Presentations
RETIREMENT FOCUS:
EXAMPLES OF STAND-ALONE PRESENTATIONS
Five Keys to a More Fulfilling Retirement - This presentation is focused on five keys to taking charge of your retirement -
• know yourself,
• create your dream job and go to “work,”
• nourish healthy relationships,
• engage in meaningful, creative activities, and
• foster wellness of body, mind, and spirit.
Retirement Time: Do and Be What you Love - In this presentation participants explore the following topics:
• three common beliefs retirees have that cause them to struggle with time management and end up either overbooked or under booked and
• how to establish priorities and create a new schedule that works in retirement.
Five Work Benefits that Become Retirement Needs - The emphasis in this presentation is on the work benefits -
1. financial compensation,
2. time management,
3. social network,
4. purpose, and
5. status-that have become essential needs retirees should plan to replace to experience a successful retirement.
The Retirement Transition - A Three-Part Process - During this talk Virginia shows how William Bridges’ transition stages - the ending, neutral zone, and new beginning - apply to the journey into a successful and fulfilling retirement.
RETIREMENT DISCUSSION GROUPS AND WORKSHOPS
Inspired Retirement Discussion Groups - These four or six-session discussion groups are centered on current retirement books. Past choices have been Life Reimagined, Discovering your New Life Possibilities and Live Smart After 50! by the Life Planning Network. The book topics are expanded upon by reflective exercises and activities and small and large-group sharing.
Thriving in Retirement - This six-week (12-hour) workshop is designed to delve deeper into important topics for older adults who are thinking about retirement, recently retired, or even retired for a while and still trying to figure it out. Starting with an assessment of their current values, strengths, and skills, participants explore
• financial security,
• health and wellbeing,
• social connections,
• purpose,
• where to live, and
• meaningful and creative use of time as they create a clear and inspiring retirement roadmap.
It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again Workshop Series
This 8-session (16 hour) workshop is based on Julia Cameron’s book It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again- Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond. Using the basic tools of Morning Pages, Artist Dates, and walks from The Artist’s Way, as well as memoir writing, participants reignite and develop their creativity, purpose, connection, joy and more through discussions and expressive arts activities. (The course may be divided into two segments.)
CONSCIOUS AGING FOCUS:
WORKSHOPS
Conscious Aging Workshop: Authentic Reflections and Conversations around Aging
This six-week (12-15 hour) workshop series was designed by the Institute of Noetic Sciences to help older people deal with the opportunities and stresses of aging from an emotional, psychological, and spiritual perspective. The workshop sessions include conversations and activities on conducting a life review, building the skills of self-compassion and forgiveness, transformations, letting go, death and dying, and creating a new vision of aging. An accompanying workbook provides rich resources and content. A complimentary one-hour introduction to this series is available for groups.
Conscious Aging Sequel This series of six workshops is a follow-up to the Conscious Aging workshop . It is designed to expand on some of those topics and add others of interest. The themes include physical wellbeing, happiness and resilience, creating meaning, making connections, harvesting wisdom, and forming a deeper spiritual connection.
EXAMPLES OF STAND-ALONE PRESENTATIONS RELATED TO CONSCIOUS AGING
Aging- It’s all About Your Attitude - This presentation includes a brief assessment of participants’ attitudes toward aging followed by an explanation of four factors that affect these attitudes - belief systems, old “baggage”, a clear purpose, and creating more connections.
Transforming Aging - Consciousness Matters OR Conscious Aging: Positive, Purposeful, and Connected - This presentation begins with an assessment of participants’ current attitudes toward aging, looks at three possible approaches to aging, then focuses on conscious aging, what it encompasses, and how to get there.
Wake up to Ageism! - This presentation, based on Ashton Applewhite’s book, This Chair Rocks, A Manifesto Against Ageism, increases participants’ awareness of how rampant ageism is in today’s culture. It shows how it has affected relationships, healthcare, and other aspects of our lives and explores ways to reverse this damaging trend.
Baby Boomers on the Threshold: Managing the Transition into Aging - In this presentation participants explore the transition from adulthood to elderhood. They learn about the three stages in this journey-endings, neutral zone, and new beginnings- and assess where they are and how they respond in each stage. They are encouraged to generate a vision of how they want to be and do as they age.
Repacking Relationships as We Age - Some of the factors explored in this presentation are
• how relationships change as we age,
• how we assess our current relationships,
• how we can deal with relationships that are negative and even toxic, and
• ways we can build our social networks.
Participants are encouraged to envision the supportive, loving relationships they would like to have as they age.
Legacy Letters: What, Why, and How - In this workshop participants discover what their tangible and intangible legacies are and which they want to pass on. They learn how to share these memories through writing legacy letters, a method developed by Rachael Freed, author of Your Legacy Matters. Letter examples and templates are provided.