ABSTRACT
Summary The purpose of this chapter is to contribute to the development of Generational Intelligence as directed at the self. As such it begins to unpack the first step along the journey towards increased Generational Intelligence, in so far as it addresses the degree to which it is possible to perceive oneself generationally and as distinct from other generational groups. Our everyday encounters with generation are often so subtle and deeply embedded that, paradoxically, we are hardly aware that they are there. Three areas are therefore examined in this chapter that address the way that notions of generation have become a part of the inner world of self. The first includes a look at self-perceptions that are based on age, the second at the emotional figures that inhabit that world and the third, different existential priorities that emerge as the adult life-course progresses. The factors that shape a personal sense of ageing and of generation include images, contents and processes that are generationally constructed. A problem with ignoring these contents and processes is that individuals get stuck in a particular form of generational imagination, which with time increasingly fails to fit their lived experience. A key element for Generational Intelligence then becomes increasing awareness of the way in which people think about their own journey through adult life and how their patterns of thought might change as they move through time and, as a consequence, grow older.
