May is Older Americans Month. This year’s theme, "Powered by Connection" focuses on the profound impact that meaningful connections have on the well-being and health of older adults. Each week this month, members and volunteers share how their involvement with NNV has powered connections for them.

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Life Mapping: A Creative Way to Get to Know Yourself and Others
By David Oldfield

How did you become the person you are today, and how can you condense your long life into a story to share with others? These were the questions that challenged us in our six-week Life Mapping workshop, the second offering in NNV’s Four Seasons of Creativity for Elders series happening throughout 2024.

We all begin with genetic material. We are born into a historical time that offers unique challenges and opportunities. We have parents who may be kind or cruel, warm or distant, and maybe siblings whom we might adore or envy. We fall in and out of love, make good and bad decisions, get lost and confused and find our way out of messes. We experience high points and low, achieve and fail. Everybody suffers. This is the common ground we all share as human beings.

Ah, but the way we respond to life’s challenges, and the manner in which we fall and rise again, and the way we learn from our experiences and grow from them… these are the very personal stories that make each life unique.

Both the common ground we all share, and the unique journeys each of us has made were on full display in our small, intimate group of life mappers. Taking the time to remember our lives fully, then translating those memories into images on a map, then sharing our maps and stories with each other – this was how we spent our six weeks together. At the final story-sharing gathering, we felt we were the living embodiment of the spirit and intention of NNV: neighbors honoring and celebrating each other’s lives with the kind of deep empathy we all crave, but rarely receive.

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The next program in Four Seasons of Creativity for Elders series is Winnowing: Sharing Your Life Story in Four Chapters.

Psychologists tell us how important it is at this stage of life to share our life stories. We’re encouraged to remember how we have come to be the people we are, and pass along the wisdom we’ve gleaned from the ups and downs, the joys and pains, the successes and failures that come from living long, full lives. What psychologists failed to tell us is how fun and rewarding the process might be!

David Oldfield, author of the book Winnowing, invites you to join him for a four-week journaling experience in which you will “winnow” the essential story of your life as a gift to pass along to future generations. Class size is limited to 10. Copies of your own Winnowing journal are provided as a gift from Northwest Neighbors Village and the author.

Dates: Fridays, June 14, 21, 28, and July 12 (No class the week of July 4th)
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Place: Meeting Room in the Chevy Chase Library
Registration here: https://nwnv.helpfulvillage.com/events/3856