We are all ageing from the moment we are born. In our early years there is an impatience to get on with the business of growing up—to get to the next stage, where it seems there are more possibilities. We long for the status of adulthood. Then suddenly we are in our forties and old age seems just over the horizon.
We live in an age where youth and newness are highly valued. We’re under pressure to be up to date, familiar with all the latest technology and trends. As we approach the second half of life we can begin to feel left behind, out of sync—even slightly redundant. We may feel as if our world is shrinking and experience overwhelming feelings of anxiety and loss.
However, with self-awareness we can choose a different way—we can embark on a journey of becoming our true selves. By resolving our past and finding contentment in our present, we can learn to face each ageing milestone as an opportunity for deeper self-knowledge and spiritual understanding. Then we have the chance to flourish as we age—to draw on all our experience and wisdom that we have accumulated and to find peace in the second half of our lives.
How this online course will work
The course is limited to 25 participants to enable each person to contribute fully and work with their own individual needs. People will be requested to have their cameras and microphones on and participate in break-out rooms, so that we can all learn from each other and provide sharing and support among the group. If this is not possible for you this time, then there many be further opportunities when the course is repeated.
There will be a workbook for the course, with a new section coming for each session. The course sessions will be recorded and participants will be able to access these after the course.
Who is This Course For?
This 6-week online course is for anyone over the age of 55 who is interested in living their life fully for as long as it lasts.
It is of particular interest for counsellors, and therapists who work with anxieties around ageing in their clients. It provides an opportunity for them to work through their own fears around ageing as a preparation for supporting their clients.
It is of particular interest for counsellors, and therapists who work with anxieties around ageing in their clients. It provides an opportunity for them to work through their own fears around ageing as a preparation for supporting their clients.
What does the course cover?
Each week we will explore specific issues affecting older people.
Session 1: The Big View of Ageing
Session 2: Building Resilience
Session 3: Our Search for Meaning
Session 4: Dealing with Loss
Session 5: Working with Habits
Session 6: Becoming an Elder
Each issue will be explored from different angles—including current scientific research, insights from existential therapy, eastern wisdom traditions and creative ageing pioneers.
Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event
- Deconstruct fears around ageing and come to appreciate it as a natural life process.
- To prepare ourselves to work creatively with ageing through confronting the habits that no longer work for us.
- Learn how to access and develop our need for meaning and purpose as we age.
- To investigate residual ageist attitudes—in ourselves and in society—and explore how they can be transformed.
- To discover a role for ourselves as an older person in society.
- To learn a series of exercises and practices that can be integrated into everyday life.
Presenter
Maureen is the founding director of Awareness in Action, an organization dedicated supporting people to make sustainable wellbeing part of their lives—through developing clarity, connection and openness.
Drawing on more than thirty years of experience as a professional educator, senior manager in a non-profit organization, an entrepreneur and as an experienced practitioner of Buddhist meditation, she leads Awareness in Action workshops and training programs in the UK and Europe.
Her new book, The Stress Workbook is a groundbreaking effort that brings together the best of modern science and the wisdom of the world’s ancient contemplative traditions into a practical manual for thriving in today’s fast-paced world. Although born in London, UK love took Maureen to Amsterdam, The Netherlands where she lives with her husband.
