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Dear Friends Committed to Living and Aging Consciously;
We send you this newsletter at the halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, when we and the other living beings on the northern hemisphere of our precious planet are still in the depths of Winter yet beginning to sense new life life stirring and waiting for its time to emerge. Many of us feel the warm rays of hope after a long, dark emotional, medical, social and political wintertime. We hope this is true for you.
The purpose of this newsletter, and of the Center for Conscious Eldering, is to support you in growing into the conscious elderhood that is your birthright, but which requires your willingness to accept it as both gift and responsibility. We include an article by Katia Petersen on Purpose and Meaning as we age; a beautiful piece by Tom Garcia on finding and listening to your most authentic inner voice as your trustworthy source of guidance for the journey ahead; and an article by FrolicTaylor on a subject often overlooked in conversations about elder wisdom--the Wisdom of the Body.
We present inspirational poetry, including a powerful work by Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman on our responsibility to the planet upon which our very survival depends. You will find information about the in-person retreats we hope to present next Fall and Ron Pevny's upcoming online course "Navigating Life's Passages." We also present information about the organizations we are proud to have as partners in conscious aging work, and an invitation to lend your experience and wisdom to a very meaningful research project we are happy to promote. There's a lot in this newsletter. Take time to savor it, perhaps in several sessions.
May you be well and thrive in every way as you look forward to inner and outer Springtime.
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Redefining Our Sense of Purpose and Meaning
By Katia Petersen
How we view the aging process affects the way we choose to live our lives. Entering into elderhood can be an amazing part of our spiritual journey especially when we choose to understand, embrace, and witness the daily miracles we experience every step of the way. Choosing to build our capacity to age consciously is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves as we celebrate the wisdom and perspectives that come with our life experiences. As Ron Pevny often points out in his teachings, “we have the choice of either growing into and expressing our elderhood or merely aging and growing old.”
Research shows that as we get older, people with a sense of purpose and meaning who feel part of something bigger than themselves, feel more joyful, heal quicker, and live life more fully. At the same time, we need to acknowledge that life is not linear as we experience ups and downs, sudden changes, shifts in our perspective and ways of being and doing things. In other words life happens and we don’t always know what will be revealed to us, why or when. That is why it’s essential to redefine our sense of purpose and meaning along the way, as our needs and priorities change from lessons learned.
The elders in my family taught me about life by example and through stories. My mother told me that part of growing and changing is our ability to create space for new experiences and knowledge along the way. My grandmother taught me that life is like a bookshelf filled with books with chapters from each year of our lives. In order to create more space on the shelves so we would continue to learn and grow, we needed to share some of the books with those we loved. My father taught me the importance of being flexible and willing to adjust to the unexpected turns of events in order to navigate through life easier. He did that with amazing grace until his last breath. I am not sure I fully appreciated the wisdom in those lessons until later in my own life. I finally came to understand that there are no time limits to learning, being curious, or experiencing a sense of wonder and gratitude for the life I have already lived.
How do you redefine your sense of purpose and meaning at this point in your life?
The Gift of Stillness
As life moves forward at what sometimes feels like light-speed I find myself trying to balance the need to be productive as I continue to follow my passions, with the need for stillness. I am finally at a place in my life where I treasure and crave stillness, and I also see its value for my wellbeing. When I am still, I create spaciousness for my body to catch up with my heart and soul, experiencing the beauty of my surroundings. When I choose to be still, I find my inner peace, a place of consciousness that allows me to open up my mind, body and heart to what is possible, to find solutions, increase my creativity and find my happy place. Each one of us has the potential to find our true self and to live life with purpose and meaning. Meditation is an important part of my life, as a daily practice to help me stay centered, feel renewed and be more mindful about the present.
Where can you create a sacred place to experience the gift of stillness? What practices do you use to enhance your inner journey?
Be the Author of Your Own Story
There is something profound and liberating when we recognize that indeed we are the authors of our own story. When we realize the strength of our voice, our ability to freely express our emotions, and surround ourselves with people who see us for who we are and support our growth, our perspective shifts from “It is what it is and there is nothing I can do about it” to “I see my potential, I believe in myself, I love myself enough to open up to receiving goodness, and I can see and feel what I was born to do.”
Our minds are powerful. If we harness that power by believing that anything is possible, the rest of our being will take over and move us forward in the right direction. Conversely, if we give up, to stay in a negative place believing that the universe is out to get us and there is nothing we can do about it, that is likely the direction we will move in.
As you allow your story to unfold, imagine yourself walking with purpose and with your destination in mind. Choose the people you wish to encounter along the way, the places you want to explore; ask the questions you believe will lead you to the next chapter, and use the language that brings you inner peace, calm, energy and fulfillment.
If you could change your story, what would it be about and what would you call it?
The Fear of the Unknown
There are times in our life when an unexpected event or person shows up just at the right moment, when we need them the most. Is it a coincidence or do we energetically call for it? Maybe these are reminders to stand up for ourselves, to speak our truth, to set clear boundaries, to throw caution to the wind and do something totally out of the ordinary. I personally embrace the unexpected, sit with it, reflect on it, let go of what is not serving me well while keeping only what helps me grow. I allow myself to look at new opportunities from a place of curiosity rather than fear. I communicate with sincerity making sure I speak my truth, follow my intuition, and learn form the wisdom of the people who support me to be the best version of me.
In what ways can you choose to step into new experiences with an open heart and mind, free of fear of the unknown or of being judged for following your passion?
Celebrate the New You
We spend so much time of our lives trying to prove our worth, to please others, to live within the expectations of others. Deepak Chopra says, “Don’t step outside the box, throw the box away.” This is our time to live our lives according to us, to feed our soul with things that nurture our spiritual selves, to pay attention to our inner journey as much as we did our outer journey, because our motivation comes from a sense of new purpose. It’s time to celebrate who we are just because we can. I was blessed to have a strong foundation and a great understanding that I was my own person, with unique gifts, a voice, and the capacity to choose how to best live my life as each chapter unfolded. I love being the author of my own story and as I get older I finally own and honor the person I am meant to be and what I still have to offer. My sense of purpose and meaning continues to be redefined as my story unfolds.
How do you choose to celebrate the new YOU?
Katia Petersen PhD is President of Petersen Argo Inc. a Transformational Education company, and brings to the conscious eldering field decades of experience as a psychotherapist, educator, story teller and author. She is known for her ability to touch the hearts of individuals in dynamic and healing ways, and is in demand as a motivational speaker, master trainer, group facilitator and coach.
Ron Pevny and Katia are excited to announce that they are collaborating on a new book, titled
"The Art of Conscious Eldering: Your 52-Week GrowthBook for Aging with Passion and Purpose"
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Gossamer and Other Delicate Things
By Tom Garcia, DC
The voice didn’t barge in. It came quietly; so distinct and clear there was no denying its presence. I didn’t even bother to ask, “Who are you?” because I knew. It was a voice I had not heard before and it has been with me ever since our first encounter.
Eleven years ago I found my voice, or rather it found me, in the woods lying under a tree writing intently in my journal. Between writing and listening, something shifted. Instead of me posing questions and composing my thoughts, my journal began talking to me, as though it had been waiting patiently for its moment, a moment that had been building for months, and wasn’t entirely unanticipated. I knew it was coming. There had been several attempts to get through to me, like someone knocking at the door, but I wasn’t quite ready to answer. Nature is the best medicine, and without knowing what to expect, I set a time and prepared a place on the earth, amongst trees and an open sky. I prepared myself, because I was waiting—for something.
For years I have used my journal to facilitate an internal dialogue to gain deeper insights and understanding, but what occurred that day was different, a quantum leap into new territory, an opening big enough to step through.
We all have a voice. You have a voice. At first, your awareness of it may be fragile, as delicate as gossamer. But if you regard it gently with the respect you would accord a relationship you value, it will become like dura mater—a tough mother—and you’ll know the voice the way you know your mother’s voice calling in a roomful of mothers—and you come running. You become familiar with its every tone and timbre and respond to its call. You know the voice is yours, and you belong to it.
You recognize how it speaks to you: not just in words, but as awareness, intuition and inner knowing. You feel a deeper connection to the sacred and recognize the sacred in all things, because your voice is sacred. Your commitment to be present and listen to your voice, giving it your undivided attention, is a gift that demonstrates your love and respect.
Listening, and being listened, is a sublime privilege. You remember how it felt when someone really listened to you, the feeling of being seen and heard. It’s the same for your voice. When you listen deeply and wholeheartedly, something opens, a memory is returned to you. You remember who you are and why you are here. You realize you cannot hide your light, no matter how hard you’ve tried. You want to be seen and heard. This may be difficult to accept if you’ve been hiding in the dark. But even then, you have been watched over, guided and protected. You are never alone.
There were times when I was afraid my voice would leave me; that one day, I’d wake up and it would be gone. Then I realized that I’m the one who leaves, not my voice. When you strengthen the connection with your voice it becomes stronger and clearer. You communicate with your voice in a language that can only be described as love. When you listen deeply, your voice will share its secrets with you, and then you know it has become your Teacher.
Your voice will go with you to places where you have felt inadequate, unworthy, and afraid. It will speak of things you may not fully understand, like trust and forgiveness.
Forgiveness is more than forgiving people for the things they’ve done to hurt you. It’s forgiving everything you made up about yourself that wasn’t true, and others too, and the distorted way you’ve looked at the world. Instead of placing your own judgment on what you see, really ask to see the purpose of the universe and how to look on all things with love, appreciation, and open mindedness. When you remember only loving thoughts, the rest will be forgotten, and all that will remain is a blessing, a blessing you gave.
Trust is an indication of your willingness to surrender all you thought you knew, in exchange for the truth. Your voice shows you where you haven’t trusted, and gently reminds you to choose again and to trust more deeply as a way of being in the world.
There will be times when your voice takes you right into the heart of grief to heal your sense of loss, purify your heart, and help you to let go. Grief can make you lose sight of any gift at all and take you to the depths of hell. But if you suspend your grieving for a little while, the gift will reveal itself in light, peace and understanding.
It takes courage to be who you are, to know you are loved, and to know the case you have built against yourself has been dismissed. You are innocent, and so is everyone else, which may come as a relief.
Your voice, if you let it have its way with you, will take you right to the edge of truth and illusion and ask for nothing less than your devotion. You decide, even though there’s really only one choice. But you get to choose anyway, because your choice means everything, even if you kick and scream the whole way. As you follow your voice, you will realize all you’ve ever wanted was the truth. Not a hand-me-down version, but your own hard won truth. The one you discovered when you held your feet to the fire and broke your own heart to find the truth in the last place you would ever look to find it. You want to know the truth that lives within you.
You’ve seen flashes, and sometimes long stretches, of the light in all things, especially yourself. When that happens, you see yourself as you truly are and become willing to move beyond appearances, including your own, to see more clearly the underlying truth of all things. You understand nothing was ever withheld from you—you just thought it was.
Finding your voice does means now you listen. Listen in silence. Listen expectantly. Listen with intention. Listen with the certainty that you will discover your own source of wisdom. No one can hear what is yours to hear.
Listening with every fiber of your being is a practice, a discipline. You must quiet the noise of the outside world and turn to the quiet voice that beckons you, willing to open your mind and heart for the messages that await. This is all you can do—and it takes everything. What you do with the messages your voice gives you is up to you, of course. Follow the thread of this sacred conversation and embrace its gift.
Dr. Tom Garcia is a Colorado-based shamanic teacher, spiritual guide and mentor who helps people use ceremony on the land to find their authentic voice and true purpose. Visit www.ReclaimtheSacred.com and reach him at [email protected]
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Body Wisdom
by Frolic Taylor
“In our body is our life journey -
a record of all that we have seen and done.
In our cells are the memories of all our joys and heartbreaks
and all of our errors and deep wisdom.”
Seven years ago, I attended Ron Pevny's Conscious Eldering retreat held in central New York and so began a profound journey - difficult but infinitely rewarding - into the depths of my mind, body, heart and spirit. Today, I am a 74-year-old woman filled with acknowledgement of, and gratitude for my gifts, clarity about my highest values, and a passion to share my BodyWisdomTM seminar with my fellow elders.
When, in later life, a desire to be of service arises, we want and need our body to have the alive energy to implement our intentions. In order to have that aliveness as an aging person, I have discovered that we must summon the courage to completely “befriend” our body. Primarily this involves a willingness to retrieve memories and enter into a deeply truthful relationship with our physicality in present time. Very likely in the past, our modus operandi has been to “tough it out” or cut it out, or to just “get over” our wounds and “get on” with life.
However, scientific studies at Harvard and Tufts Universities have proven that our body stores - in its very cells - unexpressed emotions. They may be grief or fear, anger, guilt or unfulfilled longings but they also include suppressed feelings of wonderment, arousal, love, joy, and peace.
In my personal journey I found it necessary to release adversarial attitudes that I felt toward previously damaged parts, and embrace my past traumas - including an abortion, being fired from a job I loved, and a rape. Miraculously I learned that my body yearned to be connected with my heart’s experience! When I did that, I could actually feel a beautiful healing begin. Slowly but surely, my abandoned and/or neglected body parts came to feel accepted, understood, appreciated, and cared for. Ultimately over time, my body has become my beloved.
It is inevitable that just in the process of living multiple decades, we experience trauma, illness, surgery, bad sex, loss etc. But Deepak Chopra in his brilliant book Ageless Body, Timeless Mind taught me that “Our bodies are composed of energy and information...[they are] an outcropping of infinite fields spanning the universe...The biochemistry of the body is a product of awareness...[and] awareness is curative...you [can] create your body in new forms.”
As a teen, my back pain was explained by an x-ray that showed I had an extra lumbar vertebra partially fused to my sacrum. In my 40’s, I developed a uterine fibroid tumor the size of an orange and in my 50’s, came the onset of high blood pressure. Three years after attending my Conscious Eldering retreat, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a harsh wake up call but a messenger that I must nurture a keen relationship with my aging body. Its history could easily be a burden in realizing my elder-life dreams.
However by employing the following techniques five years ago, and at various times in the last 30 years, I have restored my body to strength, flexibility and freedom from pain.
How? By practicing yoga poses, directing breath and vocal resonance to my seven electromagnetic fields
(my own invention - I call it the Chakra-Tune Technique(TM ), guided visualization, journaling that
includes the flow of automatic writing, investigating my family’s legacy burdens, studying two books -The Radiance Sutras and Wheels of Life, receiving deep tissue work and acupuncture, following light affinity, learning movement re-education, self-massage, mindful eating of life- giving food, body mapping, basking in mother nature, and performing self-designed healing ceremonies. They were and are all methods for good “stewardship” of my body.
Today, my precious physical hostess trusts that I am devoted to an enduring partnership of my mind, body, heart and spirit - till death do us part. This was the last piece I needed to complete my conscious eldering puzzle. I am now blessed with a balanced body pulsating with alive energy enabling me to implement my purposes for the last chapter(s) of my life.
I wish the same for you!
Frolic Taylor has been a teacher/guide/facilitator/leader/educator for 40+ years. She has designed a unique “BodyWisdom” course grounded in the wisdom she shares in this article. She can be reached at [email protected]
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Our Purpose in Poetry:
Or, Earthrise
By Amanda Gorman
On Christmas Eve, 1964, astronaut Bill Anders
Snapped a photo of the earth
As Apollo 8 orbited the moon.
Those three guys
Were surprised
To see from their eyes
Our planet looked like an earthrise
A blue orb hovering over the moon’s gray horizon,
with deep oceans and silver skies.
It was our world’s first glance at itself
Our first chance to see a shared reality,
A declared stance and a commonality;
A glimpse into our planet’s mirror,
And as threats drew nearer,
Our own urgency became clearer,
As we realize that we hold nothing dearer
than this floating body we all call home.
We’ve known
That we’re caught in the throes
Of climactic changes some say
Will just go away,
While some simply pray
To survive another day;
For it is the obscure, the oppressed, the poor,
Who when the disaster
Is declared done,
Still suffer more than anyone.
Climate change is the single greatest challenge of our time,
Of this, you’re certainly aware.
It’s saddening, but I cannot spare you
From knowing an inconvenient fact, because
It’s getting the facts straight that gets us to act and not to wait.
So I tell you this not to scare you,
But to prepare you, to dare you
To dream a different reality,
Where despite disparities
We all care to protect this world,
This riddled blue marble, this little true marvel
To muster the verve and the nerve
To see how we can serve
Our planet. You don’t need to be a politician
To make it your mission to conserve, to protect,
To preserve that one and only home
That is ours,
To use your unique power
To give next generations the planet they deserve.
We are demonstrating, creating, advocating
We heed this inconvenient truth, because we need to be anything but lenient
With the future of our youth.
And while this is a training,
in sustaining the future of our planet,
There is no rehearsal. The time is
Now
Now
Now,
Because the reversal of harm,
And protection of a future so universal
Should be anything but controversial.
So, earth, pale blue dot
We will fail you not.
Just as we chose to go to the moon
We know it’s never too soon
To choose hope.
We choose to do more than cope
With climate change
We choose to end it—
We refuse to lose.
Together we do this and more
Not because it’s very easy or nice
But because it is necessary,
Because with every dawn we carry
the weight of the fate of this celestial body orbiting a star.
And as heavy as that weight sounded, it doesn’t hold us down,
But it keeps us grounded, steady, ready,
Because an environmental movement of this size
Is simply another form of an earthrise.
To see it, close your eyes.
Visualize that all of us leaders in this room
and outside of these walls or in the halls, all
of us changemakers are in a spacecraft,
Floating like a silver raft
in space, and we see the face of our planet anew.
We relish the view;
We witness its round green and brilliant blue,
Which inspires us to ask deeply, wholly:
What can we do?
Open your eyes.
Know that the future of
this wise planet
Lies right in sight:
Right in all of us. Trust
this earth uprising.
All of us bring light to exciting solutions never tried before
For it is our hope that implores us, at our uncompromising core,
To keep rising up for an earth more than worth fighting for.
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For One Who Is Exhausted
By John O’Donohue
You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken in the race of days.
At first your thinking will darken
And sadness takes over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.
You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.
Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
Elder Meditation
by Dennis Stamper
We live in the memory and the legacy
of the elders who have come before us.
Some of those elders we knew and we touched
as we were known and were touched by them.
Parents, grandparents, teachers,
neighbors, friends, kind strangers.
Others of those elders came too long before our time on this earth
for us to know them and to touch them and yet
we are still known and are still touched by them.
We live deeply in their legacy
as we walk the paths that they blazed,
as we rest in the shade of trees they planted,
as we drink the water from rivers they protected,
as we tell the old stories that they once told
as we live the new stories that they once lived.
The elders gathered
and sat down with one another around the fire.
The fire was a sacred place
and a living thing.
It warmed them from the cold
It protected them from danger
It cooked the food that sustained them.
And the fire gave light
so that they could see into each other’s faces
and so that they could bear witness to the Spirits
as they danced above the flames.
They told their stories and the stories of the people.
They told them to the younger ones
so that they would know who they are
and where they came from
and so that they would know and understand
the Great Story that their story
was already becoming a part of.
And they told the stories to one another
so that they would remember
to be grateful
so that they would not forget
to sometimes also lament.
When we awoke this very morning
and looked into our own mirror
and gazed at our own strange hands
and felt the creak of our own tired bones
we knew that we have somehow been transformed.
Surly there is magic afoot.
For we awake as the elders of our own time
and we feel the fire beckoning us
to come near
to gather around
to sit down together.
We feel the stories moving deep within us
longing for expression
needing to be told.
We carry the treasure
of all the gifts that we have been given
more lightly now
as finally we know
that they, like we
were never meant to live here forever
but have always been
passing through.
And so, we are gathered now together
around this fire,
the fire that we now see before us
but also the fire that burns within our hearts
for it is the crackle of this fire
and the warmth of these flames
that has called us
from where we once were
to where we now are.
The elders are assembled
The people await
May the stories now begin.
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Upcoming Conscious Eldering Programs
With humanity beginning to see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel, we of the Center for Conscious Eldering hope and pray that we have the opportunity this Autumn to share conscious eldering with groups of committed persons at two wonderful retreat centers--Magnificent Ghost Ranch, where we have presented 17 Choosing Conscious Elderhood retreats; and our new Aiming High retreat at Hope Springs Retreat Center in the Appalachians of Southern Ohio. The stories that will be shared of challenge, growth, loss, vision, joy-in-the-moment, and new beginnings during these pivotal times will add another powerful dimension to the conscious eldering work we will engage with together.
Please consider joining us this fall if you seeking an empowering vision for your elder chapters, tools for helping make that vision reality, and the warmth of a non-virtual, flesh and blood community of kindred spirits. These will be powerful opportunities to have your idealism acknowledged, your hope rekindled and your dreams for a vital, passionate elderhood supported? Our inspiring and empowering experiences tap the loving support of strong community, the wisdom of skilled guides, and the heart-and-mind-opening energy of the natural world to open you to the rich possibiities of your later-life chapters--for growth, purpose, spiritual deepening, and giving your elder gifts to support a healthy society and planet.
Additionally, after an inspiring and very successful presentation this past November of Ron Pevny's new online course, Navigating Life's Passages: Wisdom for Times of Crisis, we are excited to again partner with Sage-ing International to present this course on four consecutive Wednesdays beginning March 31st.
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Navigating Life's Passages: Wisdom for Times of Crisis
an online interactive course presented this coming Spring in four 2.5-hour sessions
by Ron Pevny
March 31,April 7, 14, 21
Choosing Conscious Elderhood
Ghost Ranch, New Mexico
September 26 - October 2
with Ron Pevny and Anne Wennhold
Aiming High
in Southern Ohio at Hope Springs Retreat
September 12-16
with Ron Pevny and Katia Petersen
For Organizations, Faith Communities, etc:
We are available to present our weekend workshops or custom designed programs for groups who would like to sponsor one in their area. Contact us to explore possibilities.
for details on our programs and registration information, please visit
www.centerforconsciouseldering.com
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I have had several very meaningful conversations with Ginny Gilmore in recent years and know her to be a wise woman whose elder wisdom is deeply grounded in the periods of solitude in nature she has given herself during critical times of change in her life. Wisdom from the Woods is a beautiful, poignant invitation to explore the life-changing benefits of making space to pause and reflect--encouraging your own path to healing and hope. Every loss, change, and challenge looks different. But, one thing is certain--our heads alone cannot solve the darkness, loneliness, anxiety, or fear. To my mind, this book draws its strength from the power of its stories -- stories of five courageous individuals living consciously through difficult transitions. This inner-work roadmap provides a beautiful balance between being and doing...inspiration and action...space for silence and listening to one's heart and structure for disciplined follow through.
Ron Pevny and description from the book
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"A beautifully written and important book about aging and elderhood. Pevny reminds us that consciously moving into our greater years is a major rite of passage, and he offers skilled guidance through the many questions and challenges, endings and new beginnings, that arise."
Meredith Little, Co-founder of the School of Lost Borders
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Former first lady Rosalyn Carter wrote in her 1994 book about caregiving: "There are only four kinds of people in this world. Those who have been caregivers. Those who currently are caregivers. Those who will be caregivers. Those who will need caregivers" That pretty much covers all of us. I believe it is hard to envision aging consciously without paying attention to the reality that aging for most of us will involve caregiving and quite possibly care receiving. In this book former NPR anchor Connie Goldman faces this reality with stories of how 35 people have used caregiving as an opportunity for growth, heart-opening, hope and healing for themselves and those they cared for. In this Covid-19 time of so much pain and vulnerability, I see Connie's book as an important exploration of a key, but often not-discussed, element of the journey of conscious aging.
Ron Pevny
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An Opportunity to Participate in Some Meaningful Research
We recently received an email from Denise Taylor, a 63-year old occupational psychologist doing research into meaningful aging for her doctorate. We would love to see some of you contribute your experience and wisdom to Denise as she makes an important contribution to our understanding of how people find meaning and purpose after "retirement age."
Dear Followers of the Center for Conscious Eldering:
Have you retired and moved on to something new? My study will focus on how people find meaning after retirement from full time work. It could be through the chance to follow a passion, a career change to part time work, volunteering or something else. I’m looking to interview people with interesting stories to share.
My key criteria:
To have left your career/job – so have ‘retired’ in one sense and to be between 12 months and 10 years post retirement.
To self-identify as having found meaning at this stage of life.
To have time now to devote to an interest/activity that provides meaning. This could be via work, but this must be for under 30 hours a week.
To be willing to be interviewed for around 1 - 2 hours and to have your story included in my doctorate thesis. Personal details would be removed.
Available for an interview to take place February - April 2021.
I’d now like to learn a little bit about you via a short form, link below.
https://forms.gle/Bn4ykJv5qLU9jzq88
I’ll then schedule an initial get to know you chat and then send you a formal information sheet. As this is being done for my university doctorate I have to follow systems, and ensure I abide by the University code of ethics.
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One of our partner organizations, the Elders Action Network (formerly called the Conscious Elders Network) is an educational non-profit organization fostering a budding movement of vital elders dedicated to growing in consciousness while actively addressing the demanding challenges facing our country and planet. They work inter-generationally for social and economic justice,environmental stewardship, and sound governance. They offer their multiple talents and resources in service to the goal of preserving and protecting life for all generations to come. Anyone committed to living and serving as a conscious elder in invited to join them in this critically important endeavor. Upcoming EAN offerings include:
* Monthly Elder Activists for Social Justice Community Conversation
* The Empowered Elder--EAN's foundational program
* EAN also produces an excellent quarterly journal, Turning Point.
*The new Sunrise Movement - an intergenerational collaborative effort between EAN and Sage-ing International
To learn about EAN and its initiatives and programs, visit www.eldersaction.org
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Another of our partner organizations is Sage-ing International, the pioneering organization in promoting the principles of conscious aging, or "Sage-ing". Their work is grounded in the work of Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, who introduced conscious aging to the world with his workshops at Omega Institute with Ram Dass and others and via his seminal book, From Age-ing to Sage-ing.
Sage-ing International is committed to transforming the current disempowering paradigm of aging to one of Sage-ing through learning, service and community.
To learn about Sage-ing International and their greatly expanded offerings of online workshops and seminars, Elder Wisdom Circles, and their training program for Certified Sage-ing Leaders, visit www.sage-ing.org.
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Ron Pevny, Founder and Director
970-247-7943
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A year from now, you'll wish you had started today
Karen Lamb
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