A Good Age: You're a creative age-buster. You just may not know it yet.

DUXBURY – In a spirited presentation on how we can stay creative as we age, Henry Quinlan caught my attention right away.

"We've all been creative, sometimes in everyday life," he said.

This doesn't require any particular artistic project or new invention. Quinlan, who is 82 and has been in the publishing business for 50 years, described "creativity with intention, thinking or doing something in a way we haven't done it before."

It can be as simple as changing a favorite recipe your mother handed down – adding or removing an ingredient, altering the cooking method – or composing a silly poem or fun drawing for a friend's birthday.

The resident of Merrimack, New Hampshire, brought his talk and slide show called "Creativity: Helping the Aging Brain and Body Stay Healthy" to the Duxbury Senior Center on May 2. He zeroed in on "being creative with a lower-case c."

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"Learn to be an age buster, not busted by age," the promotion for the talk said.

As he made suggestions, told stories and showed video clips, I thought of all the older people I've interviewed and how they've been so inventive, inspiring, delightful and often funny, going back many years.

As their life situations had changed, when they retired and had larger blocks of time to fill, they invented themselves in new ways.

There was Mabel Bean, of Weymouth, who, at 92, sat down at her piano, got out her music, called up people she knew who were also confined to their homes and offered to play "spirit-lifting music" for them over the phone.

And there was witty, wry Molly Gregory at the New England Friends Home in Hingham, where she designed a special ladder and hung it from her bedroom window so her cat, Sofia, could climb up and down to go out.

Cora Blaine, of Randolph, still riding her horse Judy at age 90, told me, “Whatever makes people happy or is agreeable, they have to find it themselves.”

Milton artists Elva Proctor and Jim Hooley, painting and teaching into their 90s. Natalie Loomis, of Marshfield, kayaking at 91. Ethel Harrington Smith, a genealogy researcher, writing books at age 90 overlooking the bay in Hull. Retired Marshfield teacher Elizabeth Bradford holding English hand bell concerts. George Wilson and fellow retirees from New England Telephone Co., who repaired talking book machines for blind people.

"We all have (creativity) and it is more than artistic expression," Quinlan said.

He said people who travel tend to be more creative. That can include just day trips close to home. New settings can make you "think outside the box," and if travel is not possible, he said, think of a way to change your environment.

Other tips: Keep your curiosity. Be open to different experiences. Adapt to changing circumstances. Confront challenges and change your routine to jump-start creativity and appreciate that in others.

During the COVID shutdown, the Whippoorwills choral group at the Weymouth senior center could no longer go out and entertain at nursing homes and other locales. Members really missed their singing together, a form of creative expression. In July 2020, leader Jim DiRocco, of Braintree, arranged for them to gather outside at King Oak Hill Park in Weymouth for socially distanced singing.

Quinlan also suggested that certain qualities may prevent us from showing our creativity. These include always thinking logically, being too practical, avoiding ambiguity and worrying about what other people will think or about being judged.

For his part, when he turned 80, he went skydiving with his granddaughter. And instead of going to large family birthday dinners for his grandchildren, where he felt lost in the crowd, he began a tradition of taking each grandchild out for their own birthday dinner. It's become very popular.

"People are trying to make you conform all the time," he warned. "Do not become set in your ways. Set some goals, have a purpose to get up in the morning, your own choice.'

I thought of a sweet, somewhat frail elderly woman I saw at a Milton senior center program. She told me how she got down in the dumps sometimes, being at home by herself so much. One day she woke up depressed, then the newspaper arrived and she saw the event she was at listed in the calendar. Her day had a purpose. Her voice became excited as she told how life brightened when she signed up to go.

Creative seniors don't think about their age, or about stereotypes about aging, Quinlan said, but they do think about their own goals and aspirations. They seek personal growth. They are not afraid to stand out and try something new. They can overcome self-doubt.

The Duxbury presentation was part of the center's "Lighten Up" program, which explores different lifestyles, health and wellness and is funded through the Grafton Foundation. It was launched because the pandemic made so many seniors feel more isolated and it has helped bring people back to the building.

"Creativity and having a sense of purpose are part of our mental well-being," Regan Rodriguez, program coordinator, said.

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Learn more about Henry Quinlan and the programs he gives to seniors and others at hmqpublisher.com.

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Duxbury seniors learn how to boost creativity with age, stay engaged