No. 42 Aging #2

Facilitator______________
Date___________________

Group Session Plan from FUSN (developed by Kathryn Kirshner)

Chalice/Candle Lighting

Opening Words:

Wholly unprepared, we embark upon the second half of life . . . we take the step into the afternoon of life . . . with the false assumption that our truths and ideals will serve as before. But we cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning—for what was great in the morning will be little at evening, and what in the morning was true will at the evening have become a lie. For a young person it is almost a sin, or at least a danger to be too preoccupied with [the] self; but for the aging person it is a duty and a necessity to devote serious attention to [the] self. Carl Jung

Check-in/Sharing

Topic/Activity:
As we age, how do we become more truly ourselves, how do we “move towards a wholeness of being?” How can we approach aging with revised goals and expectations of ourselves and others? Have you encountered a dark period, a feeling of being lost or in a wilderness from which you emerged transformed, more authentically you? If you have, share your experience. If not, how do you view the journey of your life at this time?

Select the topic and location for the next meeting

Check-out / Likes and Wishes

Closing Words:

The Journey
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice— -
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried
But you didn’t stop
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations—
-though their melancholy
was terrible

It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice,
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do
determined to save the only
life you could save. Mary Oliver