About Sallie White

Sallie White has worked as a community organizer and social-change activist in the Greensboro community for two decades. Her work to bring awareness and healing between organized religion and those suffering from HIV/AIDS in Guilford County resulted in the formation of the Guilford Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (GRAIN) in 1993. While serving as Executive Director of GRAIN, Sallie founded the Higher Ground Day Center which, for the past 14 years, has served Greensboro’s HIV/AIDS-affected community with programs of life-giving support. Sallie’s career has also included service through Greensboro’s Adult Center for Enrichment as Director of Education and the S.C. School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-handicapped, as Director of Art.

Most recently, Sallie has launched her own private consulting business, WhiteHouse&Co., providing tools and design plans for those striving to live “consciously.” Sallie’s approach to her work is informed by years of study with Greensboro’s Servant Leadership School and her own inward and outward journey toward wholeness.
 

Workshops

Half-day ~ $400 / Full-day $600

The workshops below can be offered in half-day or whole-day formats.

You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life. This is not an easy struggle. Indeed, it may be the most difficult task in the world, for opening the door to your own life is, in the end, more difficult than opening the doors to the mysteries of the universe.

— Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhist poet and philosopher

Living a Creative Life

The word creativity is often misunderstood or, perhaps, misinterpreted.  We think of creative people as those who are actively pursuing the arts, demonstrating their skills as musicians, painters, poets, etc.  But the creative life is not the realm of a chosen few... it is, rather, an invitation to the work of self-exploration... the search for our truest selves.

The creative, inward journey is not easy. It may in fact be “the most difficult task in the world.” And yet, it is the work that each of us are born to do. For it is through this process that we come to know our creative selves, our unique passions, gifts, and talents. Creativity is the product of a life constantly explored and examined. Creativity lies not in having all the answers but in the willingness to keep asking the questions.

Where does your creativity lie?  How might it be nurtured so that it can enliven and enrich your life and, ultimately, the lives of those you touch? Have you become more creative as you have aged, or are your talents and gifts lying dormant?  We often get so caught up in the tasks of our lives, the day-to-day maintenance, that we forget to nurture our creative spirits.  

This experiential workshop will provide tools and encouragement for those longing to reconnect with their most creative selves.  Whether you are trying to reclaim a lost gift or discover it anew, this workshop will nurture your spirit and enliven your journey.


Aging with Spirit

It is impossible to face what is commonly referred to as “the second half of life” without embracing the first half, acknowledging blessings, hurts, joys, losses…a life lived thus far. If the second half of life is to be different from the first, we must find true reconciliation with our pasts. This is the time of acknowledgement, deep exploration, integration, and peacemaking. The spirit of aging is about living fully into the gift of life with intention and reverence. It is the time to boldly express and receive love, to offer thanks, to forgive and be forgiven, and to keep an open and hopeful heart. These are the challenges, the opportunities, and the gifts of aging with spirit.

William Blake said, “The last time of our lives is not for ourselves alone.” Indeed. The spirit of aging requires us to look deep inside and discover the truth of who we are. It is from that place of knowing that we can create, renew, and heal relationships, strengthen our place in community, and connect to something larger than ourselves.

The world may not revolve around any one of us (oh, that it did!), but we are each an integral part of a larger whole: a family, a community, a country, a universe. Let us find ways to age with spirit, discovering who we really are and to whom we belong.

This workshop is designed to assist the process of making peace with things past and moving toward a future with renewed spirit, awareness, and gratitude.


The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep hunger.

— Frederick Buechner

Reclaiming Your Gifts
And Discovering Your Life’s Work

Each of us comes into this world with a unique and wondrous set of gifts and talents that point us in the direction of our life and soul’s most meaningful work.  But too often as we grow up, we grow OUT of our own lives, losing touch with the very essence of who we are. We end up pursuing careers based more on cultural, societal, and familial expectations than on our own deep-seated longings and talents. And as we abandon our true selves, so do we also leave behind our greatest potential for lives of personal meaning and creative fulfillment. The second half of life offers us opportunity to reclaim our selvesto chart a new course that both honors and reflects our deepest yearnings and giftedness.

Whether you are longing to bring new energy to your work, visioning a new career, or pursuing a more creative and satisfying retirement, this workshop will help you peel back the layers and rediscover your core strengths and talents. Come…rediscover all that you are and have to give. Life will never be the same again.