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Facilitator: Jamie Streett-Baker

Immanuel Communities Omaha, Nebraska

Cultivate Wisdom, Connect with Others, Celebrate Life

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Why Conscious Aging? Many seniors have fear or anxiety about aging and many will face their

later years alone.

Aging is challenging but it is also a time of GREAT opportunity for spiritual, emotional and psychological growth.

Conscious Aging helps individuals not just survive aging but also to thriveas they age.

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Self-Limiting Beliefs Life-Expanding BeliefsSelf-critic: I am slow, clumsy, and forgetful now. I am useless and unworthy.

Self-Compassion: There are changes happening in my body and this is natural. I bring acceptance and kindness to these changes. I affirm my value to myself and others, and I understand that everyone who ages experiences similar changes.

Clinging: I don't want to change how I live my life or conduct my relationships. I want everything to remain the same. This is me; This is how I do things.

Surrender: My life is impermanent and is always changing. I surrender to changes that I cannot control and I release my attachments.

Aging stereotypes: I look terrible. I have limited mobility, wrinkles, age spots, extra weight, poor hearing, and diminished eyesight. I am undesirable, unattractive and decrepit.

Aging re-imagined: I release my attachment to youth and imagine my life unfolding in new ways that include wisdom, compassion, and peace. I am helpful to those younger than me. People enjoy the gifts I have to share.

Transforming Self Limiting Thoughts, Beliefs & Emotions

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Self-Limiting Beliefs Life-Expanding Beliefs

Hopeless: My life is over. I no longer have purpose or value. There is nothing for me to live for now; it is all in the past. I see no future for myself other than just existing.

Meaningful: I see the value of my life. I see what lessons I have learned, where I have shared freely of my gifts, and where I've made some mistakes. I continue to contribute value for my self and others. My life has meaning and purpose.

Fear in diminishment: I don't like to be around someone who is sick or dying. I don't know what to say and I feel uncomfortable. It makes me depressed when someone I care about gets sick or dies.

Grace in diminishment: I can be present with someone who is sick or dying. I do not have to fix or solve their problems. I can just be with them in all that arises, without fear. I can find the grace even in bodily diminishment.

Holding grudges: I have been wronged and disrespected. I can never forgive the acts that were committed against me.

Forgiveness: I realize the hold that unforgiveable acts have held on me. I release this negativity so that it no longer affects my day-to-day life.

Transforming Self Limiting Thoughts, Beliefs & Emotions

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Self-Limiting Beliefs Life-Expanding Beliefs

Directionless: I feel confused about life and aging. I don't know what I think about it.

Intentional: My intention is to age well. I stand behind qualities and values that are important to me. I can and do make conscious choices about my aging.

Isolation: I am alone and separate from others. All my friends are gone. No one suffers from aging like I do. I am all alone now.

Interconnection: I am interconnected with the human family. I understand that my suffering reflects that of others as well, and that we all suffer. Being with others is important and nourishing to my life.

Transforming Self Limiting Thoughts, Beliefs & Emotions

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What really

matters?

4-7-8

Breath

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What You Need for Sessions Workbook — for self study

and to bring to each class;

A willingness to listen and learn from each other; being open to differing ideas, even if you may not agree with them.

Commitment to CONFIDENTIALITY—some things shared may be private.

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Session Topics Week 1: Intro to Conscious Aging

Importance of Confidentiality in group = trust

Week 2: Self-Compassion “With self-compassion, we give ourselves the same kindness and care we'd give to a

good friend.” Kristin Neff, PhD

Week 3: Forgiveness Pastoral presence is ideal – past issues may surface

Week 4: Life Review Decades exercise – owning strengths

Week 5: Transformative Practices Turning points in life, ie. peaks, hitting bottom, nature

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Session Week 6: Death Makes Life Possible

“Remembering I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life…..Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” --Steve Jobs, Founder, Apple Computer

Week 7: Surrender—Letting Go

Accepting what is; letting go of things that don’t serve you!

Week 8: Creating a New Vision of Aging

Create personal intention statements

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Key Learning Themes Reframe self-limiting beliefs and cultural stereotypes.

Identify the need to bring closure to unresolved

wounds.

Accept change; let go and work with fears while confronting life’s impermanent nature.

Create daily practices for self-care, self compassion, forgiveness and gratitude.

Find meaning from previous life experiences – integrate into life going forward.

Focus on your sense of connection to others and recognize our shared humanity in the aging process.

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Workshop Group Expectations Honor group time commitments – be on time.

All that is shared in sessions, must be kept confidential!

Listen with respect and without judgement for different points of view/life experiences. Remain open to learning from each other.

Take care of yourself – use the restroom or stretch your body as needed in sessions.

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Further Information Jamie Streett-Baker is a Certified Conscious Aging

Facilitator and will be happy to share her knowledge with you.

For more information, you may contact IONS directly

https://noetic.org/experience/conscious-aging/

Or Jamie at:

jstreett-baker@Immanuel.com or 402-829-6928.

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Self Care Resources From Mindful Self Compassion for Professionals by Kristin Neff, PhD

https://self-compassion.org/

The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff and Chris Germer: The seeds of self-compassion already lie within you—this workbook will help you uncover this inner resource and transform your life.

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Mindfulness in Daily Life Mindfulness can be practiced every moment of our day—while you brush your teeth, while you walk from

the parking garage to work, when you eat your breakfast, or whenever your cell phone rings. Pick one activity and see if you can do it mindfully, paying attention to what you are experiencing. You might want to choose an activity that occurs early in the day, to help you remember to be mindful before you get overwhelmed with the daily tasks of life. As you're engaging in your mindful activity—let's say you choose the walk from the parking lot to your office—bring awareness to your actual experience in the present moment.

Even in our often pressured and distracted daily lives, it's possible to have mindful moments. We can momentarily disengage from our activities by taking a long, conscious breath, gathering our attention, and then asking ourselves, What am I sensing in my body right now? What am I feeling emotionally? What am I thinking? What is most vivid and alive in my awareness?

We don't even have to be calm to have some mindful awareness, such as when we discover, "I'm really angry right now." We are all capable of being mindful, but in the midst of our hectic lives, we must choose to slow down and notice—if even for just for a moment—what's happening to us right here, right now.

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Managing Compassion Fatigue

Please bring to mind someone who needs you, but caring for them is starting

to exhaust or frustrate you. For this introductory exercise, please choose

someone who is not your child. See the person clearly in your mind and feel

the struggle in your own body. Please say the following words to yourself,

letting them gently roll through your mind:

Everyone is on his or her own life journey.

I am not the cause of this person 's suffering, nor is

it entirely within my power to make it go away,

Moments like this are difficult to bear, yet I

may still fry to help if I can. *

Now, aware of the stress you are carrying in your body, inhale fully and

deeply, drawing compassion inside your body and filling every cell in your

body with compassion. Let yourself be soothed by inhaling deeply, and by

giving yourself the compassion you need when you experience discomfort.

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As you exhale, send out compassion to the other person who is associated with

your discomfort, or exhale compassion to living beings in general.

Continue breathing compassion in and out, letting your body gradually find a

natural, relaxed breathing rhythm. Breathe in for yourself and out for the other.

One for me, one for you.

Occasionally scan your inner landscape for any distress and respond by

inhaling compassion for yourself and exhaling compassion for the person who

needs it. Repeat the following words again:

Everyone is on his or her own life journey.

I am not the cause of this person 's suffering, nor

is it entirely within my power to make it go away,

Moments like this are difficult to bear, yet I may

still try to help if I can.

Gently open your eyes.

(Feel free to use any language that captures the attitude of equanimity, such as the

Al Anon 3-C's: "Didn't cause it, can't cure it, can't control it.“)

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Loving-Kindness with Self-Compassion

Please sit in a comfortable position, reasonably upright and relaxed. Let your eyes

close, fully or partially. Take a few deep breaths to settle in o your body and into the

present moment. You might like to put your hand over your heart, or wherever it is

comforting and soothing, as a reminder to bring not only awareness, but loving

awareness, to your experience and to yourself.

Locate your breathing where you can feel it most easily. Feel your breath move through

your body, and when your attention wanders, feel the gentle movement of your breath

once again. Let your body breathe you.

After a few minutes, start to notice any physical sensations of stress that you may be

holding in your body, perhaps in your neck, jaw, belly, or forehead.

Also notice if you're holding some difficult emotions, such as worry about the future or

uneasiness about the past. Understand that every human body bears stress and worry

throughout the day.

See if you can incline toward the stress in your body as you might incline toward a

child or a beloved pet, with curiosity and tenderness

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Now inclining toward yourself, offer yourself goodwill simply because of the stress

that you're holding in your body right now, as everyone holds stress in their bodies.

Offer words of kindness and compassion to yourself, slowly and affectionately. For

example:

May I be safe

May I be peaceful

May I be kind to myself

May I accept myself as I am

(pause)

When you notice that your mind has wandered, return to the sensations In your body

and to the loving-kindness phrases. Go slow.

If you are ever swept up in emotion, you can always return to your breathing. Or you

can name the emotion, or find it in the physical body and soften the muscles In that

area. Then, when you're comfortable again, return to the phrases.

Finally, take a few breaths and just rest quietly in your own body. Know that you can

return to the phrases anytime you wish.

Gently open your eyes.

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