• Tell us about the first house you remember living in…
• What was the most important thing you learned about life from your family?
• Did you ever rebel against authority? Why, and what happened?
• What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made, and what did you learn from it?
• What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
• What have you been afraid of through the years? What are you afraid of now?
• How has death touched you through the years?
• What do you regret?
• What has your life taught you that you’d like to pass on to the next generation?

These are some of the provocative questions we journaled about recently in our Winnowing group, the third in NNV’s series, Four Seasons of Creativity for Elders, designed and led by David Oldfield. Using his book Winnowing: After a Lifetime of Experience, What Matters? as their guide, an intimate group of NNVers spent several weeks recalling, writing, and sharing memories of people and experiences that shaped their personalities and led them to becoming the people they are today. Moving through chapters like "The Times of Your Life;" "Connections and Relationships;" "Troubles and How You Handled Them;" and "Endeavors and Achievements," neighbors filled their journals with life stories, which they shared at our weekly sessions. Each developed a distinctive "voice" and style. Each story - the painful as well as the joyful - was received with compassion and empathy by other journalers. Our Fridays together were filled with laughter and tears. We left each gathering with something old people need, but rarely receive: the precious feeling of being deeply understood and appreciated by strangers who had suddenly become friends.Wisdom - the special gift elders offer their communities - comes from experience. We are all wise in the things we have lived through, but we have to go looking for it: we have to "winnow" our memories down to the few that truly matter. That’s what this group was all about. Each Friday, the wisdom of our lives could be seen in the creases in our beautifully old faces, the fire in our still-passionate eyes, and heard in the humility in our softening voices. In the experiences we recall and the stories we make of them, each life displays its own dignity, courage, and joy. To close our final session, one of our journalers said it succinctly: "We all have untold histories that need to be unlocked and shared. And the best way to unlock those histories is by answering poignant questions that help us remember who we have been, who we are, and who we still might become."

Stay tuned for details on our final Four Seasons of Creativity program: Life Mask Making!