Workshop 6: Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Beautiful orange sunset over a deep blue ocean. — Tapestry is Sunsetting

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Part of Hindsight, Humor, and Hope: Who, Me, an Elder?

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Introduction
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Workshop 6 applauds the group of wise elders who have shared Hindsight, Humor, and Hope. Participants are honored for their hard work reviewing personal life happenings and learnings….
Workshop-at-a-Glance
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity Minutes Lunch and Opening 35 Activity 1: Stretching 5 Activity 2: Guided Visualization 10 Activity 3: Honoring Inner Strength 25 Activity 4: Inscribing the Touchstones 5 Activity 5: Cultivating and Using Inner Strength 20 Closing 10…
Materials
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Coffee, tea, and water service items Tissues (for participant use) Chalice, candle, and lighter, or LED battery-operated candle Cloth Chime or bell for signaling time Name badges from Workshop 1 Group Rules of Respect from Workshop 1 Singing the Living Tradition, the UUA hymnbook, enough for all…
Preparation
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Arrange for coffee, tea, and water at the workshop. Arrange for furniture setup: For large group: Place tables in a horseshoe arrangement (leaders at the head table, chairs around outside of tables). For smaller group: Place one or two table tables in a rectangle (leaders sit at a middle side and…
Lunch and Opening
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 35 minutes Welcome participants as they arrive and ask them to put on their name tags. If you are having a potluck, invite them to put their dishes on the designated food table. If everyone is able to stand, invite them to stand behind their chairs for the table grace. If some are…
Activity 1: Stretching
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 5 minutes Introduce the activity, saying: Each day our body, mind, and heart beg for exercise to stay healthy. Together they carry us where needed every day and night. They don’t want us to be couch potatoes; if we are, all parts of us will rebel by stiffening up. Remember the…
Activity 2: Guided Visualization
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 10 minutes Tell participants that you will lead a guided visualization. Invite them do this with eyes open or closed. Say: Sit comfortably with both feet flat on the floor. (Pause.) Breathe in deeply through your nose. Hold it for a moment (pause), and then slowly, slowly let it out.
Activity 3: Honoring Inner Strength
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 25 minutes Tell participants that you are going to lead a ceremony, and will begin with two quotes from Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History: We are all connected; To each other, biologically. To the…
Activity 4: Inscribing the Touchstones
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 5 minutes Say: This moment, and the next, and the next are not repeated and not repeatable “nows” in your life journey. Each one is a particular moment on your timeline. Each “now” is also a moment on the four-and-a-half-billion-plus-year timeline of planet Earth. We are part…
Activity 5: Cultivating and Using Inner Strength
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 20 minutes Say: Spiritual journaling is a way be conversant with yourself about those things in life that touch you, the things that puzzle you, the ones that make your heart smile, the things that break your heart, and those happenings in life that hold deep beauty and bring feeli…
Closing
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 10 minutes Post the closing words so all can see them. Shuffle and set out Blessing Cards, text side down, and invite each participant to take one and hold it. Lead them in saying together the words for extinguishing the chalice: We close our workshop by extinguishing the chalice….
Handout 1: Taking It Home
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

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…
Handout 2: Emerging Wisdom
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

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.
Leader Resource 1: Certificates
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Printing This Handout Download a high-resolution copy of this Handout (Word) for printing.

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The UUA is no longer updating Tapestry of Faith programs.

Workshop 6: Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

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