"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.

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. Then take a card and read your blessing aloud. Invite participants in turn to share their blessings aloud; provide a pause between...

Activity time: 10 minutes Distribute Handout 1, Five Minute Practice of Presence, and Handout 2, Looking Ahead to Workshop 3. Respond to any questions. Invite participants to pack up their incomplete Life Map or Lifescape projects for completion at home.

Activity time: 20 minutes Introduce the activity, saying: When we review our succession of life experiences, we see that observed together they develop a lived pathway. We can make a visual representation of this by connecting our meaningful people, times, and places to create a Life Map or...

Activity time: 20 minutes Introduce the activity, saying: Following our middle-age years, the next life stage deserves a respectful label, like elderhood instead of old people....

Activity time: 10 minutes Post the journaling questions you have written on newsprint and read them aloud. Invite participants to write their responses to the questions in their journals.

Activity time: 15 minutes Remind participants of the home journaling assignment from last week: 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, in the space for each...

Activity time: 10 minutes Introduce the activity using these or similar words: In 1954, a young research physician, Denham Harman, developed the “free radical theory of aging.” After decades of additional research, his work was accepted by the medical establishment. Now his findings support...

Activity time: 5 minutes Light the chalice and offer these words: Come into this circle of caring. We light this chalice as a beacon of hope, a sign of our listening, and a quest for clearer understandings of ourselves and others. We honor our shared moments in life. Lead the group in singing...

Activity time: 20 minutes Welcome participants as they arrive and ask them to put on their name tags. Encourage them to chat over lunch. If anyone is new to the group, invite them to make a name badge and to take and decorate a journal....

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 the outside of tables). For smaller group: Place one or two table tables in a rectangle (leaders sit at a middle side...

Coffee, tea, and water service items Tissues (for participant use) Newsprint, markers, and tape Chalice, candle, and lighter, or LED battery-operated candle Cloth and decorations for worship table: flowers, leaves, plant, small sculpture, or other decorative items Chime or bell for signaling time...

In this workshop, participants will bring thoughts and journaling from their home reflections. Home journaling, done in solitude, allows easier connection to all memories. Remembering the influential people who were part of their lives may bring up difficult experiences that they have not thought...

Attitudes toward older people have varied—and continue to vary—across time and cultures. In some times and places, elders have enjoyed positive acceptance and embrace; in others, the reception has been negative. Traditional Near Eastern and Asian cultures revered their elders. The ancient Greeks...

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...

Activity time: 10 minutes Post the closing words so all can see them. Spread out Blessing Cards, text side down, and invite each participant to take one. Then take a card and read your blessing aloud. Invite participants in turn to share their blessings aloud. Allow a pause between each blessing.

Activity time: 5 minutes Distribute Handout 2, Looking Ahead to Workshop 2. Go over its contents, and answer any questions.