PREREQUISITES: A passion for being a learner for a lifetime and to live life with intention.
Age requirement: 24-104.
Dr. Sally Z. Hare, lifelong teacherlearner and Circle of Trust® facilitator, invites you into this space to explore the idea of the lifelong journey towards becoming an Elder. We have more old people on the planet than ever before, but fewer Elders. Elderhood is not an age or a stage; rather, elderhood is the work of naming and claiming the value of learning for a lifetime and living with attention and intention.
Elders are defined differently in different cultures, but too often, in our dominant culture, it is a negative term. Join Sally to reclaim this word, this concept, as the most important time of life, the “last of life for which the first was made.”
You are invited to self-discern if this speaks to you at this time in your life. There is no particular age at which we become an Elder, but if we don’t begin the journey early enough, we will find ourselves doing remedial work at the end. Ideally we would enter The Eldergarten as a young adult in intergenerational relationships with mentors who serve as role models.
This space, an introductory Circle of Trust®, is an opportunity to form a community of congruence for the work before the work of co-creating with The Eldergarten.
WHAT THIS SPACE IS:
- An introduction to the idea of The ElderGarten, an intentional creation of space in which participants have the unique opportunity to slow down and look at their lives, their experiences; to discern and create meaning; to connect soul and role as Elder.
- The opportunity to explore the possible journey that differentiates the experience of growing older each day from that of living with intention to become an Elder.
- A space in which to notice and name and begin to nurture those practices that form the foundation for lifelong learning.
- Time to hear your Self reflect on the seasons of your life and to live into the knowing of your life cycle that begins and ends as a seed.
- An invitation to name the Habits of the Heart you wish to nurture on the journey.
- A chance to be in a Circle of Trust® and embrace the paradox of the individual and community, knowing that only YOU can do your own work – and it is too hard to do alone.
For a full description, click here.
WHO: Persons who are open to the idea that aging brings opportunities for experiences – and that our work is to create meaning from those experiences.
WHEN: This introductory 3-session CYBERCircle of Trust takes place in the Kirkridge Zoom Room on three Sundays in spring: May 16, May 23, and June 6. We will meet from 2-5 pm Kirkridge Time (also known as Eastern Daylight Time); participants are invited (not required) to give themselves additional time in retreat on each of those Sundays (or the following Monday) for solitude and, when possible, being in nature. Our online time will include time in the large group, time in small groups, and time in reflection; there will be suggestions and options for time in solitude (for some that will be morning time, for others that will be afternoon, depending on time zone). A space will be created that invites slowing down and quieting the inner and outer worlds.
FACILITATORS: Dr. Sally Z. Hare and various guest facilitators. Dr. Sally Z. Hare, Singleton Distinguished Professor Emerita at Coastal Carolina University, is president of still learning, inc. (www.stilllearning.org) and a lifelong teacherlearner. She facilitated a pilot Courage to Teach group in Coastal Carolina in 1996-1998 – and she has continued to grow and learn as a Circle of Trust facilitator and founder of the Kirkridge Courage Fellowship. She lives in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, where she is happy to share her ocean with her husband Jim R. Rogers, and dog, TBO. She can be contacted through e-mail: [email protected]