Wisdom and Wonder
A Monthly Community Conversation for Wisdom Seekers and Wonderers
Every 1st Sunday of the month
9:00 AM PDT | 12:00 PM EDT
Hosted by Alane Freund
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward.”
— Søren Kierkegaard
Our fall curriculum will follow the wisdom of Sister Joan Chittister in her book: The Gifts of Years: Growing Older Gracefully. Sr. Joan is a Benedictine nun and Zen practitioner, but mostly a student of life, social justice, and humanity. About the book:
One of the most important dimensions of aging is to bring us to understand that life cannot be taken for granted. Life cannot be devoured—it can only be savored (Joan Chittister, The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully).
There comes a time in life when the questions become more important than the answers.
How do we age with grace, courage, and curiosity?
How do we navigate loss, change, purpose, relationships, creativity, spirituality, and the many transitions that accompany a life fully lived?
How do we make meaning of our experiences while continuing to grow into the people we are becoming?
Wisdom & Wonder is a monthly gathering for thoughtful, reflective people who want to explore these questions in community.
For more than 35 years, Alane Freund has worked as a therapist, coach, teacher, and guide. Yet she often says:
“I am here as a leader and guide, but also a wisdom seeker and one who wonders deeply.”
This is not a lecture or a class.
It is a conversation.
Each gathering begins with a guiding concept, reading, teaching, or piece of wisdom and then unfolds through the questions, insights, stories, and wonderings of those who are present.
Together we create a space where experience is honored, curiosity is welcomed, and wisdom emerges through connection.
Aging, Wisdom, and Meeting Life as It Is
“How do you view the aging process? Is it tinged with anxiety and regret? Or do you see it as an adventure, a time to find meaning, and a ripening? Or, is it a little of both? Gift of Years, Joan Chittister’s best-selling book, offers you the chance to look at this time of maturation with fresh eyes, with joy for what has been and optimism for what is to come.”
Every Wisdom and Wonder gathering will begin with a guiding concept, reading, or principle, and will then evolve with the content, ideas, questions, and wonderings of the participants in the “room”.
Wisdom seekers in past gatherings have wondered about friendship, connection, grieving, loneliness, life changes, relationships, adult children, dating, divorcing, loss, creativity, finding purpose, changing bodies, death, spirituality, meditation, mindful living, well, you get the picture. Bring your wisdom and wonder to share with us.
Wisdom and Wonder will hold monthly meetings on the first Sundays of each month, starting in September. We will spend 2-3 months exploring Sr. Joan’s book as a beginning point. You may register for one meeting or for many. We always welcome new seekers. Space is limited to keep the discussion active and rich.
What We Wonder About
In previous conversations, wisdom seekers have explored topics such as:
- Friendship and connection
- Loneliness and belonging
- Grief and loss
- Adult children and changing family roles
- Dating, partnering, and divorcing
- Creativity and purpose
- Spirituality and meditation
- Mindful living
- Aging and changing bodies
- Death and mortality
- Life transitions and reinvention
Bring your own questions, stories, experiences, and insights.
Your wisdom matters here.