Dreaming in the field

So much of the work I'm doing with The Aging Film Project (especially with funding) can feel like plate tectonics: I know there is movement but it's often hard to detect. But then there are weeks like this.
Wow! I want to thank the many individuals and groups who have shown interest and offered support for the project. This means so much more than they may realize. It is not only allowing me to take some action toward the production of needed elements, but encourages me and energizes my efforts toward finding new and better ways to tell this story. My heart is radiant with thanksgiving for those who feel this work is important and believe in my abilities to make it happen.
I feel confident that whether or not the current Kickstarter campaign succeeds I will receive the gifts from  those who have pledged support and in time I will obtain the full funding to complete the documentary. Like I say to friends who inquire: I have plowed under my field and I've got a dandy baseball diamond all ready to go. I'm working diligently and keeping an eye on those rows of corn to see who or what comes out.

Going the distance,
David

Planning ahead

I woke up this morning with drive a sense of purpose. Exploration of the new frontier of longevity is abundant with potential.  Every day I am thankful for the opportunity to help tell the story of what growing old means in our life cycle. Big thanks for a grant from Mayflower UCC to help me continue to tell that story. In the next few weeks I will be working to pull together the various segments of footage I have archived to find the shape of the story and the elements that are needed which I will obtain in the next months.  If you would like to help fund this project you can either check out the Kickstarter campaign (see post on right of screen) or contact me for information to send a check. Think of it as an investment for your future. I'm expecting it will have a great return. Share this blog and the project website with your friends and family. Feel free to comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts.


Peace,
David

Shadows and Light

It's fall here in Minnesota. Cold wind and color-shift to a monochromatic landscape. But each year we experience the subsequent shift to our inner fire. The warmth of home and the coziness of a warm blanket near a fireplace become our refuge from the crisp biting air. A shift is happening in the Old On Purpose project as well. A network of kindred spirits is forming and each day I am find new voices who are calling out for a better way to live as we age. With each contact I am encouraged to get this message out to the world. I am energized by their desire to see this project some to fruition. As you consider your vision for the future please consider your support for the production. There is currently a vibrant campaign in place at Kickstarter to raise money to help finish filming and begin editing of the documentary. Visit the page at Old On Purpose Kickstarter Campaign and watch the video to learn more about how you can help create a new paradigm of aging in America.


Peace and warmth,
David

Change brings intensity

Walking with my dog this morning I was nearly overwhelmed by the vibrancy of the changing leaves as they cascaded down and onto the lake. Though the lush greens of summer are the by-product of intense heat and humidity, they eventually give way to a cornucopia of radiant new colors. It is the alchemy of transition that forges our base elements into the golden essence of our truer selves. It is our choice, each one of us, to fully embrace this powerful metamorphosis and in so doing, encourage our personal development. In the words of Gary Carlson, one of the founding members of the Sage-ing Guild. "Everything changes. Life is about change. It's about how can l best live with the person I am now rather than the person I was 20 or 30 years ago".

As we move from the heat and humidity of our adulthood may we all find the new vibrant colors which can only reveal themselves in our Elderhood.

David

Kickstarter Campaign is Kick-Started!

As of noon today we have begun our Kickstarter Production to Post campaign to raise funds which will allow us to capture the footage and media needed to begin our editing process. As we begin to edit the completed segments will be used as real samples of the documentary which will allow us to seek more substantial funding from foundations and corporate sponsors. In other words, your support of this campaign will become the spark from which larger contributions will ignite. So join in. The music is starting and the crowd is finding the groove. Raise those lighters in the air and feel the love!  This is the beginning of a new era in elderhood.

Old On Purpose Production to Post   (Click to visit campaign site)

And so it begins...

9:30am - Coffee and planning with gifted artist and development guru Mary Veronica Sweeney. Having both recently returned from our individual trips to NYC (mine to visit our Son and hers to do incredible work creating support for important/world-changing organizations) we met to catch up and lay out our plans to gain support, connect with a larger base and spread the word about Old On Purpose, a new documentary currently in production that focuses on the changing face of aging in America.
There is something fundamentally flawed about our current image of growing old. Our current culture tells us that there is nothing to be gained in that phase of life that follows adulthood. What I am discovering is a powerful truth about why we age and what tremendous potential for discovery, development, and the cultivation of wisdom exists beyond the shores of our adult years. More importantly, I am learning about how our current culture and the problems of our world are desperately in need of a society of elders and their augmented experience and wisdom. The documentary is the beginning of what I hope will become an initiative to tell the story of the value and meaning that exists in our aging and how we, as an aging population, can become a valuable gift to our communities and create a new vision of what it means to grow old on purpose. Click on the link below to visit the project website and learn more.

The Aging Film Project

more to come...
Peace,
David