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Dear Friends committed to living and aging consciously:
Welcome to the Autumn 2024 edition of Conscious Eldering Inspiration and Resources; The Journal of the Center for Conscious Eldering. It is our hope that the three featured articles, written for this journal, and the poetry and other resources you will find here, will serve to remind you of the spirit within you that seeks to brightly shine forth its (your ) elder gifts into a world urgently in need of conscious elders committed to living intentionally each day, with commitment to gratitude, trust, growth, service and joy. These articles and poems remind us of the joy and fulfillment that we experience when we brightly shine our elder light in whatever ways are the most authentic expression of who we are.
May this journal support your growth into the conscious elderhood that is your birth rite, but requires your willingness to accept it as both gift and responsibility.
If you would like to submit an article for this journal of 800 - 1200 words, written by you and not previously published, please contact Ron Pevny: ron@centerforconsciouseldering.com
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Questing In a Hospital Bed
Learning and Growing In An Unexpected Sacred Circle
by Ron Pevny and Anne Wennhold
What rite of passage guides would expect that the boundaries of the sacred circle where one of their conscious elders would do their inner work on a wilderness Choosing Conscious Elderhood retreat would be defined by the four corners of a hospital bed—a landscape dominated by IV-poles, and the cycles of darkness and light replaced by the constant glare of monitors and fluorescent lights? Certainly not Wes Burwell, Ann Roberts and I during the ceremony of Passing Through the Portal as our group of aspiring elders prepared to leave community high in the Abajo mountains of Utah to spend three days in solitude.
On this Choosing Conscious Elderhood vision, back in the days before we moved our retreats to inspiring retreat centers like Ghost Ranch, a group of people, ranging in age from 55 to 83, had come together to mark their commitment to, and passage into, conscious elderhood. One of these passionate elders, Anne Wennhold, realized as she was leaving the ceremony of departure from the group to her self-chosen place in nature for her period of solitude, that she didn’t have the strength to even put on her pack, let alone carry it to her solo site, even though she had conscientiously been taking electrolytes and drinking plenty of water. We guides realized that this could well be a crisis situation and shared our concern with Anne. Within 30 minutes, Wes, Anne and I were driving down the mountain toward the hospital in Monticello, Utah while Ann Roberts supported the questers through her prayers and presence at base camp.
Anne Wennhold was released from the hospital after two days and several bags of intravenous electrolytes. When we picked her up at the hospital, she made clear that she wanted minimal conversation, as she was in the midst of her solo and had more work to do. She spent the third day and night of her quest in a tent near base camp, returning at dawn to meet her questing comrades, none of whom were aware of the unusual way she had spend most of her time across the threshold in sacred space. It was only when Anne told her story during Council time that all of us became aware of the deep work she had done in her sacred circle in Monticello.
In addition to being a pivotal experience in Anne’s growth, Anne’s quest was also important for me as a guide. It served to remind me of the power of the deep prayers and intentions that people bring to their quests, and that we as guides help focus. Anne showed me that the power of our retreats, and of the inner work of conscious eldering which is an ongoing endeavor, lies more in the depth of one's commitments to their growth than in the beauty or wildness of the setting and the perfect enactment of ceremonies and other growth practices.
The following is Anne’s story, in her words:
As often happens with transformative learnings, mine during the Choosing Conscious Elderhood vision quest in Utah came disguised as a physical challenge.
I was 70 years old and working part-time as a facilitator for senior groups, leading them in discussions about the difficulties of aging. My intention on my quest was to deepen my understanding of my own aging process in order to better serve participants in my groups.
As the quest unfolded, I had been noticing that my energy level had been rising and falling. The morning we were to go out on the land for our three days of solitude my energies were utterly depleted. Once I realized I was in no shape to go out on the land I became hysterical at missing my vision quest time. In that state, I was driven to the hospital in Monticello, Utah.
There I was given several saline infusions and had to stay overnight. The next morning my mind felt much clearer but it was apparent my body needed another day and night of recovery time. I looked around with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Instead of tall trees, open sky and quiet, I was surrounded by antiseptic walls and noise.
Initially I gave myself up to despair and anger over the fact that I’d come all the way from New Jersey to Utah only to miss the core experience of the retreat vision quest. When the anger ran out of fuel, I started thinking that there might be a way to deal with this barrier to my quest. Eventually, remembering the Zen practice of merging with a barrier instead of trying to surmount it, I wondered how I could merge with/participate in the precious solo time while lying in a hospital bed.
I recalled that the guides had taught us about the death lodge ceremony, in which one imagined oneself about to die and meeting with those who had been important in one’s life to bring closure to those relationships. Now, that was something I could do in a hospital bed. So, in between the early morning bustle of blood pressure readings, roommate groans and hallway traffic, I lay in bed with arms at my sides, closed my eyes and summoned up the names and faces of people I needed to talk with.
Some I wanted to thank for their presence in my life, for their love, concern and teachings. My husband who had died after eight years of marriage was one of these. There was my mother, for whom I carried great anger over what I thought was her failure to love me. I now realized she gave the only kind of love she understood after her difficult childhood—physical care without emotional support. And there were several friends I needed to forgive, and from whom I wanted forgiveness for the petty arguments and jealousies we shared and the wounds I inflicted, sometimes knowingly.
After breakfast, remembering the suggestion that working with dreams was an important way to do inner work on one’s vision quest, I decided to focus on a strong dream that had visited me two nights before. In it were two main characters: a beautiful young man with dancing feet and a quiet woman several years older. As I recalled, they were very attracted to each other but unable to commit to a relationship seemingly desired by both.
By imagining them dialoguing with each other, using pencil and paper given me by the nurses to facilitate the process, I came to understand that these dream elements represented parts of myself that had never been integrated, and that this was the task now facing me. As I continued to record the dialogue, the male dancer and older female raised issues important to each. Finally, near the end of the day an agreement that met the needs of both was reached. By nightfall, a contract integrating these important male and female parts of myself, something I had been intuitively working toward for years, was crafted and signed by each. When I was released from the hospital and back in a tent on the land near base camp on the third days of my solo questing, I enacted a ceremony to honor the contract that had been made.
I feel my most important learning from this experience was that, while my aging body may not always be capable of participating in growth events that require travel, sitting through long sessions, or being in situations less than optimal for stiff and inflexible limbs, there were still ways I could do my important inner work … and, by extension, help those who look to me for guidance to travel spiritually while limited by their aging bodies.
Ron Pevny is founding Director of the Center for Conscious Eldering. Anne Wennhold co-guided Choosing Conscious Elderhood retreats with Ron for many years. As guide-emeritus, she offers online memoir writing and “Aging Into the 80s” retreats. She can be reached at annewennhold@gmail.com.
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Eldering: The Moonlight Years
by Nancy Hemesath
During this time of year when darkness takes a larger proportion of our days, I find myself wanting to skip the winter months and get right into spring. It is a good thing I do not have the power and means to make this happen! Winter has its own importance to give life. Without it my life and all of nature would be diminished. This is true both literally and figuratively.
Light and darkness are complementary, the yin and yang of life. Light would have no meaning without darkness and vice-versa. The balance creates wholeness. Nature demonstrates this as the trees through their roots bulk up on the soil’s nutrients and water during the winter months so they will have enough energy to grow buds and leaves in the spring. Hibernation of some animals is another example of nature’s way of enabling survival and wholeness. Bears reduce body temperature, heart rate, breathing and consciousness in order to survive the harsh winter conditions and lack of food. It is their annual rest period.
We humans mimic the pattern of hibernation by spending more time indoors with furnaces and fireplaces blazing. Physical activity is reduced, especially in the Third Chapter of our life, and we find more sedentary ways to spend our time. The pace is less hectic and we enjoy the quiet and the solitude. To counter my initial emotional response to winter, I reflect on the aspects I really enjoy. At this time of year, I pull out my jigsaw puzzle board and enjoy many challenging hours of assembling 1,000- piece pictures at a time. Another highlight of the winter months for me is watching basketball. I not longer attend the games in person but I schedule the times to watch them on television. It is fun to have a favorite team to follow! Maybe best of all is cuddling up with a good book when one is not tempted to go outside.
While we tend to identify winter with darkness, light is also an essential aspect of the season. Moonlight is to winter what sunlight is summer. Subconsciously or consciously, the sun promotes wakefulness, action, energy, and productivity. Moonlight, on the other hand, softens the gaze and promotes rest, gentleness, deep listening and peace. Some archetypes associate the sunlight with the masculine and the moonlight with the feminine.
Of course, it is stereotypical to assume only men carry the masculine traits and women the feminine since both men and women carry both to varying degrees. There is a need for both in every whole person. The masculine or sunlight doers would be little more than workaholics without reflection. The feminine of moonlight people would reflect and rest but get little accomplished. I don’t know any person who is exclusively one or the other. As in all of nature, life only works if we have a balance of both.
Another archetype of the life cycle is the four seasons. Spring represents youth and summer is full, generative adulthood. Autumn is the time of harvest of the completed season and the slowing down of activity. Winter is the time of facing mortality as we do in our elder years.
Seeing the elder years as the moonlight years illustrates some of the importance of this time. It is not a time without light but a time to gaze upon our lives with gentleness. It is time to let go of the glare of self-reproach, regrets and judgements. Flaws disappear in the softened light of the moon. We are able to see what is significant and release the rest.
It is in the moonlight that we spend time reflecting on our memories. We see what has contributed to our lives to make us who are have become. We cherish the gifts of relationships, shared experiences, family time, and enjoyable days. When regrets and old hurts emerge, we look at them without harshness but with “the eyes of kindness” for ourselves and others. The moonlight years lend themselves to reflection on the most important life questions, such as…
Who are the people who have blessed my life? Have I told them?
What highlight events have enriched my journey?
Where do I find beauty and goodness?
Have I forgiven all the old hurts and thus healed relationships?
Have I forgiven myself for my shortcomings?
Who has loved me and whom have I loved?
Reviewing our lives with soft twilight or reverent candlelight prepares us to complete our lives with grace, whatever losses and sufferings we may face. The moonlight can shine through the windows of our inner lives, bringing gentle, soothing light into dark rooms.
Nancy Hemesath is retired from non-profit leadership, spending her Third Chapter as a life coach. Encore Coaching specializes in supporting people in finding meaning, purpose and joy in post-retirement years. She offers personal coaching, presentations, workshops, book studies and Wisdom Circles. Nancy can be reached at nanhemesath@gmail.com.
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The Good News In Bad Times
by Randy Morris
Bad news seems to be everywhere these days, like dark clouds hanging over everything we do. From climate chaos to zoonotic diseases to species destruction to the rise of fascism – the darkness around us is deep. But what if, rather than turn our eyes away from the catastrophes happening around us, we lean into the dark clouds and surrender to what they have to say? Maybe there are surprising virtues hidden in those dark clouds of uncertainty, grief and fear. Perhaps they can clarify ways to stay spiritually whole and mentally healthy in the very midst of collapse. If so, that would be very Good News indeed!
When I search for a model that can bring meaning to the current state of humanity, I find it in the language of initiation and rites of passage. I believe the human species is going through a generations-long rite of passage in which it must die to its most cherished beliefs about itself. Only when we face our darkest fears and open our hearts to witness the magnitude of the suffering, suffering that will surely get worse in the coming years, can we enter the liminal and unknowable vessel of our collective transformation. I can’t see a future beyond this middle passage, this ‘dark night of the species soul’. To predict anything about it would be using an old consciousness to anticipate a new consciousness never seen before. As Einstein so presciently said, “You can’t solve a problem using the same consciousness that created it.”
So in the midst of the uncertainty, sorrow and fear of humanity’s collective rite of passage, its dark night of the species soul, what is The Good News? How can I live a life of purpose and meaning in a deteriorating world without sinking into depression, bitterness, suspicion, and hatred? How can I be a good citizen of these dark times?
I am reminded of a lesson I learned from the psychotherapist Miriam Greenspan, who speaks about the revelatory power of what she calls the ‘dark emotions’. When we are able to be in the presence of these emotions with awareness and receptivity, they become our teachers. Greenspan writes, “The dark emotions bring us information and supply us with energy – the raw material of spiritual empowerment and transformation. When we know how to listen to them, we can ride their energy, like a wave, with awareness as our protection. Emotional energy flows, and a hidden doorway in the heart opens. Something shifts. A transmutation occurs: a movement through the pain to spiritual power. … Finding the power of the sacred, not despite suffering, but in the midst of it: this is the alchemy of the dark emotions.”
n the age of Collapse, it is Good News that the power of the sacred reveals itself in the midst of suffering and pain. Let’s see if we can locate some of the sacred revelations that await us if we abandon hope, embrace courage, and surrender to the wisdom of the dark emotions.
Take the darkness of Uncertainty. For thousands of years, Western culture has pursued truth, leading to the rigors of scientific inquiry and the idea of a ‘well ordered’ life. But now we are living in an age when certainty and order are challenged by gaslighting, misinformation and feckless leaders who spout opinions mired in ‘alternative’ facts. What revelation awaits us in the dark emotion of uncertainty? In such a time, it is more important than ever that we become ‘students of uncertainty’ and engage in a quest to locate within ourselves a mythopoetic identity – the personal destiny with which we were born and which yearns to express itself -- that is both resilient and timeless, that can hold the tension of opposites between fixed opinions and free-floating anxiety, that can find some sense of constancy amidst the flux of experience.
By opening ourselves to uncertainty and letting go of fixed notions, we enter the future improvisationally, not certain of anything, but deeply engaged in the art of creating music out of whatever the future brings our way. It is in such a state that the revelation of your own mytho-poetic identity will most likely announce itself to you. And once you know where you stand, where your ecological niche is in the web of life, you are grounded in the dynamic processes of the cosmos itself, a place of deep belonging and communion. How can that not be Good News in bad times?
What about the darkness of grief and sorrow? What Good News, what revelation, awaits us there? Contrary to America’s death-phobic assumptions, sorrow is an intensely communal emotion, deserving of community rituals of solidarity and release. Community grief rituals create Holy Ground where we can process the tears that deserve to be shed for both our personal losses and the immense sorrows of the world, including the innocent victims of violence, starvation and war. Not only that, sorrow reveals a deeper sense of who we are, reminding us of our place in the wider community of the more-than-human world. To grieve the extinction of a species, the beauty of which took millions of years to create, but which will never again be seen on the face of the earth, is to be in a loving relationship with those beings and with the creative forces of the universe that gave them birth. It is to be reminded of them as our kin, our ancestors, our teachers, our beloveds – not as simply an object among other objects, but as a ‘communion of subjects’ of which we are all a part. Our apprenticeship to sorrow has the revelatory power to awaken us to our own exquisite but perilous relationship to the web of life that gave us birth, and to which we will return. How can this not be Good News in bad times?
And what about this pervasive sense of fear, the foreboding sense of doom that sits like a heavy rock on our chests, hardening our hearts to the wonder and joy that surround us? What is the revelatory power of that dark emotion? The Good News that fear is teaching us is that a new god-image is emerging in the global psyche of humanity as a whole – not as a new religion, but as an awareness that underlies all religions. No one can say for sure what form it will take, but hints are all about us. We can hear the “Sacred Other” speaking to us through dreams, intuitions, intense body states, and other psychic phenomena. That ‘Other’ is the Dream of the Cosmos speaking to us. Our job, as conscious human beings attuned to the Creative Intelligence, is to prepare a receptive place for this guidance to incarnate and to act upon the hints that it is giving. In doing so, we fulfill the cosmic role of human intelligence and play our part in the ongoing evolution of the Earth, assisting Earth to fulfill its cosmic destiny: to become a planet of Love. How can that not be Good News in bad times?
So it appears that being born in dark times like these is not a curse, but an opportunity; not an affliction, but an assignment! Everything that we love and hold dear is heightened in intensity. Gratitude and beauty are immediately accessible in the simplicities of everyday life. Excitement hovers in the midst of the uncertainty. Curiosity abounds, and we are being called by the Creative Intelligence of the Cosmos to live the most meaningful lives ever lived on this planet. When we approach this pregnant time with gratitude and reverence, great things will decide to approach us. Good News, indeed!
Randy Morris, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at Antioch University Seattle where he taught in the BA Liberal Studies Program for 30 years and was the coordinator of the Psychology and Spiritual Studies concentrations. His search for an eco-spiritual revelation adequate for our dark night of the species soul has led him through experiences as a vision quest guide, dream worker, martial artist, musician, community ritual leader and elder-in-training. Randy’s investment in the future takes the shape of five grandchildren. He can be reached at rmorris@antioch.edu.
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Brooding
by Marilyn Loy Every
Winter,
rising from mature darkness,
offers its faithful bidding
for brooding reflection…
a time to pause,
for deep stories to find my lips,
a time to gather
around a hearth of friendship.
a time to surrender,
fully exposed,
to the north light of Winter.
Curiously,
I find myself longing
for this blackness of Solstice,
for the peace it brings.
I am raw with musing,
searching deep understandings;
my life’s autumn is complete,
like a last chapter’s page
damp with ink,
drying…
ready to turn for the next.
What shards of light
are found in darkness?
what stunning stories
will a final season bring?
I sigh into deep pause,
I quiet…
my soul waits to be heard,
as I draw in replenishment
with brooding renewal,
taking in this clean, pristine
breath of my winter.
More Love, More Love
by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer
If sorrow is how we learn to love,
then let us learn.
Already enough sorrow’s been sown
for whole continents to erupt
into astonishing tenderness.
Let us learn. Let compassion grow rampant,
like sunflowers along the highway.
Let each act of kindness replant itself
into acres and acres of widespread devotion.
Let us choose love as if our lives depend on it.
The sorrow is great. Let us learn to love greater—
riotous love, expansive love,
love so rooted, so common
we almost forget
the world could look any other way.
Blessing for the Longest Night
by Jan Richardson
All throughout these months
as the shadows have lengthened,
this blessing has been gathering itself,
making ready,
preparing for this night.
It has practiced walking in the dark,
traveling with its eyes closed,
feeling its way by memory
by touch
by the pull of the moon
even as it wanes.
So believe me when I tell you
this blessing will reach you
even if you have not light enough
to read it;
it will find you
even though you cannot
see it coming.
You will know the moment of its
arriving by your release
of the breath you have held
so long;
a loosening of the clenching
in your hands,
of the clutch around your heart;
a thinning of the darkness
that had drawn itself
around you.
This blessing does not mean
to take the night away
but it knows its hidden roads,
knows the resting spots
along the path,
knows what it means to travel
in the company of a friend.
So when this blessing comes,
take its hand.
Get up.
Set out on the road you cannot see.
This is the night when you can trust
that any direction you go,
you will be walking
toward the dawn.
Erosion
by Terry Tempest Williams
Let us pause and listen and gather our strength with grace
and move forward like water in all its manifestation:
flat water, white water, rapids and eddies,
and flood this country with an
integrity of purpose and patience and persistence capable of cracking stone.
I am a writer without words who continues to believe in the vitality of the struggle.
Let us hold each other close and be kind.
Let us gather together and break bread. Let us trust that what is required of us next will become clear in time.
What has been hidden is now exposed. This river, this mourning, this moment – May we be brave
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Message for Humanity
This beautiful message is often attributed to a Hopi Elder named White Eagle, although there is controversy about its provenance
This moment humanity is experiencing now can be considered a door or a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or walk through the door belongs to you.
If you consume information 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, you will fall into this hole. But if you take this opportunity to look at yourself, to rethink life and death, to take care of yourself and others, then you will go through the portal.
Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of everyone at the same time.
Do not underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take perspective of an eagle who sees everything from above with a wider view. There is a social demand in this crisis, but also a spiritual demand. Both go hand in hand.
Without the social dimension, we fall into fanaticism. Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and futility.
You are ready to go through this crisis. Grab your toolbox and use all the tools available.
Learn the resistance of the example of Indian and African peoples: we have been and are still being exterminated. But we never stopped singing, dancing, lighting a fire and having joy. Don't feel guilty for feeling lucky during these difficult times. Being sad or angry does not help at all. Resistance is resistance through joy!
You have every right to be strong and positive. And there's no other way to do this but to maintain a beautiful, joyful and bright posture.
This has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). This is a resistance strategy. When we walk through the door, we have a new world view because we faced our fears and hardships. That's all you can do now:
- Serenity in the storm
- Keep calm, pray daily
- Make the habit of meeting the sacred everyday.
Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.
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
Retreats
In 2024 we are offering our two customary Choosing Conscious Elderhood retreats at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico (one in May and one in late September) and a Next Step retreat in Ohio in July for graduates of Choosing Conscious Elderhood. We may return to Ireland in mid-September for another Choosing Conscious Elderhood retreat on the Emerald Isle, but that is not yet certain. If you would be interested in an Ireland retreat, please email Ron Pevny expressing your interest. We may also be offering one or two weekend introductions to conscious eldering, to be announced later.
Please consider joining us if you seek an empowering vision for your elder chapters, tools for helping make that vision reality, and the warmth of a supportive community of kindred spirits. Our programs provide a powerful opportunity to have your idealism acknowledged, your hope rekindled and your dreams for a vital, passionate elderhood supported? They offer you 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.
If you need financial assistance to participate in a Choosing Conscious Elderhood retreat, please contact us. We have a small scholarship fund. And if you are in a position to contribute to this fund, we would love to hear from you.
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Turning Points
online, monthly
The Center for Conscious Eldering, in partnership with Sage-ing International, is presenting a unique monthly recorded interview program in which Ron Pevny, and Sage-ing International Co-Chair Katia Petersen interview leaders in the conscious eldering/ personal transformation field, with the focus being on what they have learned through those times of darkness and challenge, as well as inner breakthroughs and new beginnings, that have shaped their lives and work, and are key to the support they provide to people committed to conscious eldering. Our guests include include Richard Leider, Joan Borysenko, Connie Zweig, Richard Rohr, Anita Sanchez, Jamal Rahman, Emanuel Kuntzelman, Mac McCartney, Amikaela Gaston, John Sorenson, Stephan Rechtschaffen, and Raghu Ananthanarayanan.
While the recordings of these interviews are released on the fourth Tuesday of each month beginning last March, you can register at any time until late Feburary and receive access to all the interviews. For details and registration information, https://conta.cc/3XU60LP
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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/event
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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
The expanded, updated 10th Anniversary Edition of Ron's book will be released in early July!
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More than one reader of this newsletter has expressed concern that we seldom address the physical dimension of eldering. I agree; and we will work to address this concern. Our bodies are our vehicles for growing, serving and thriving. How to support our bodies, so that we may thrive emotionally, mentally and spiritually as we face the inevitable diminishments, illnesses and injuries that accompany our journeys into elderhood, is the theme of “The Healing Body.” I highly recommend this excellent book, by long-time, highly regarded medical doctor, teacher and prolific writer about human growth and well being through life’s stages, Drew Leder. Drawing upon the wisdom of both East and West, extensive research, and inspiring stories of people who have creatively coped with significant physical challenges, he presents twenty strategies for coping, adaptation, growth and cultivating resilience—for flourishing— despite , and sometimes even because of, challenges to our bodily well being. He invites us to choose and utilize those strategies that appeal to, and are effective for, us as unique individuals.
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Online course taught by Center for Conscious Eldering guide emeritus Anne Wennhold
Aging Into the 80s
Beginning in mid-February
This is an eight-week Zoom seminar focused on the continuing transitions of growth and development beyond the active 70s. The focus off this seminar is to identify and develop ways of managing the unexpected turns taken by the transitions of later elderhood and to provide windows into topics and fears often hidden by cultural denial: such as Balancing One's Life Style, Continued Growth Practice, Letting Go and Facing Mortality. Now in her late 80’s and no longer co-guiding conscious eldering retreats, Anne will be bringing her own aging experience to this unique class.
For more information or to register, Contact Anne annewennhold@gmail.com.
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The Human Values in Aging Newsletter
The newsletter you are reading is not intended to provide a comprehensive listing of workshops and other resources available these days to help support people in aging consciously. That job is well done by Rick Moody in his monthly Human Values in Aging newsletter. To receive it on the first day of each month, send an email to hrmoody@yahoo.com
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One of our partner organizations, the Elders Action Network is an educational non-profit organization fostering a budding movement of vital elders dedicated to growing in consciousness while actively addressing the demanding social and environmental 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. EAN offerings include, among others,
* Bi-weekly Elder Activists for Social Justice Community Conversations
*The growing and influential "Elders Climate Action" initiative
* The Empowered Elder--EAN's foundational program
*The new Sunrise Movement - an intergenerational collaborative effort between EAN and Sage-ing International
*The Elders for Regenerative Living initiative
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 "Sage-ing/conscious aging, Their greatly expanded offerings of online workshops and seminars, Elder Wisdom Circles, and their training program for Certified Sage-ing Leaders is grounded in the work of the late Rabbi Zalman Schachter-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.
The Center for Conscious Eldering is partnering with Sage-ing International to present a unique interview series, Turning Points." Learn more at this link: https://conta.cc/3XU60LP
To view their website, visit www.sage-ing.org
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The Pathways to Elderhood Alliance (PEAL) is a newly forming alliance of organizations, including the Center for Conscious Eldering, who offer programs that support the journey into elderhood. To learn about this promising collaboration, click here: Passageways to Elderhood Alliance
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Ron Pevny, Founder and Director
970-223-0857
3707 Coronado Ave, Fort Collins, Colorado 80526
ron@centerforconsciouseldering.com
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Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something is worth doing no matter how it turns out.
Vaclav Havel
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