Spirituality encompasses various character strengths such as love, hope, and belief in something—whether it's God, the universe, or just love. Spiritual people can trust something and it creates meaning, says psychologist Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello.
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We all want to live happily ever after. A psychologist reveals what it really takes to be happy in your later years – and how to arm yourself against the blows of fate.
Ms. Perrig-Chiello, you have spent decades studying the question of how we can age happily. Why is it so hard for us to accept the passage of time?
This is because our identity does not keep up well with the aging process. The body changes, the ability to work disappears and the memory deteriorates. None of this fits with the self-image that we are always the same inside. Then it is necessary to redefine one's identity, which is all the more difficult in a society where age is viewed largely negatively and is accompanied by many fears.