Workshop 3: Diving Through the Layers – The Fabric of My Life | Hindsight, Humor, and Hope | Faith Curricula Library,Tapestry of Faith

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

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Introduction
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

This workshop will focus on gaining an understanding of the fabric of one’s personal life up to the present. While one’s life to date is whole cloth, it is still being woven on the life loom in one’s own design with layers or stripes of personal events. Participants will come to the workshop…
Workshop-at-a-Glance
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity Minutes Lunch 20 Opening 5 Activity 1: Stretching 5 Activity 2: Sharing Life Maps and Lifescapes 25 Activity 3: Guided Meditation 15 Activity 4: Spiritual Journaling 15 Activity 5: Small Group Sharing 15 For Next Time 10 Closing 10…
Materials
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

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…
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
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 20 minutes Welcome participants as they arrive and ask them to put on their name tags. Help them post their Life Maps or Lifescapes on the wall. Encourage them to chat over lunch. As lunchtime draws to a close, read aloud the poem “The Layers” by Stanley Kunitz, the late poet…
Opening
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 5 minutes Light the chalice and offer these words by Marilyn Sewell in Breaking Free: Women of Spirit at Midlife and Beyond: We look at ourselves as we are, and life as it is, and we come to some reconciliation of the two. As we age, our aliveness shines forth from the depths of…
Activity 1: Stretching
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 5 minutes Lead the group in stretching exercises, demonstrating as you lead. These are the same exercises used in Workshop 2, adapted from the book Five-Minute Massage by Robert Thé: Exercise 1: Begin by stretching your face. Gently rub small circles all over your face with both…
Activity 2: Sharing Life Maps and Lifescapes
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 25 minutes Acknowledge everyone’s hard work and creativity as participants look at their collective work posted on the wall. Ask: What was it like to bring together the high peaks and low valleys in your past life experience? This is the time for participants to briefly share…
Activity 3: Guided Meditation
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 15 minutes Invite participants to join you in a guided meditation. Say these or similar words: Begin by sitting comfortably in your chair with both feet on the floor and uncrossed. Your eyes can be open or closed. Breathe. Simply breathe. In and out, in and out….
Activity 4: Spiritual Journaling
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 15 minutes Share this quote from Yogi Bhajan: If you are willing to look at another person’s behavior toward you as a reflection of the state of their relationship with themselves rather than a statement about your value as a person, then you will, over a period of time, cease to…
Activity 5: Small Group Sharing
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 15 minutes Invite participants to move into groups of three to share, to the degree they are comfortable, their reflections from their journaling. Use the bell or chime at five-minute intervals to signal time to change speakers.
For Next Time
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 10 minutes Distribute Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 4, and Handout 2, UUA Pamphlet — All Our Losses, and a copy of the poem “The Layers.” Respond to any questions.
Closing
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Activity time: 10 minutes Post the closing words so all can see them. Shuffle and set out the 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 blessing aloud….
Handout 1: Looking Ahead to Workshop 4
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

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…
Handout 2: UUA Pamphlet – All Our Losses
From Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

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.

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Workshop 3: Diving Through the Layers – The Fabric of My Life

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