Seasons and Cycles
The Changing Paradigm on Aging
A Weekend Intensive with Gloria Karpinski
September 20 & 21, 2008 

Few myths and assumptions in our collective consciousness are as ambiguous and puzzling and as the ones on aging. We spent time, money and energy to extend our time on earth. The message: Getting older is a good thing. And we spend equal amounts of time, money and energy to turn back time. The message: Getting Old is not such a good thing.

Anyone born anytime in the 20th century has been imprinted by the message of the old paradigm. As transitionists between the old and new; we have been challenging the old myths of every kind from the time we were babies. We are doing it more and more with aging.

It requires moving beyond a rant about the outer messages (seeking insight, we don’t continually criticize the blind.) It takes honesty, humor and compassion to examine your own myths and then discard the things you don’t really believe or choose. The reward is living your own life, creatively, on your own terms … all of your life. That is one of our goals of this intensive.

It is time that we no longer look wistfully at cultures who have celebrated and honored their elders and assume our own will never change. It is changing. We are part of that change.