Community for
Conscious Aging
Your Resource for the Second Half of Life
The Jung Center of Houston's Community for Conscious Aging (CCA) offers unique community events and activities where all are invited to explore their gifts and challenges. We serve in community, find new purpose & passion, confront the cultural view of aging, consider end-of-life matters, combat isolation, and develop a deeper relationship with the unconscious in order to uncover what is coming alive within us.
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Click the button below and donate to us by selecting "Community for Conscious Aging" in the designation field.
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Currently Scheduled Events
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January Lunch & Learn | Reflections on Being an Emerging Elder (Online)
January 15, 2025January 15, 2025Sean Fitzpatrick and Beth Quill Wednesday, Jan, 15 12 - 1p CT Explore the aging journey with Beth Quill and Sean Fitzpatrick as they dive in with curiosity, reluctance, anxiety, and humor.
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Afternoon Art Salon: Disassociation V and Seen and Unseen (In-Person)
January 25, 2025January 25, 2025Saturday, Jan 25 | 2 - 3:30pm CT | FREE | Skip the evening traffic and come to the Community for Conscious Aging’s Afternoon Artist Talk!
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February Lunch & Learn | Navigating Your Aging Journey (Online)
February 11, 2025February 11, 2025Mehrnaz Gill Tuesday, Feb, 11 12 - 1p CT Plan your aging journey well with tools, resources, and next-step advice for greater independence as you age.
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March Lunch & Learn | Prolonging My Life by Changing Yours (Online)
March 06, 2025March 06, 2025Cherry Steinwender Thursday, March 6 12 - 1p CT Examine racial conditioning and see the transformation that new knowledge brings while adding months, even years to the life of Cherry Steinwender, the executive director and co-founder of The Center for the Healing of Racism.
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Afternoon Artist Talk: The Dichotomy of Life (In-Person)
March 08, 2025March 08, 2025Joe Aker | Saturday, Mar 8 | 2 - 3:30pm CT | FREE | Skip the evening traffic and come to the Community for Conscious Aging’s Afternoon Artist Talk!
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Memory Enhancement Training (In-Person)
March 12, 2025March 12, 2025Sally Davis | Wednesday, Mar 12 | 10a - 12pm CT | Practice proven memory enhancing techniques that address common, everyday memory concerns like remembering names and faces, recalling appointments and plans, avoiding misplacing objects, and overcoming those “tip of the tongue” memory slips.
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Enneagram and Relationships (Online)
March 29, 2025April 05, 2025Judy Wilbratte | Two Saturdays, Mar 29 and Apr 5 | 2 - 3:30p CT | Join our community for two fun and informative Zoom video gatherings where we watch a video of nine men and women of each Enneagram type talk about how their type affects their relationships and what has helped them grow.
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Conscious Eldering: Aging with Purpose and Passion (In-Person)
April 12, 2025April 12, 2025Ron Pevny | Saturday, Apr 12 | 9a - 4pm CT | Explore the rich possibilities of choosing to age with purpose and passion, the challenges that accompany such a commitment, and some of the key practices that make a conscious elderhood possible.
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April Lunch & Learn | Radiant Rebellion (Online)
April 23, 2025April 23, 2025Karen Walrond | Wednesday, April 23 | 12 - 1p CT | Join our Community for Conscious Aging in learning how to radiantly rebel against the fads and assumptions about aging that hold us back, redefine the adventure of getting older, and create a shining future of expanded potential.
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Afternoon Artist Talks: Energetic Landscapes and Dreamscapes (In-Person)
April 26, 2025April 26, 2025Stephanie Gonzalez and Melody Locke | Saturday, Apr 26 | 2 - 3:30pm CT | FREE | Skip the evening traffic and come to the Community for Conscious Aging’s Afternoon Artist Talk!
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May Lunch & Learn: Addressing All Our Needs as We Age (Online)
May 15, 2025May 15, 2025Brooke Summers-Perry | Thursday, May 15 | 12 - 1p CT | Navigate life transitions while honoring your needs comprehensively and make decisions that spend your energy and time wisely.
Our Mission
In the afternoon of our lives, our intention is to grow and sustain an inclusive learning community of vitality, purpose, wisdom, and grace.
Carl Jung's essay on aging is one of our guides.
Who We Are
The Community for Conscious Aging (CCA) is committed to approaching life with meaning and purpose as we age. Together, we discover how to shape our personal experience in a deeper way and share that discovery with others. We are guided by four pillars:
- Connection: cultivate opportunities to gather together
- Learning:
grow in wisdom and in the capacity to reflect on our rich inner lives with clarity and integrity
- Service: respond to the needs of others
- Activism:
confront the culture of ageism
Our History
The Community for Conscious Aging was formed in 2018. Our genesis came from conversations between friends about the process of aging, how to find or keep a community, and how to deal with the challenges of aging. We are a volunteer organization affiliated with The Jung Center.
We’ve presented many excellent programs: Carl Jung’s Stages of Life; Resilience and How to Develop it; Finding Purpose as We Age; A Look at Racial Conditioning. We’ve mentored coffee groups and book studies and movie nights. Our small group meetings often form communities-—part of our mission. During Covid, we set up support groups about health and well-being and offered speakers via Zoom, which will remain a permanent platform for some of our offerings.
We’d love to have you join us!
Steering Committee
Sarah Garcia,
Community for Conscious Aging Manager
David Spaw
Karleen Koen
Beth Quill
Dina McMearn
Mark Ryan
Hadley McIntosh
Karen Waldman
Judy Wilbratte
Sean Fitzpatrick
ex officio
Emerging Elderhood
Do you question- What lies ahead as I age? What does retirement mean? How will I chart the best course for me to be healthy and happy as I age?
You are not alone.
Most likely, you're
an Emerging Elder.
.
These questions, often unspoken, occupy many adults experiencing mid-life
transitions. Further, there's no blueprint for approaching the second half of life, much less
specific guidelines for aging.
Want to learn more?
Explore emerging elderhood through our Lunch & Learn with Sean Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., Executive Director of The Jung Center of Houston
Connect with the Community for Conscious Aging
Recommended Resources
- Sage-ing® International is a community of elders and elders-to-be who are ready to explore new ways of aging. Beginning as a networking organization for professionals, we have expanded our focus, reaching out to everyone approaching or in the second half of life. Our vision includes teaching/learning, service and community as three vitally important aspects of the sage-ing® journey.
- Oasis is a national nonprofit organization offering enriching programs for retirees. We offer special interest classes, health programs, and volunteering opportunities.
- At Being Mindful.com, community member, Stan Merrill, offers a ten-minute guided meditation to help relax and calm. Stressful situations trigger the body’s fight or flight response releasing adrenaline into the bloodstream. When we are able to breathe long, slow, and deep while focusing our attention on the present moment, our disposition will change.
- The practice of gratefulness is said to help with more positive emotions, better sleep, and stronger immune systems. Learn more at Gratefulness.org
Catching up in the Age of Technology
Social media and video conferencing have become common tools for connection. Platforms like Facebook, FaceTime (Apple), Zoom, Skype, and WhatsApp are free and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and/or Google Play. YouTube instructional videos are available online to help you set up and use these tools for technology-based connection.
Here are some other ways to get started:
FaceTime
WhatsApp
Zoom
Join CCA on Facebook
Community for Conscious Aging members can share information, get to know each other, and provide mutual support by joining our online Facebook (FB) group created just for us. It’s called Community for Conscious Aging Houston. This is a closed group and completely separate from anyone’s personal FB page. You will be able to post information, ask questions, and dialogue about age-related issues and stresses. This is not a replacement for our website but an additional way to communicate. You must have a Facebook account to join the CCA closed group.
If you don’t have a Facebook page, you can get started HERE
