Lategrowth Project Outline

This project outline is a draft and is likely to remain that way for some time. As it is said, "The road is made by walking". As a member you can move around and make changes and comments here and there. Welcome.

Purpose

• To enable people in their later years to
  • achieve their potentials
  • share ideas on finding purpose, pleasure and peace through changing how and what we think and feel
  • grow old gracefully and wisely, with understanding and tolerance and with humour and joy
• And more specifically to make it possible for people to dig deeper into those ideas and issues that capture their attention.
  • To clarify the existential difference between doing, having and being
  • To help people achieve their potentials (intellectual, emotional, spiritual etc) - note the plural - people have many potentials
  • To help people come to terms with dis-ease, old age and death (secular and sacred options) and with being bored, lonely and helpless in their later years
  • To investigate where psychotherapy/ counselling meets spirituality/ meditation
  • To facilitate people's personal growth (see the human potential movement eg Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) and preparation for death.("Today is a good day to die"¹ etc)
  • To facilitate the process of turning the mind around (intellectual, emotional, spiritual etc) ie to reprogramme the mind/brain; to make time to stand and stare
  • To promote at-one-ment and the idea of being in the present moment

Note: the above bullet points need converting into user friendly language.

Aims and objectives

• the unexamined life is not worth living - learn how to examine - ask good questions? Think about what it means to work play and retire. Identify and investigate taboos
• to make self learning materials and opportunities available to target audience (given an appreciation of learning styles and thus the need for different strokes for different folks.
• to provide a gateway to this field of learning and to facilitate the process of digging deeper? (externally and internally)

Target audience

• Especially 50+ people (that part of the cradle to grave grouping - decade groupings)
• 50+ people who are supporting even elders
• Pilot group will be university educated with a background in education and development - we will work out towards other educational levels and occupations
• Those who find standard retirement planning courses to be less than satisfying

Methods - channels of communication

Discussion and interactive mind mapping? - Founders + friends + networking to larger groups then to web presence. Stage managed emergent strategy. Participatory processes.

• personal communication and email
• interviews and focus groups (interactive mind mapping)
• local study (self-help) groups
• email group eg Yahoo or Google (eg daily dharma quotes)
• multi person BLOG eg blogger.com
• a special purpose wiki eg this website at wikidot.com
• a web site (more or less interactive)

Outputs

• An action plan? with a project logical framework?
• A business model with appropriate structure (institutionalisation)
• Coffee table book (with case studies - wee stories - parables - photos) eg more than what is being suggested at I didn't get old being stupid
• Structured self learning materials (some specially prepared some just pointed to) text and audio/ video - hard copy and/or online - some free tasters some for purchase? OR work the dana (generosity) principle - make all stuff freely available but make donations easy.
• book reviews (multimedia)
• Glossary of what the big words mean

learning styles

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mind tools has a handy worksheet on learning styles
http://www.mindtools.com/mnemlsty.html

Footnotes

1. Some Native American warriors, before entering battle, would say a prayer: “Today is a good day to die.” This was not a death wish, but rather, an acknowledgement of death as a continuation of life and recognition of and desire to tap into the powerful intuitive perceptions that come from their non-physical essence.