act’ based on an enhanced sense of authorship. This self-creation process involves three key well-being themes: revision, prospection, and individuation. Reviewing these themes and ‘layering’ them with different well-being perspectives relevant to midlife, we may achieve meaningful positive psychological constructs and activities (and eventually, interventions) in three areas: positive narrative identity, serious play, and self- regulation. Of these, serious play, which unlocks the tacit knowledge our bodies disseminate in a state of play, seems especially key to enhancing authorship. One serious play application, LEGO Serious Play, which aims to build identities trough metaphors, seems especially promising for enhancing well-being at midlife in positive psychology workshops. Keywords authorship, individuation, life design, midlife, positive psychology, prospection, self-creation, serious play, well-being Disciplines Business | Counseling | Other Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences This review is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/141 Running Head: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE You Only Live Twice: Midlife as a Creative Transition Into Our ‘Second Act’ Erik Otto Driessen University of Pennsylvania A Capstone Project Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Positive Psychology Advisor: Dan Tomasulo August 1, 2018 YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE 2 You Only Live Twice: Midlife as a Creative Transition Into Our ‘Second Act’ Erik Otto Driessen [email protected] Capstone Project Master of Applied Positive Psychology University of Pennsylvania Advisor: Dan Tomasulo August 1, 2018 Abstract Our rising life expectancy mandates a re-design of our life span and redefines ‘midlife’ both technically and conceptually. Lagging behind other life stages in its scientific study, midlife is often connoted with a ‘crisis’ of sorts. Yet historically, midlife represented an apex in life; moreover, conclusive ‘crisis’ evidence has yet to emerge. Some manage to thrive in midlife by maintaining an attitude rooted in The Good Life, a concept tracing back to Aristotelian ethics. Positive psychology, the science of what makes life worth living, has studied The Good Life in modern times and contributed to understanding midlife in well-being terms. Together with neuroscience, positive psychology can help dispel myths regarding midlife, reframing it from the onset of decline into a creative transition for our ‘second act’ based on an enhanced sense of authorship. This self-creation process involves three key well-being themes: revision, prospection, and individuation. Reviewing these themes and ‘layering’ them with different well- being perspectives relevant to midlife, we may achieve meaningful positive psychological constructs and activities (and eventually, interventions) in three areas: positive narrative identity, serious play, and self-regulation. Of these, serious play, which unlocks the tacit knowledge our bodies disseminate in a state of play, seems especially key to enhancing authorship. One serious play application, LEGO Serious Play, which aims to build identities trough metaphors, seems especially promising for enhancing well-being at midlife in positive psychology workshops. Keywords: authorship, individuation, life design, midlife, positive psychology, prospection, self- creation, serious play, well-being YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE 3 Acknowledgements Navigating my midlife years, questions regarding my identity (e.g., “who am I?”) as well as my voice (e.g., “which one is the real one?”) have at times haunted me. Yet, as the years pass, I have also become more aware how much help (and how many resources) I have received, sometimes in ways still not completely clear to me, from those keen to help me construct my identity and gain fragments of my voice along the way. This group of ‘guiding souls’ includes George Baker (who instilled a love for sculpture and 3-D design in me), Mike Tamada (who taught me how to write and construct an argument), and Robert Winter (who showed me the art of journaling), all of Occidental College; Anderson Todd, Albert Pope, and Lars Lerup of the Rice University School of Architecture (who taught me how to defend a point of view as well as read and instill a sense of narrative in architecture and design), as well as my capstone advisor Dan Tomasulo (who ‘got’ me literally from my first MAPP day in the Ben Franklin Room at Penn while we discussed potential play-based contributions to positive psychology) and Jan Stanley (with whom I re-discovered a love for writing and synthesizing through journaling), both from the MAPP program at the University of Pennsylvania. Also, I cannot leave out Martin Feijen from my native The Netherlands, who showed me the art of “putting the pieces of one’s self together” in midlife and of course, all my family, classmates, and friends who helped me advance toward ‘enLIGHTenment’ by asking and sharing incisive and insightful questions and observations along the way. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE 4 Dedication I dedicate this capstone to my many fellow ‘mid-lifers’ who, despite appearances, may also be going through life wondering if the Talking Heads were right to proclaim, “Well…How did I get here?” and “My God! What have I done?” in their iconic 1980s song, Once in a Lifetime. This capstone is for all of us living (or not living) in a shotgun shack, in another part of the world, behind the wheel of a large automobile, or in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife. You may also ask yourself, “how do I work this?” Well, I suggest we say to ourselves: “we have only just begun.” Midlife is our best opportunity to get started with the second part of becoming our ‘real selves’. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE 5 Table of Contents Abstract........................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................3 Dedication........................................................................................................................................4 Introduction: Midlife (Mis-)Conceived ...........................................................................................6 Part I. The Good (Mid-)Life: A Short History of the ‘Glass Half Full’…....................................13 Part II. Positive Psychology: What Makes Life Worth Living...................................................... 26 Part III. Midlife and Well-Being: Crisis? What Crisis?.................................................................34 Part IV. Midlife Re-Imagined: From Decline to Self-Creation.....................................................37 Part V. Layering Authorship with Well-Being Perspectives: From Themes to Activities............60 Part VI. Three Action Areas: Positive Narrative Identity, Serious Play, and Self-Regulation......79 Part VII. Experimenting with Authorship: Play, Serious Play, and LEGO Serious Play..............95 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................115 References....................................................................................................................................117 Appendix A – Ryff’s (1989) Mindsets for Predicting Health and Well-Being...........................143 Appendix B – Layering Authorship with Well-Being Perspectives............................................145 Appendix C – A Methodical Approach for Fabricating Authorship-Focused Interventions.......146 Appendix D – Three Action Areas for Enhancing Authorship....................................................147