Held over two weekends, this course will lead you on a journey that will break down the preconceptions they have about what makes them happy, their relationships to success and money, their perceptions of others and their relationships with the people closest to them. 

 

Session One / Saturday

 

Session One starts at a cemetery. Participants will be given mystery coordinates on their phone and asked to meet at a specific grave in the cemetery, at which point they will be relieved of their phones for the rest of the day.

 

The obituary of the person in the ground will be read out. It will be a glowing review of someone that no one has ever heard of, lauding their many, now pointless accomplishments. The visitor count for this gravesite will be zero over the last 80 years.

 

Picnic lunch amongst the tombstones.

 

Then participants will be taken to an estate auction by charter bus where things will be sold for much less than the value that is being asked. 

 

After the auction there will be a gathering with wine and beer  the participants will be instructed to write your own epitaph.  When people start this exercise most will realize that their job as an accountant really doesn’t count for shit, and the stuff they’ve accumulated isn’t going to save them from death, and no one, especially their children, sees any value in the detritus of their lives.

 

Message: You’re going to die. You’re going to be forgotten. Your kids will sell your stuff. And nobody really wants it.

​

Session Two / Sunday (No cel phones)

 

Now that people have a chance to feel mortal and shitty, it’s time to rebuild on a new foundation. The Day Two Session takes place on a farm. They will grind wheat by hand, make a pizza in a wood fired oven, wander around the woods. Drink a glass of wine. Talk with the other people on the course. The day will  be full of hard (well for city slickers) work, fresh air, and communal food. 

 

Message: Outdoors and nature are a big part of the healing process. Cooperation and communal eating with people with a connection is important.

 

Take Home Activity: Bake a pie from scratch. Or a batch of bread. Get in touch with the elemental food. Bring back food to the next meeting as a potluck. 

 

Session Three. Saturday

 

In combination with the potluck meal, people play a game called I’m going to Chicago. I’m going to Chicago and in my bag I’ll pack… The focus of this days activity is getting people to discuss their relationship to things, and helping them understand why it’s important to curate their lives. 

 

There will be a mini-session on triple bottom line accounting, environmental impact and carbon footprints. The activity would focus on the difference between an examined and pared down life and poverty. Also guest speakers that have given up things to live a more meaningful life. 

 

There would also be a money burning ceremony where everyone takes $50 from their pocket and throws it in a fire. No magic. You don’t get it back. How does that make you feel?  

 

Group games that focus on the illogical connections between money and happiness.

 

Message: It’s not about the money or the stuff you have.

​

Session Four.

 

I think a big part of what’s missing from people’s lives is the hands on making of stuff. I’m not talking putting together a ikea couch. I’m talking about the actual making of something from a blank piece of wood. Some people create design in their job, but most people don’t get to do that. They have been told for decades to leave the making of stuff to other people. The problem with that is that is the first part of a circular argument. When I slip this mortal coil no one is going to fight over my ikea couches. Three kids! Two ikea couches! Oh no! 

 

Not going to happen. Straight to the dumpster. Who cares. But if the kids found value in something I had made by hand, then it would have a value. I still like the coffee table I built. I derive pleasure from it every time I spill something on it, knowing that it is impervious to everything you could spill. 

 

I think learning how to make a wooden spoon would be a good place to start. It’s all hand work. If it’s sanded up and oiled it is perfectly useful, and it would take a day to make. 

 

I think singing would be part of this process too. Nothing like a good work song to free up the serotonin in peoples cortex.  It’s also a chance for more discussion about why people aren’t happy, and how simplification and digital detoxification can affect relationships.

 

The course would take two weekends. No cel phones allowed. Four full days. The real message is that stuff doesn’t make you happy. Friends, music, creating stuff, disassociating from money, curating your life, getting rid of excess stuff.

 

There would be a cost for the course, obviously, but it’s only two weekends, probably $1000 per participant. Bring kleenex!

​