Kristin Bodiford, Ph.D. and Peter Whitehouse, MD
|
|
Join in the dialogue
October 5 - 9, 2015
We hope you will join us to share your own stories and participate with us in an online global conversation about
|
By focusing on the positive aspects of aging, and the availability of resources, skills, and resiliencies, research not only brings useful insights into the realm of practice but creates hope and empowers action among older people. By moving beyond practices of repair and prevention, to emphasize growth-enhancing activities, practitioners also contribute more effectively to the societal reconstruction of aging.
|
www.positiveaging.net
|
Sign up for this free newsletter in the following languages:
- English
- Spanish
- Danish
- German
- French
- Chinese
- Portuguese
|
|
|
Ideas, News and Resources
September 2015
|
|
We hope you enjoy receiving our newsletter which includes constructionist ideas and practices as well as news and resources from the Taos Institute.
|
|
|
Brief Encounters with the Taos Institute
This month we welcome
Mary Gergen as she share thoughts on
A New Season, New Beginnings...
A New Season, New Beginnings
by Mary Gergen 
It is Labor Day weekend (in the US), and I saw pumpkins on sale at the market today. School now begins and thoughts turn to new beginnings, constructing new opportunities for living. I was especially inspired in this case by our latest Taos Institute publication,
70 Candles! Women Thriving in their 8th Decade. A trailblazing book in many ways! The authors, Jane Giddan and Ellen Cole, engaged in focus groups with older women across the country, and distilled from their discussions some of the best ways of being 70+. Among the ways these women had found joy, high on the list was being a grandmother. (Interesting that older women do not mention children the way they do grandchildren; perhaps they are drawn to those who are also newly beginning.) Some mentioned finding joy in the work they were now doing, and having a sense of accomplishment. For others, there was a deepened appreciation of those who were close - partners, relatives and friends. Some were finding new pleasures in their gardens, in nature, and in travel. Interestingly, the drive to be creative was central to their well-being.
What resources we seem to have for creative expression when we are not confronted with regimenting demands. And what joy we seem to find in those moments. A recent article in the International New York Times advocated a turn to creative activity on the part of adults, at any age. Julie Cameron, who published The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity in 1992, now has written a new book, It's Never Too Late to Begin Again: Creativity in the Golden Years, dedicated to older adults. She claims, "Many of us find that we have squandered our own creative energies by investing disproportionately in the loves, hopes, dreams and plans of others." She urges people to find spaces for playing with their possibilities.
Here I think of three people especially close to me who have combined art with their work lives. Diana Whitney, a Taos Institute founder, and world renowned Appreciative Inquiry leader, has become seriously engaged in art - painting, collages, designs... She has even built a studio on to her home. Dawn Dole, Executive Director of the Taos Institute, dances with the
Leap of Faith Liturgical Dancers, a group she founded at her church. Then there is my husband, Ken. Sometimes he seems like a workaholic, but he also sneaks out to create sculpture pieces for the yard. (I look from my window to see a pyramidal statue made of 14 brightly painted blue bowling balls!) What better time than now - as a new season begins - to unleash some of our curious and creative potentials?
|
|
********************************
|
New Book 
by Jane Giddan and Ellen Cole
Taos Institute Publications, 2015
Price: $19.00 US plus shipping and handling
ISBN: 13-digit: 978-1-938552-35-9
See more at:
http://www.taosinstitute.net/70candles
|
WorldShare Books
Free Download Books - Check it out - More free books are available all the time!
www.taosinstitute.net/worldshare-books
Sharing Ideas and Practices From Around the World
The Taos Institute offers free-of-charge books for downloading to your computer or favorite reader. Our ultimate aim is to offer books in all languages. Like all the Taos Institute Publications, WorldShare Books represent significant contributions relevant to social constructionist theory and practice. More books are being added all the time.
NEW and ready for you to download:
SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY& SELFHOOD
by John Shotter (original publication date 1984)
[In]Credible Leadership: A Guide for Shared Understanding and Application by Yuzanne Mare, Isabel Meyer, Elonya Niehaus-Coetzee, and Johann Roux
NEW In Spanish:
Etnia Terapeuticia: Integrando, by Jeannette Samper A. and Jose Antonio Gardiandia I.
Construccionismo Social y Discusion de Paradrigmas en Psycologia: Interminacion, Holismo y Juegos de Lenguaje vs. La Teoria Pictorica del Lenguaje, by Roberto Aristequi
All books are available in PDF format. Visit WorldShare Books
|
Welcome Three New Programs
The International Certificate in Collaborative-Dialogic Practices (ICCP) welcomes the following new programs to the learning community:
ICCP, collaboratively sponsored by The Houston Galveston Institute and Taos Institute, is an interdisciplinary program that provides an intensive, in-depth study of postmodern-social construction-relational theory and the possibilities for personal, organizational, and social transformation that flow from this orientation. The program focuses on the theoretical and philosophical assumptions of collaborative-dialogic practices as transformational and the application within and across disciplines, contexts, and cultures.
To find a program in your part of the world, take a look at:
|
|
|
The Taos Institute's mission is to bring together scholars and practitioners concerned with the social processes essential for the construction of reason, knowledge, and human value.
We are committed to exploring, developing and disseminating ideas and practices that promote creative, appreciative and collaborative processes in families, communities and organizations around the world through a social constructionist lens.
We look forward to your participation in the dialogue.
Dawn Dole, Executive Director
The Taos Institute
info@taosinstitute.net
Keep Up with Our Updates!
|
|
|
