New Wisdom Seekers group well into second season

Special to The Patriot

Seniors and retirees who want deeper conversation than the weather and their aches and pains are finding meaning, direction, and friendship through Wisdom Seekers, a book-and-discussion group now in its second season.  The group meets Tuesdays through October from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the conference room at Chester C. Corwin Public Library in Webster.

Founder  Sheri Sinykin is a member of the original Wisdom Seekers chapter in Arizona, where she spends the winter, and longed to bring the spirit of the group to southcentral Massachusetts when she moved here recently.

Last season members read and discussed From Ageing to Sage-ing: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller.  This season members selected Wayne Dyer’s interpretation of the Tao Te Ching: Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao.

Sinykin believes the Law of Attraction is at work in guiding new members to the group.  Donna Rawson of Thompson was led to Wisdom Seekers after her unique t-shirt prompted a conversation with two group members from her water aerobics class.

“I'm so happy I've found this group!” Rawson said.  “I have been wanting other women in my life who are interested in the same things as myself: spiritual connection, emotional maturity, and personal growth. To find all of this in Webster is an added blessing.  I love the fact that we meet once a week to discuss whatever is happening in our current lives in relation to the meeting topic.”

She reports that every meeting has something valuable to her own experience. “Participating with these wonderful women has brought me many insights,” she said.

The group is open to welcoming new members even in the middle of the season.  For those whose interest may be piqued, Wisdom Seekers are people who are curious about the world and who have a desire to learn and grow emotionally and spiritually.  They live with a passion for truth and devote the necessary energy to reflect on what it means to be wise.  They have made a decision to embark on the journey of a lifetime to discover the lessons one must learn to become wise elders instead of elderly.  They live in the present instead of the past with regrets or the future with anxiety.

Members ask the question: “We are living longer, but for what purpose?”  They search to find their purpose for living in this third phase of life.  Instead of the present model for aging that is focused on the diminishment of the body and mind, members seek to become vital and active members of society and to bring wisdom to a nation and world that sorely need a new, more positive view of the future.

Among the discussion topics are conscious living/conscious aging, life review, forgiveness, love, gratitude, mortality, intuition, inner wisdom, and finding meaning and purpose.  Books are read aloud in the meeting, with discussion free-flowing when inspired by the text.