{"id":348,"date":"2019-04-05T00:15:10","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T00:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/?p=348"},"modified":"2019-04-05T00:15:10","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T00:15:10","slug":"talking-about-things-we-seldom-get-the-chance-to-talk-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/?p=348","title":{"rendered":"Talking About Things We Seldom Get the Chance to Talk About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A week ago, we completed another retreat\nwhere we talked about the benefits of conscious\naging as a spiritual practice<\/strong>, and four major obstacles that commonly\nundermine it. Then we talked about ways to overcome that typically undermine our\nown well-being as we age. One thing we didn\u2019t talk about, however, was the social taboo<\/em> against talking about\nthings really important to us individually. We simply and naturally found ourselves\nnaturally breaking that taboo as the spirit of this group of new and more\nexperienced sojourners was led to talk about their issues, concerns, and needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we asked \u201cwhat is your major take-away<\/strong> from our events?\u201d a recurring theme over the years has been the opportunity \u201cto talk about the things we never get to talk about.\u201d<\/em> This time one participant named \u201cthat people want<\/em> to talk<\/strong>\u201d about those things as an important new awareness (my emphasis).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years I\u2019ve learned the\nbenefit of this kind of sharing both personally and professionally. When I am engaged\nin conversation with another who shares my own questions and concerns, hopes\nand fears, as well as some of my life experiences, that is when I\u2019m personally able\nto hear the Spirit of life whispering its loudest to me.  This almost inevitably invites me to a deeper\nlevel of trust: to be open to the wisdom of the other who is also seeking a fuller, richer, better<\/em> experience of everyday living<\/strong>. My experience of this whispering <\/em>is unique only in the manner,\nstyle, and content of what my spirit says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professionally, I\u2019ve learned to trust\nthat each of us has our own life-learned ways of being open to, hearing, understanding,\nand experiencing what the spirit of our own life has to say to us personally. This\nis affirmed for me when participants repeatedly tell us about the value they receive\nfrom talking, listening to, and hearing someone who is sharing their journey.\nAlthough they repeatedly affirm whatever new learning they pick up from our\npresentations, they repeatedly say this knowledge acquires deeper meaning, relevance,\nand utility because of the sharing.  This\nbecause, as one participant affirmed in this event, there is \u201clots of wisdom in the group.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More to the point, personally and\nprofessionally, I\u2019ve learned the greater the participation the greater the\nbenefit. As an introverted man who likes to remain in his own thoughts, I\u2019ve\nlearned that I learn more and better from expressing my thoughts than by\nkeeping them in. Which is also why I encourage people not to just sit back and\nlisten, but to actively engage in our discussions; speaking when and as they\nfeel able and comfortable. Which is why we offer a variety of ways to encourage\nthat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, as\nindividuals we have lost a great deal of opportunity to talk about things that\ndon\u2019t conform to superficial social or cultural expectations and niceties. Most\npeople who ask \u201chow are you?\u201d don\u2019t really care how we are, so don\u2019t expect an\nhonest answer; and certainly not any deep response. When NEW FUTURES asks, we want<\/em> to know, and we wait for an\nanswer\u2014as deep as you care to venture. That is why our retreats are\nintentionally structured to provide lots of\nopportunity to talk about those things we\nusually don\u2019t get to talk about<\/em>.<\/strong> Participants repeatedly tell us they\nappreciate that opportunity. Indeed, someone named \u201cgroup participation<\/strong>\u201d as the most helpful part of our recent event\nfor her or him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To extend that opportunity, and in keeping with my sense \u201cthat people want<\/em> to talk\u201d about important things concerning their own aging, we are currently seeking expression of interest<\/strong> in an ongoing small group discussion program to begin Fall 2019. Briefly, what we envision is a series of four to six weekly 2-hour sessions each focused on a different topic related to conscious aging as better aging.  <\/em>The emphasis will be on facilitated discussion rather than presenting a lot of new material. This facilitation will be by a well-seasoned, still growing, septuagenarian with many years experience on his own psycho-spiritual journey of unfolding fulfillment. This is significant because the small group format<\/strong> that will be offered is intended to generate participatory discussion: it will not be a lecture or seminar. It is intended \u201cfor those who truly want what is left of their life to be a real journey of living<\/strong>,\u201d to quote the psychologist Robert J, Wicks. Some of these will be younger in terms of psycho-spiritual experience and some will be more so. Experience affirms each will doubtless inform, encourage and nurture the other. Let us know if you are interested. Click here: https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/?page_id=93<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 11<\/strong> we will be offering another opportunity for interested\npeople to talk. Our focus then is on the \u201cpractical\u201d utility of 8\nKeys to Fulfillment in Life\u2019s 2nd<\/sup> Half<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em> Details and registration are on this website. You are invited. We\nhope to see you, and talk with you \u2026 which is different than talking at<\/em> you. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week ago, we completed another retreat where we talked about the benefits of conscious aging as a spiritual practice, and four major obstacles that commonly undermine it. Then we talked about ways to overcome that typically undermine our own well-being as we age. One thing we didn\u2019t talk about, however, was the social taboo[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newfutures.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}