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Primetime at the Lake: 48 Hours to Successful Aging |
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Monday, 05 March 2012 10:07 |
June 12 – 14, 2012 Check-in begins at 2 p.m.
Adults are invited to our retreat on beautiful Silver Lake, NY, to join others in learning, exploring, and having fun.
Barbara Bruce will help you develop a skill set of mental/physical exercises and
creative/critical thinking needed to maintain the fitness and functioning of your
brain. User friendly language and timely information will allow you to apply
concepts for brain fitness to your daily life. Activities are designed to lift spirits,
create knowledge, and deepen understanding of how successful aging enhances life.
This all inclusive package includes two overnight accommodations, six healthy and
nourishing meals, sessions with Barbara Bruce, evening entertainment, an afternoon
at Letchworth State Park, boat rides on Silver Lake, and more.
Cost:
$189* Multiple occupancy room
$229* Single occupancy room
*All room prices are per person cost. A limited number of private rooms are available on first come first serve basis.
Registration Deadline: June 1, 2012
Make checks payable to: Upper New York Annual Conference
Mail registration form and payment to:
Asbury Camp & Retreat Center
PO BOX 218, Silver Lake, NY 14549
Facilitator: Barbara Bruce
Barbara Bruce is an author and educator with a passion for facilitating retreats on the learning brain and a holistic approach to successful aging. She believes that the mind, body, and spirit are intertwined to make us who we are as individuals. Barbara takes current findings in neurology and biology, translates the concepts into everyday language, and offers appropriate responses that can easily be integrated into daily life. She teaches Mental Aerobics as part of the Gerontology Certification Program at Lifespan. Visit www.bbruce.com for more information about Barbara.
Evening Entertainment: Tuesday night will be Gretchen Murray Sepik** with a theatrical characterization of Mary Jemison. Mary was captured by the Shawnee Indians and adopted by the Seneca as a young girl. When offered her freedom she chose to remain with her Indian family and lived out her days in the Letchworth area. **Gretchen Murray Sepik is an actress, author, illustrator, playwright, and storyteller. She performs for schools, colleges, museums, conferences, and more all over New York State and Pennsylvania. Visit www.gretchensepik.com for more details. |
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Sunday, 04 March 2012 16:50 |
It seems like every time I follow a link in an e-newsletter such as: Evolve: Re-igniting Self & Community (http://evolveleaders.org/) I open the door to whole new adventures as to what’s out there. This time I discovered a small article
“Old on Purpose”
Old On Purpose Trailer from David Carey on Vimeo. How much of what we think it means to be old is based on misleading notions furthered by our youth-oriented culture? How would we approach our later years if we saw them as a time to fully discover our self and [read more] …SO I READ MORE
Old On Purpose Trailer from David Carey on Vimeo.
How much of what we think it means to be old is based on misleading notions furthered by our youth-oriented culture? How would we approach our later years if we saw them as a time to fully discover our self and our purpose?
These are the questions David Carey is attempting to answer in a documentary he describes as “about a growing positive aging revolution that could change the paradigm of being ‘old’.” The documentary is in the planning stage, but David has produced an excellent trailer video with interviews of Connie Goldman, Richard Leider, and many others. Take a few minutes to watch and see what else Carey is working on at agingfilms.org. …BINGO
My response to aging films is wow. This guy gets it. These clips of interviews and documentaries offer fine discussion starters for groups and words of encouragement to individuals. Look under News & Media for more clips from his documentary work. |
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DAILY PRAYERS & BLESSINGS |
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Thursday, 01 March 2012 15:01 |
DAILY PRAYERS & BLESSINGS
Morning Prayer
I arise today in the name of
the Gatherer of Hope,
the Bringer of Springtime,
the Brightener of Seasons.
An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
March is a time when we celebrate all things Irish. I want to point to some traditions that go deeper than drinking green beer and marching in parades. The Celts have always believed that God is very present in the world around us. The trick is not to get God to come to us or even for us to go to God; but rather what’s needed is our becoming attuned to the God that is already present above, below, to the left, to the right, behind, in front, outside, and in. Like many indigenous traditions the Celts brought to their Christianity a deep connection to creation so that they were comfortable in their having a spiritual connection to all creatures, all creation, and all aspects of daily life.
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.
The Celtic year, much like the Church Calendar, starts in the coldest, darkest part of the year and proceeds through the many seasons of life until it reaches fruitful maturity. When we have “made our soul,” we pass into the winter of life that our world calls death, but this time with the fruits of our soul thick upon us. Each season provides us with many doorways of opportunity for fresh spiritual epiphanies and personal response. There are prayers and blessings that are connected to every profession, task and event of a day which are mentored from the elders to the young; prayers of thanksgiving, praise, and blessings; from birth to death, for getting out of bed and before sleep, for lighting the fire, cooking the meal, and eating the meal, leaving the house, journeying, entering into work, and particular tasks, many of the blessings include prayers of protection for others:
Blessing For All Occassions
May you go forth under the strength of heaven
Under the light of sun,
Under the radiance of moon;
May you go forth with the splendor of fire,
With the speed of lightning,
With the swiftness of wind;
May you go forth supported by the depth of sea,
By the stability of earth
By the firmness of rock
May you be surrounded and encircled,
Above, below, and about,
With the protection of the nine elements.
Practice letting prayers and blessings be an integral part of your activities of daily living. Create an expectation of God being present in the ordinary. Your imagination will become a rich resource as it more freely sees connections between the visible world and the Divine presence thus cultivating a deepening appreciation of just how abundant are our ordinary blessings; as well as increasing the joy of offering blessings to those around us (see: http://islandireland.com/Pages/folk/sets/bless.html):
An Irish Prayer
May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.
Blessing For A Family Gathering
May the hearth be gladdened
By the laughter of children,
By the kinship of clan,
By the wisdom of elders,
by the memory of souls passing,
by the joy of souls yet to be born.
No word or thought to darken the day.
No remembrance or sorrow to trammel the night.
But sun, moon, and stars to brighten the gathering,
Songs, smiles, and stories to share their delight.
The next Northeast Forum on Spirituality & Aging will be April 12th from 8:30 – 10:00 in the Katherine Luther Conference Room at LutheranCare, 108 Utica Road, Clinton, NY. Our featured speaker will be Rev. Tim Reger of St. James Episcopal Church, Clinton; and the Spiritual Renewal Center in Syracuse. His topic will be Prayer and Aging.
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Oneida County Office for the Aging Receives Community Foundation Life Stories Grant |
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Thursday, 01 March 2012 14:57 |
Oneida County Office for the Aging/Continuing Care is pleased to announce the Life Stories grant award by TheCommunity Foundation of Herkimer& Oneida Counties, Inc. The Community Foundation has awarded a grant of $8,991 for the production of the Life Stories project. Everyone has a story: Telling the story of Oneida County Seniors. This is acollaborative effort led by the Oneida County Office for the Aging/Continuing Care Advisory Council’s Special Populations subcommittee and the creative Aging and Arts Committee of the Lutheran Care Ministries/Northeast Forum on Spirituality & Aging. The grant has been awarded to the Greater Mohawk Valley ElderwellnessCouncil, Inc. which is the non-profit entity of the Oneida County office for the Aging.
The purpose of this project is to video tape the life stories ofseveral older Oneida County residents. The intent is to demonstrate that all elders have rich stories to tell and have contributed much, regardless of their current chronological age or diagnosed disabilities. Following the production, conducted by Eileen Kent, an expert on gathering Lifestories, training will be offered to participating agencies in the aging and disability networks.
While one of the mainroles of the Office for the Aging is to advocate on behalf of older Oneida County residents , typically through services, programs, promotingindependent community living, there is no better form of advocacy than highlighting the accomplishments of older person who have lived vibrant and productive lives. Elders in the community will have the opportunity to share their stories with trained staff. This type of project counters ageism and leaves a legacy for families friends, and others.
The finished product will be part of the AgeNet resource library and be available for all Senior Centers and other community sites that are part of the Office for the Aging digital health and wellness network.
The Community Foundation has been a force for improving lives and promoting philanthropy throughout Herkimer and Oneida counties since 1952. The Foundation has made more than 4,700 grants totaling over $37.2 million in support of causes ranging from education to health care, the arts to the environment. Grants are generated by the more than 270 funds that comprise The Foundation’s endowment, established and advanced by area individuals and families. For more information about the Life Stories project Director Romano, or Dr. Kathleen Bishop, PhD, Consultant on Aging at Oneida County Office for the Aging/Continuing Care at 798-5456. |
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Wellness for the Mind, Body and Spirit |
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Thursday, 01 March 2012 14:10 |
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Wellness for the Mind, Body and Spirit
Saturday, March 3rd - 9 AM to noon
Where
Trinity United Methodist Church
2100 Whitehaven Road
Grand Island, NY 14072
Driving Directions
All major faiths agree on the importance of loving God and our neighbors.
Can stress management skills increase this love? ...Does spirituality impact our physical and emotional wellness? ...Can each piece of the Wellness Puzzle (see illustration) really help or harm the others? These questions will be addressed while each participant develops a personal Action Plan.
Stress often blinds us to the love offered by friends, family and God. Strategies to stop stress and improve communication will be presented from Being Your Best along with related research.
Steps to prevent illness and reduce hospitalizations will be offered, based on proven research findings.
The role of spirituality in wellness will be explored by discussing the Greatest Commandment, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer and the Golden Rule, as expressed in Judaism, Christianity and other faiths.
Nearly 2,000 people have taken Being Your Best (BYB) workshops. Over 84 percent of them agree that BYB can improve physical, emotional and spiritual well being.
The fee is still $10, even if you miss one session, but it includes all Internet options decribed below
The fee for the Four Steps Internet program is $10, even if you do not attend any of the above sessions.
Register Now! Part Two:
Coaching Others
Saturday, March 31st - 9 AM to noon
First, we’ll discuss the successes (or stumbles) we had in following our Action Plans.
Then, you’ll learn, and practice, four steps to coach others to reach their goals - whether you're a teen, adult, senior or professional.
Research on the medical and psychological benefits of helping others (i.e., following the Golden Rule) will be presented.
Plus, you'll get in-depth instruction on Relaxing Your Body and Focusing Your Mind.
Tips will be offered to help yourself and others, using the Being Your Best Four Steps internet program for distance learning. A free password will be provided to all participants, who will also receive the Love Never Fails follow-up program, described below.
Seminar Leaders: Dr. Tom DeLoughry and Rev. Larry Baird
Print Program Brochure
Register Now!
You may register for just the March 3rd or the March 31st session. We will send you information, so you can make up what you missed. The fee is still $10, even if you miss one session, but it includes all Internet options decribed below
The fee for the Four Steps Internet program is $10, even if you do not attend any of the above sessions. Internet Option
Four Steps to Less Stress, Better Health and Greater Peace contains the medical and emotional "pieces" presented in the above seminar, along with tips for coaching others. It will be available on the Internet beginning on Wednesday, March 7th. - A mix of well-resarched advice, stories, quizzes and vidoes will appeal to any learning style
- Four Steps will challenge you to help the fictional Phelps family. For example: Cindy's headache is getting worse while her parents argue in her father's hospital room. Can you learn enough to help her? ...her parents? ...yourself? ...and your own family?
- The spiritual piece of the Wellness Puzzle will be addressed in Love Never Fails: Discussion on Healing and Happiness. Registrants for the workshops and/or the Internet program will be emailed this program for personal relfection, as well as discussion with your family and friends - either online or at home . The weekly installments include:
- Loving with All Your Heart (March 5th) - Reflections on the Greatest Commandment
- Finding Love through Prayer (March 12th) - The Satisfaction Skills & the Lord's Prayer
- Growing Love through Action (March 17th) - The Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments
- Learning to Love More (March 25th) - Achieving Your Goals
Contact
Tom DeLoughry, Ed.D.
Connections Counseling Service
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
716-909-9612 |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 01 March 2012 14:31 |
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Tuesday, 24 January 2012 10:20 |
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LIFE IN TWO HALVES The greatest and most important problems in life are fundamentally unsolvable. They can never be solved, but only outgrown – Carl Jung
First there is the fall, and then we recover from the fall. Both are the mercy of God! – Lady Julian of Norwich
So begins the book Falling Upwards: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr. Father Rohr is a Franciscan priest who a number of years ago founded The Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Those of you who read this column know that I believe that we are all lifelong learners, that growth is part of life and that I will often use the metaphor that life is a journey; it would seem that Fr. Rohr and I are kindred spirits. In this book he lays out an argument that says that there are very different tasks in the two halves of life.
The first half of life is shaped from the outside. “Who I am” is reflected in my relationship to others and the things that I create. In the first half of life we are mostly living in a black - white, either – or, right – wrong, dualistic world. Our energy is spent establishing our identity in the world. Often fear is our great motivator; fear of not doing something right, not being good enough, and/or not being accepted. Our religion is often the religion of the Ten Commandments. We have been shaped by others so we think others need to change for us in order for us to be happy.
The move into the second half of life often involves a fall from grace; an experience of powerlessness when the world seems to be telling us precisely that we ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH, NOT ACCEPTED, WRONG, WE CAN’T MAKE OTHERS CHANGE, AND WE WILL DIE. We find that many of the answers and coping mechanisms (including our religion) are no longer adequate for our questions and struggles. The marvelous truth we discover is that this is OK. We do not need to eliminate our: limitations, imperfections, shadows, darkside, and sin; but rather we learn to integrate them; seeing how God can actually use them as part of our shared humanness. We move beyond the either one or the other to recognize that God’s Kingdom / Queendom is filled with Both-Ands.
So we have to go through a transitional time in which we may feel lost. We strip off the old answers and can feel pretty naked and vulnerable. We can feel like a heretic when we step away from childhood answers toward learning to live with the questions and the relationship with a more complex God. Our personal religion is shaped less by the Ten Commandments than by our reflecting upon the Beatitudes and the mystery of unavoidable suffering.
The second half of life is taking our identity that has been shaped by our outside limits and our learning to fill it from the inside. We develop an inner life. We learn to listen to the silence of God and become more aware of God’s companionship with us. We also develop a deeper sense of connection (or as the Eriksons’ called it “generativity”) to past and future generations.
The second half of life often feels more authentic. We’re not trying to keep up with the Jones’s. Nor are we quite as concerned as we used to be with what others think about us (remember the poem “When I Am Old I’ll Wear Purple”). And we no longer need others to change in order for us to be happy. We now have enough experience to know that the best laid plans will often go astray. A person of faith in the second half of life knows that life has both joy and sorrow, so that “our mature years are characterized by a bright sadness and a sober happiness” (p.117). What St. John of the Cross called a luminous darkness. We have a broader range of responses which include: listening, reflection, prayer, discernment, forgiveness, compassion, sorrow, and joy. Hopefully we find that we have been blessed enough along the way that Love becomes our great motivator.
I’d love to talk more about this book. I invite you to come to our December 8th meeting of the Northeast Forum on Spirituality and Aging from 8:30 – 10:00 in the Community Room at LutheranCare, 108 Utica Road, Clinton, NY where we will discuss Falling Upwards
You are also invited to join us Thursday, October 13th from 8:30-10:00 in the Community Room of LutheranCare, 108 Utica Road, Clinton, NY to be in conversation with Jeffrey Rheinhardt, Certified Elder Law Attorney. He will make a 45-minute presentation on the importance of planning for your future and the future of your loved ones. His presentation will be followed by a 15-minute question and answer session. |
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