RECURRING EVENTS

Low Vision Group
Description: A drop-in group for persons having difficulties with vision and persons who may want to know more about how to assist persons with low vision. Resources are shared and speakers come to provide information. Persons attending share how they learn to meet low vision challenges and find enjoyment in life.
Date, Day, and Time: Resumes Sept 4^th. First Wednesday of every month 10-11am
Location: Olympia, WA Senior Center 10-11 am.
No cost: Open to the public. No registration required
Transportation: If Dial A Lift does not work for you, call the Senior Center 360-586-6181 and ask for Transportation.
Qualified volunteer drivers may be available for a ride to and from the group

Owning the Age I Am
Desription: A drop-in group for learning about and sharing challenges and joys of late life.
Date, Day and Time: Resumes Sept 4^th. First Wednesday of every month 1:30-3pm
Location: Virgil Clark Lacey Senior Center 6757 Pacific Avenue SE Lacey, WA
No cost: Open to public. No registration required.

Upcoming Special Events 2024

FALL WORKSHOP

– Offered through Senior Academy at Olympia Senor Center

Creating a Legacy and Design for Living

Sept 24 to Oct 24^th: Tuesdays & Thursdays 10-12
First week required to attend any of the next four weeks.

Dates: Sept 24 & 26 / Oct 1 & 3 / Oct 8 & 10 / Oct 15 & 17 / Oct 22 & 24
Place: Olympia Senior Center, 222 Columbia St NW, Olympia, WA
Registration: On-line at southsoundseniors.org or call 360-586-6181
Fees: See registration form at southbound seniors or call above number.
Scholarships available on request.

Course Overview

This workshop is a journey of discovery about what you have already left for others and what you can yet do to create your legacy design for future generations. In five weeks, of two sessions per week, tools and questions provide ways to appreciate how what you do now and in the coming year can contribute to the lives of those who live beyond your own. Class sharing expands awareness of possibilities by bringing past, present, and future together to explore the many facets of legacy. Through creation of your own unique design, you can find balance and meaning in way you choose to spend your time and respond to world around you.

Brief description of Each Week
Week One Sept 24^th & 26^th This week is required to attend any of the subsequent weeks
Legacies Left, Legacies Yet to Create & Grow

What if I died today? What if I had only one more year to live?

In these two session, awareness of what matters to us and others in life is explored. We grow our ideas about what legacy means to us as we consider what others have given us and what we have already given to others. We identify and build a framework for creating a Legacy Design using the themes of Appreciate, Contribute, and Balance (ACB) to frame what to include in a legacy design. An overview of the focus for each of the next four weeks is provided. Completing the entire workshop is recommended for you to bring all areas of your life into your design.

This first week (two class sessions) are required if you choose to register for any or all five weeks of the workshop.

Week Two October 1^st and 3^rd.
On My Own – Creating My Legacy Design: The ACBs for Focusing

How do I shape my time alone? How can I fashion my inner life?

These questions frame the weeks’ sessions on what we can do on our own, and how what we think and feel contribute to the legacies we are creating. We become more aware of how patterns in what we do when alone and how our inner thoughts and moods foster or prevent us from taking steps toward the legacy we wish to leave. These are the parts of ourselves we alone can shape. Through class sharing, we learn ways to focus our energy on what nourishes us rather than depletes us. We find what we can do by ourselves in designing the steps we wish to take in the coming year.

Week Three October 8^th and 10th.
Relationships & Legacy: Changing Connections Across Time

Who is accompanying me now? Who will accompany me in the coming year?

Creating a legacy design cannot be completed in isolation. Ways to start conversations about death and legacy with those we love are explored. We anticipate who and where we are most likely to connect with the people we want to be part of our legacy planning. A list of tasks and helpful documents are provided to help us discern what we have already done and the most workable times for coming together with those we trust to help us. We identify the steps we want to take to begin the process.

Week Four Three October 15^th and 17th.
Uniting with Communities within Legacy Designs: Giving and Receiving

What am I already giving and receiving in community with other groups?
What community connections do I want to be part of in the coming year?

We are connected to communities because of where we live, or with groups we choose ourselves. Our focus is on the communities we are now part of and how they shape our lives, either through how they support us or in how we contribute to them. We consider how we want to continue or change connections to these communities with our presence, time or money in the coming year as part of our legacy. Taking into account the changing times in our nation and world, we weave in ways to do what we can to influence the changes we think important for the lives of future generations.

Week Five October 22 & 24th.
Making Meaning & Shifting Sands of Time: Lasting Legacies

How am I making sense of my life now? How do I keep my balance in the shifting sands of time?

This last weeks’ sessions focus on how shifts occur in what we find meaningful and of value in life as the time head shortens. Tools to identify these values are used to assist in gaining clarity in what inspires and motivates us at the age we are now compared to our younger years. The process provides a sense of who we are at this time, and how we want yet want to be as we move forward. It is often not realized until late in life how those who are no longer alive are have shaped our lives and become part of us. Late life is the time we come to appreciate the legacies others have given to us. It moves us to find ways to contribute to the lives of the next generation. More balance is found as we consider the lasting legacies we already left. As we travel through the upcoming holidays and year ahead, the legacies we designed in class are reviewed to center our attention on things we have discovered to do on our own, with others and for the world yet to be.