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Wildacres
Retreat Center
in Western North Carolina
November 1-4
“When change-winds swirl through our lives, especially at midlife, they often call us to undertake a new passage of the spiritual journey: that of confronting the lost self
— our true self. They call us
to come home to ourselves,
to become who we really are.”
— Sue Monk Kidd
Do these words speak to you? Do you find yourself embarked upon a new — sometimes frightening, sometimes exhilarating — spiritual journey into elderhood? Then accept this invitation to “come home to yourself” and join a circle of your fellow women for a Second Journey weekend of reflection, inspiration, and relaxation.
Co-facilitated by Lisa Anthony of Second
Journey and Jude Thomas, cofounder of
the Eden Alternative. |
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In this issue… |
Guest editor Barbara Kammerlohr,
 treats us to a half dozen articles by travelers who recount their own “second journeys” during the autumn of their lives.
More...
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by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
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News briefs… |
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| From the Guest Editor, Barbara Kammerlohr
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Those of
us recently embarked upon our Second Journey are lucky to find guidance about how to make that trip happily and with grace. Our grandparents, not blessed with the added years longevity gives us,
 died shortly after retiring. Society viewed retirement as the end of the journey, a time to die or at least contemplate death’s inevitability. Our generation, the first to have 20-plus years after saying goodbye to child rearing and/or the workplace, had few models to point the way.
This issue of
Itineraries celebrates that changing landscape. The number of those reaching retirement years has grown. With more free time to contemplate their lives, many are now ready to share their journeys—the successes and the lessons. These articles are written by those who have found both contentment and adventure during the Fall of life. Readers will find models of success and hints of ways to make their own lives fuller and more exciting.
Reb Zalman, visionary, author of From Age-ing to Sage-ing, inspiration for the work of Second Journey, and a fountainhead of the conscious aging movement, describes the challenges and adventures of his own journey in his “December Reflections.” For those still in the
Autumn of life, he gives a glimpse of what is to come.
Trebbe Johnsonn, author, vision quest guide, and expert in personal development tells
us how she constantly — and consciously — moves toward “the sunrise” with “curiosity, playfulness and the willingness to stand for a while in darkness and cold before the light appears.”
Linda Albert and her husband encountered one of the path’s frightening monsters —Parkinson's Disease. “Hoping for Hope” is the story of their journey to new possibilities, sweetness, warmth, and light.
Fred Lamphear, Earthkeeper and Elder-in-Residence at Songaia Cohousing Community in Washington, exudes an air of contentment that is the envy of those who know him. In “Journey to Becoming an Elder,” he explains the conscious decisions, ceremonies, and support of friends that led to this happiness.
Ken Pyburn, past president of Second Journey and current co-chair of its Advisory Council, shares his adventurous search for meaning and self understanding in “Epiphany of A Corporate Warrior.”
Philosopher John Sullivan explores the “Deeper Work” of spirituality and service that we are called to in later life and the shift in awareness that can take us from separateness to a sense of what deeply unites us.
The Fall issue closes with my review of three “travel guides” — reports from the field by authors on their own second journeys, including Sara Davidson's recent bestseller, Leap!
— Barbara Kammerlohr, Guest Editor |
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With this edition of Itineraries Barbara Kammerlohr expands her duties from Book Page editor to Guest Editor for the Fall issue.
More of Barbara's work can be found on her website at
20extrayears.com. |
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December Reflections
Just in case you have cynical thoughts about the glories of moving from aging to sage-ing and occasionally question the claim that it is all positive, optimistic, and full of sunshine, I want to say you are right. I want to correct a bit the beautiful high notes by playing some somber bass notes to balance and strengthen the truth...
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Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi is the author of the seminal book on aging, From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older.. |
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Stepping toward the Sunrise
I often tell people that the single most important challenge and subsequent reward that we can give ourselves is to do one thing every day that we are afraid to do — and know we must do. In this way we keep stepping beyond the limiting boundaries we set for ourselves and move out into ever-widening circles of creativity, community, learning, teaching, giving, loving...
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Trebbe Johnson is a vision quest guide and the author of The World Is a Waiting Lover: Desire and the Quest for the Beloved. |
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Hoping for Hope
If hope could only come as a gift, then there was nothing
my husband could do to be hopeful when hope had disappeared.
There was no point wasting energy beating himself up
about his lack of success in trying to do the
impossible. It was hard enough to be without hope. What he could do instead, we reasoned, what was still within his power, was to begin to hope for hope...
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Author and poet, Linda Albert, is a
corporate trainer and life coach who lives with her husband, Jim, in Longboat Key, Florida. |
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The Journey to Becoming an Elder
I embarked on a one-year rite of passage when I turned 60... It began with a grand celebration of my 60th birthday with reflections of my 60-year journey from family, friends, and colleagues who were either present or sent letters. It was a time of naming and letting go of the past...
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Septuagenarian Fred Lanphear is co-founder of Songaia Cohousing Community in Bothell, WA, where he has lived for over a decade, and
he is webmaster of EarthElders.org.
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The Epiphany of a Corporate Warrior
Earlier in my life I’d done a lot of personal development work, including... a Vision Quest, which is a rite of passage
experience which I remembered as particularly powerful. When a new offering by the School of Lost Borders... came to my attention, I signed up.
And so — out there in the primal wilderness called Death Valley — I danced. And I died.
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Ken Pyburn, who did his “corporate warrioring” at IBM, is past-president of Second Journey and co-chair of its national Advisory Council.
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 A Deeper Work:
Spirituality and Service in the
Third Age
The role of the Elders is strikingly similar to the
mythic role assigned to the King or Queen, namely, to
keep first things first, to encourage creativity, and to
bless the young... the welcome news is that we as elders-in-training can learn to inhabit more consistently this level of living, and we can learn to act from this level more skillfully...
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The author-philosopher
John G. Sullivan is a member of the Second Journey Board of Directors and author of Living Large: Transformative Work at the Intersection of Ethics and Spirituality. |
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Books from Authors on a
Second Journey
Book page editor Barbara Kammerlohr reviews a trio of recent books of interest to her fellow time-travelers.
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Recent News from Second Journey
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2007 NATIONAL POSITIVE AGING
CONFERENCE
“BEYOND THE
CUTTING EDGE”
at Eckerd College in St.
Petersburg, Florida
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CONFERENCE FOCUS
AREAS:
●
Wellness: Brain and Body
● Life Planning
● Thriving in Community
● Intergenerational
Programming
● Lifelong Learning
● Creativity in
Later Life ● Purposeful Living
Thought leaders and
practitioners from across the country and around the
world will be presenting workshops, discussions, demonstrations,
and experiential activities in each of the above focus areas.
How are you planning to work
effectively with the emerging Baby Boomer retiree cohort – some
76 million strong? Are you finding that current programs lack
the luster of the past? Do you want to reenergize your services
to attract a broader segment of your community to your programs?
For full pre-conference and
conference information go to:
www.eckerd.edu/positiveaging
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Learn and
network
with national
leaders in the field
of positive aging |
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Second
Journey, Inc.
4 Wellesley Place, Chapel Hill, NC 27517
(919) 403-0432 |
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Second Journey, Inc. is a 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt nonprofit corporation |
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The Longevity Revolution has added
30 years to our average life span. How do we insure our longer lives will be richer, more meaningful lives? How do we explore new avenues for individual growth and spiritual deepening? How do
we open ourselves to new opportunities for an "Encore" career and meaningful work? How do we gather about us companions for the journey and create new models of community?
