Register now for the six-part Conscious Aging Series beginning Friday, Apr. 6, 9:30-11:30 am. No introductory class required!
By Mabeth Hudson, MA, Certified Conscious Aging Facilitator
It has been said, “aging isn’t for sissies.”
Perhaps you have noticed this truth?
What works for us in the early part of our lives doesn’t usually work for us in the later parts. Generally, the first half of our lives focuses on “doing” and learning how to function in the social worlds of family, work, community, and society. We are immersed in tending to accomplishments, achievements, and our roles. The second half often focuses more on the “being,” or how we are living, including compassion, gratefulness, authenticity, resilience, living true to our values, and finding purpose and meaning.
We are always balancing both the doing and the being, or the outer life and the inner life, but research reveals that as we age, the inner life becomes more important to us. According to noted gerontologist Robert Atchley, “There is considerable evidence that spiritual concerns, experience, and development become increasingly important for many people in the middle and later life.” Even how one views spirituality expands as age increases, and people view spirituality in a broader context than formal or organized religion.
This spring, Well for the Journey is offering Conscious Aging six-part series. Developed by the Institute of Noetic Sciences, the program is based on decades of consciousness research on aging and individual and collective transformation. The program aims to shift consciousness away from self-limitation, isolation, and fear towards expansiveness, wholeness, connection, and compassion.
Since I’ve been certified as a Conscious Aging Facilitator, several friends and colleagues have remarked, “Many of us want to remain unconscious. It is much easier that way!”
Sometimes it does seem easier to sleepwalk through life instead of changing ingrained patterns of behavior and thinking. Becoming conscious means becoming aware. In the context of spirituality and aging, when we become more conscious, we become more aware of:
* who we truly are, facing our strengths, weaknesses, and motivations
* the growth processes unfolding in our lives through our experiences, both positive and painful
* the array of disempowering messages that can block our radiance and sabotage our potential.
Growing older certainly takes courage. If you desire the space, time, and community to help you grow older in a positive way, join us for Conscious Aging classes. Read previous participant feedback here.
Register now for the six-part Conscious Aging Series beginning Friday, Apr. 6, 9:30-11:30 am. No introductory class required!
Resources:
Atchley, Robert C. Spirituality and Aging. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.
Chittister, Joan. The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully. New York, NY: BlueBridge, 2008.
Hagerty, Barbara Bradley. Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife. New York, NY: Riverhead, 2016.
Pevny, Ron. Conscious Living, Conscious Aging. New York, NY: Atria, 2014.
Rohr, Richard. Falling Upwards: Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2011.
