10
Wednesday, December 27, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Of a certain
AGE
Sue Stafford
Columnist
Our stories
A statistic the other day
on the news caught my
attention. The average lifes-
pan in the U.S. dropped for
the second year in a row to
81.1 for women. Based on
that, I can expect 7.5 more
years at least. If that time
goes as quickly as the past
seven-and-a-half years, I’ll
be done before I know it.
The beginning of a new
year is a good time for
some self-reflection about
my remaining years. What
pops to the surface is, I
want my remaining time to
make a difference, however
small.
I have always loved peo-
ple’s stories and, in a vari-
ety of ways, that’s what my
life has been about. Prior to
moving to Sisters, I worked
in multiple fields of coun-
seling and therapy help-
ing people understand their
stories and hopefully access
some healing.
My current endeavors
include teaching a 10-week
guided autobiography class.
The class encourages par-
ticipants to take stock of
their lives and the meaning
of events, people and expe-
riences. Stories are shared
with others in a small group
setting where members
gain an appreciation for
the direction life has taken
and for the courage and
creativity they and others
have shown in facing life’s
challenges.
With my freelance writ-
ing for The Nugget and The
Bulletin special projects, I
have the honor of hearing
people’s stories and then
sharing them with a larger
audience. In this column, I
open my world to you read-
ers and share some of my
own story.
Our stories help us artic-
ulate and understand our
deepest, most meaningful
experiences by utilizing our
intuition, imagination and
creativity. By drawing on
the power of metaphors and
symbols in telling our sto-
ries, they are enriched and,
accordingly, those stories
enrich our lives.
In both my counsel-
ing practice and my auto-
biography classes, I have
watched participants gain a
new appreciation of them-
selves and their lives as they
reflect deeply, and see more
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clearly who they truly are.
To know who I am is
enriched by exploring my
past and setting hopeful,
yet realistic, intentions for
the future. By enriching my
own story through reflec-
tion, I am able to achieve
reconciliation with my past,
with the good and not-so-
good, and to embrace all
of my experiences that
have shaped who I am
today.
When sharing my sto-
ries in the safe container
of trusted listeners, I am
more easily able to see their
meaning with the help of
others’ eyes. I grow stron-
ger and am sustained so that
when difficulty or fear arise,
I see those challenges in a
new context, which enables
me to accept with grace and
learn from the happenings
of life.
I have found time and
again — not only for
myself, but while watching
others plumb their depths
— that when we share our
stories, we allow others
to enter into our lives and
experience our truths. In the
process, we learn that our
joys and sorrows, triumphs
and tragedies, struggles
and successes are so simi-
lar, allowing for a degree of
intimacy with and respect
for one another to flourish.
Understanding and
embracing my story is not
something that happens
automatically. It requires
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my courage and desire to
make meaning and discover
my deepest truth.
I am at the stage of my
life when people often desire
to understand “what’s it all
been for.” Making mean-
ing, and possibly amends,
can help make for a peace-
ful ending to one’s time on
this earthly plain. Contrary
to poet Dylan Thomas, I do
desire to “go gentle into that
good night.”
As 2018 rounds the cor-
ner, I know the time left to
me is rapidly shortening.
My greatest desire is to
live my remaining days in a
spirit of peace and generos-
ity, making each day count,
and leaving something of
lasting value behind in my
community.
This next year will see
me teaching more autobi-
ography classes, continu-
ing to write for the news-
papers, and jumping fully
into a new endeavor with
four other Sisters women.
We have established the
new Three Sisters Historical
Society, a 501(c)(3) public
charitable corporation in
an effort to bring to life the
rich and colorful history of
our beloved little town. We
invite public involvement in
this undertaking. Hopefully,
I will have a small part in
leaving a legacy in Sisters
Country that will inform
current residents and tour-
ists as well as generations to
come.
Bend
council OK
with mayor
elections,
oppose wards
BEND (AP) — The Bend
City Council has rejected
a proposal to elect coun-
cilors from geographic
wards.
The Bulletin reports that
Wednesday’s decision fol-
lowed more than an hour
of comments from resi-
dents in the fast-growing
city.
Bend’s charter review
committee recommended
geographic wards, as
well as having the mayor
directly elected by voters.
Currently, councilors select
the mayor from among
themselves.
Changes to the charter
must be approved by vot-
ers. Councilors are trying to
decide what yes-no questions
to send to voters during the
May election, and they’ll go
over draft language during a
Jan. 17 meeting.
The council supported
the mayoral recommenda-
tion. If voters decide to
elect future mayors, they’d
be elected to four-year
terms.
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