This handout was created by Spiritual Directors International and is used with permission. Printing This Handout Download a high-resolution copy of this Handout (PDF) for printing.

Material excerpted from the book I WILL NOT DIE AN UNLIVED LIFE © 2000 Dawna Markova, with permission from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC Newburyport, MA and San Francisco, CA www.redwheelweiser.com.Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History and/or sign up for Starstruck, their email...

On Aging When you see me sitting quietly, like a sack upon a shelf, Don’t think I need your chattering. I’m listening to myself. Hold! Stop! Don’t pity me! Hold! Stop your sympathy! Understanding if you got it, otherwise I’ll do without it! When my bones are stiff and aching and my feet...

My future starts when I wake up every morning. — Miles Davis Life is a continual process of letting go…and moving forward…and letting go… and moving forward. For there are times when our souls are set on fire, and deeply cherished dreams must die...and we are forced once again to create new...

This is the text of a 1988 UUA pamphlet written by John H. Nichols. Used with permission. Turning points When our parents left us at summer camp the first time, when our first pet died, when our best friend moved to another community, we grieved. We suffered what seemed, then, a very serious loss.

Stretching Exercises Adapted from Five Minute Massage by Robert Thé (Sterling, 1995) Exercise 1: Begin by stretching your face. Gently rub small circles all over your face with both hands. (1 min.) Softly pat your face all over. (1 min.) Feel the color come to your cheeks as the muscles and blood...

The part of living that is opposite of connecting with others is solitude. It isn’t the same thing as loneliness. Instead it is the opportunity we give ourselves when we both become more aware of our inner depths and yet retain our sense of unity with others. As we live we try to honor these...

"Five Minute Practice of Presence" from Listen: A Seeker's Resource for Spiritual Direction, a publication of Spiritual Directors International, Vol. 2. issue 1. Used with permission. Printing This Handout Download a high-resolution copy of this Handout (PDF) for printing.

There are years that ask questions and years that answer. — Zora Neale Hurston For Next Time 1. Write in Your Journal Consider the most influential people in your life. Divide pages into thirds and title each third of a page with a decade; for example, birth to age 10, age 11-20, and so on. Then,...

By Donald M. Murray. Copyright 1996, in The Boston Globe. Reprinted by permission of The Rosenberg Group on behalf of the Author’s estate. I’m doing a class project on aging America. What’s it like to be a golden ager? Old. Excuse me? Not elderly, not senior citizen, never golden ager. I’m...