Living Into the Spiritual Invitations of the Second Half of Life

with Joan Linley and Leslie Reed Shields 

Saturday, October 19, 2024, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

$85 including lunch (inquire about partial scholarships)

Register Here

 

“Don’t accept the modern myths of aging. You are not declining. You are not fading away into uselessness. You are a sage, a river at its deepest and most nourishing.”
– William Martin in The Sage’s Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for the Second Half of Life

About this Offering

The challenge of aging isn’t to “stay young” but to fully flourish through this wholly new human developmental stage of life. We are the first generation to enjoy this gift and responsibility of years. We are the pilgrims called to wonder and imagine what this gift might mean for us personally and as a community at this time in human evolution. 

Come to the waters, both still and teeming with life, to reflect on your lived experience, to help dispel the myths that all too often permeate our culture and our own fears about aging. Explore the spiritual invitations which help us to develop and sustain the resilience to endure what is necessary, to see with new eyes, to engage with wonder what is Real and to cultivate the creativity, hope and joy that live within and among us. 

We will listen deeply to the still small voice within, and join in intentional community to pray, reflect, and learn from one another.

About the Presenters

Joan Linley started The School for the Second Half of Life in 2016 and continues to serve as its coordinator and co-facilitator. She retired nearly 3 years ago from Mercy by the Sea, having served as its Program Director for 15 years and continues to practice as a spiritual director, supervisor of spiritual directors and retreat director. In her career before she was led to Mercy by the Sea, she served as a consultant to organizations from a psychodynamic/systems perspective and as Vice President for Corporate Strategy for the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Leslie Reed Shields, LCSW, is a practicing clinician, educator and supervisor. Her practice, a blend of psychodynamic and contemplative therapies, allows her to more fluently move between the spiritual language of love and compassion and the psychological language of emotional distress and resiliency. She educates clinicians to deepen their own lives and practice 
to reveal the wisdom and sensitivity to live life more fully. She is a graduate of the School for The Second Half of Life and has co-facilitated the School for the past 6 years.