Facebook Posts
I took this picture yesterday. It's not even midsummer but leaves are falling from the tree, beautiful autumn colours. It reminds me that the seasons are a metaphor for our lives and that each dimension is in its own season. The flowers are beautiful and fragrant, it feels like my shame work is flowering at the moment with invitations to speak in new contexts with fresh angles....
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com/2021/06/18/friday-photo-autumn-in-summer/
Friday photo – autumn in summer
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com
I took this picture yesterday. It’s not even midsummer but leaves are falling from the tree, beautiful autumn colours. It reminds me that the seasons are a metaphor for our lives and that eac…
Portfolio Day 5. Spiritual Health
This is the newest part of my portfolio but something I have been involved in for as long as all the other things, just not framed it this way before.
Your spiritual health as I am framing it explores your spiritual wellbeing through relationships with yourself, others, the. transcendent and the environment.
It is relevant to people of all faiths or worldviews and draws on research which demonstrates how paying attention to our spirituality can benefit our mental and physical health too.
Currently I offer a one session screening or a six session check up which involves a workbook for each session followed up by a 1-1 hour long exploration of it.
It is an area of work I am very excited about as it draws on work I have done on two doctorates and a Masters as well as so much work over the years where I have helped others enhance their spiritual health in various ways.
I will be exploring spiritual health in more posts over the next week.
DM me if you want to explore this for you or your context.
#spiritualhealth
My Portfolio Day 4 1-1 Mentoring and Spiritual Accompanying
One of the joys of my freelance life is the time to work 1-1 with people.
Current clients meet with me between fortnightly and quarterly depending on what it is they want to focus on.
I have 35+ years experience of working with people to help them flourish and fulfil their potential.
Some of the things I have done include vocational exploration, transition support when someone is moving on to a new role and wanting to process and end well, a writing coach for someone exploring their story, exploring possibilities, MBTI work, reflective and regenerative practice as well as working with whatever the client wants to bring as they explore what is happening in life and work.
Much of my work has been with people in ministry and the NHS in particular. DM me if you would like to explore working together.
#mentoring #spiritualaccompanying
"We will always remember the hour, the place and the day when these seismic shakings of our whole being happened to us. These starry hours are found throughout our life from earliest infancy. Everyone knows these moments which have marked them forever. This is not a matter of 'souvenirs', but of the cry of suffocating being within us... Alphonse and Rachel Goettmann....
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com/2021/06/16/wondering-wednesdays-starry-hours/
Wondering Wednesdays – starry hours
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com
“We will always remember the hour, the place and the day when these seismic shakings of our whole being happened to us. These starry hours are found throughout our life from earliest infancy.…I'm really intrigued by the use of 'starry moments' to denote ALL significant moments, whether good or bad... Some of mine would be I recall the setting when Jon proposed I recall where I was when I received the first significant diagnosis in 2010 I recall where I was when receiving the news of my Grandad passing Very different set of emotions each time but each moment very much part of the constellation of life!
Not sure whether to like this or not... think of the starry moments and how good it is to balance the good with the devastating. As I look I see how God has worked on those painful ones and yet like onion layers there is more to surrender. I guess knowing and having shared in some way some of your starry moments in different ways makes it more painful.
My portfolio - doctoral supervision and examining
Each day this week I am writing about a different part of my portfolio to introduce what I do to new followers.
I am grateful that in my recommendations there are warm comments from students I have worked with.
I love academic supervision and have been involved from helping a potential student to shape a doctoral proposal to examining a final thesis.
My areas of specialism if you are looking for a supervisor or examiner are shame, ministry - particularly with children and young people, practical theology and chaplaincy.
I have good relationships with Anglia Ruskin, part of the Cambridge Federation who have an excellent professional doctorate programme, and St Padarn's in Cardiff.
A spin off from this is that I do some work as a writing coach and editor as that is a skill I have developed over 20+ years of academic supervision.
#academicsupervision #examining
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-021-01299-2. Article about benefits of rosary praying
Experiences and Perceived Effects of Rosary Praying: A Qualitative Study
link.springer.com
The aim of this study is to explore experiences and perceived effects of the Rosary on issues around health and well-being, as well as on spirituality and religiosity. A qualitative study was conducted interviewing ten Roman Catholic German adults who regularly practiced the Rosary prayer. As a resu...link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40894-021-00165-2
link.springer.com
This editorial introduces the special issue on Diverse Disciplinary Approaches to the Study of Adolescent Religious and Spiritual Development. First, a case is made for the importance of the special issue, focusing on the utility of diverse approaches in providing a richer understanding of the pheno...
A confession
Last night I drove home from Reading listening to David Cassidy.
I wonder how many of you reading this have any idea who I am talking about! It would probably sound better to most people to say Bruce Springsteen but I like to be honest!
I decided to get in touch with my inner teenager as today I am preparing a session on relationships for a group of young people on Saturday. Anyone else ever have 'one of those nights'?!
This week I am going to talk about the different parts of my portfolio which identify the different ways I can help or support personal, professional or ministry development.
I am doing this work as the lead advocate in Birmingham Diocese for Living in Love and Faith, a Church of England national project. This is a year long project.
Thus one part of my portfolio is consultation and project work from one offs to open ended sessional work.
#consultation #myportfoliolife
Which Cassidy tracks? I remember them too.
Before or after? Today I took a car load to one of the local charity shops. I have been waiting for the shops to open and it has been filling up the spare bedroom since our winter lockdown tidy up. We brought 20 IKEA bags just for this job! It took 6 trips from the car to the shop. I brought in so much the assistant asked if I would like to gift aid it....
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com/2021/06/13/musing-aloud-spiritual-decluttering/
Musing Aloud: Spiritual decluttering
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com
Before or after? Today I took a car load to one of the local charity shops. I have been waiting for the shops to open and it has been filling up the spare bedroom since our winter lockdown tidy up.…Happy anniversary to you both for tomorrow.
Receiving - harder than giving?
I am working today, participating in a training event with a colleague where we will be in conversation in essence about our recent books.
One thing we will talk about is receiving, an attitude of receptivity.
I read this just now from Charles Ringma:
Learning the art of receiving is thus a powerful call to change. For.in receiving I need to welcome the other with the gifts that are offered. In receiving I need to make room and space to accept that which I frequently fail to realise I need. And in receiving, something is added to me that may bring about change and transformation.
Do you find it harder to receive than give?
#receptivity
Out of bounds post This is an out of bounds marker on the edge of St Enedoc golf course. In golf, if your ball goes out of bounds you get a one shot penalty. That's a bit like life, sometimes if we go out of our bounds there is a cost. And as in this picture the other side of the boundary can look very attractive....
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com/2021/06/11/friday-photo-out-of-bounds/
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com
Out of bounds post This is an out of bounds marker on the edge of St Enedoc golf course. In golf, if your ball goes out of bounds you get a one shot penalty. That’s a bit like life, sometimes…M.A. for Children, Young People and Families Specialists - St Padarn's
M.A. for Children, Young People and Families Specialists - St Padarn's
www.stpadarns.ac.uk
The Master’s Degree is accredited by Durham University as an MA in Theology, Mission & Ministry. This course is a specialism within that and all modules are specifically designed for children, young people and family workers. Tailored towards practitioners that work with Children Youth and Familie...
Earlybird training price until 19th June!
This is what a participant on the last course said
Thanks for a great morning, really helpful, great to hear some honest and upfront personal stuff from yourself. It made me smile, triggered me, challenged me and informed me for my practise too. Great all round training and much appreciated.
Based on my PhD and book Shame and the church.
14th October 3-5pm UK time, link in the comments
£28 instead of £35
I am grateful for those who have helped me grow stronger over this past year. It has felt like a slow process, sometimes imperceptible. I appreciate the weaving metaphor and the notion of interdependence that evokes in me. I like the idea of growing strong together and how there can be a reciprocity in the weaving. I read some of Marge Piercy's work in my 20s, evocative writing. I now want to revisit her work.
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com/2021/06/09/wondering-wednesdays-growing-stronger/
Wondering Wednesdays – growing stronger
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com
I am grateful for those who have helped me grow stronger over this past year. It has felt like a slow process, sometimes imperceptible. I appreciate the weaving metaphor and the notion of interdepe…
Perspective
I read a short thought for the day as part of my morning routine, this was yesterday's and I had a dream which got me revisiting it.
Charles Ringma writes
The discovery that I am more important than my work and more important than my successes can be a wonderfully freeing experience.
This discovery opens up a space in which I can evaluate, refocus and be inwardly nourished.
In this space I may discover that I need to give more attention to my inner growth, that I need to change aspects of my lifestyle, or give more attention to those parts of my life which have become neglected.
This is one of those truths that I know but need to be reminded of. It is why I am passionate about spiritual health, helping clients explore inner growth.
Is this the right time for you to focus on your spiritual wellbeing? DM me for a chat.
This was an inspiring book to read for my few nights in the hermitage last week. Especially as one of Brown Taylor's chapters is about doing exactly that. She writes insightfully about spending a night in a cabin in the woods, away from civilization, with no utilities. She echoes a feeling I have been having for the last year, that the darkness of the nature away from artificial light, is not frightening, but enjoyable....
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com/2021/06/06/musing-aloud-the-darkness-is-incredibly-soothing/
Musing Aloud: “The darkness is incredibly soothing”.
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com
This was an inspiring book to read for my few nights in the hermitage last week. Especially as one of Brown Taylor’s chapters is about doing exactly that. She writes insightfully about spendi…
This was an inspiring book to read for my few nights in the hermitage last week. Especially as one of Brown Taylor's chapters is about doing exactly that. She writes insightfully about spending a night in a cabin in the woods, away from civilization, with no utilities. She echoes a feeling I have been having for the last year, that the darkness of the nature away from artificial light, is not frightening, but enjoyable....
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com/2021/06/06/musing-aloud-the-darkness-is-incredibly-soothing-2/
Musing Aloud: “The darkness is incredibly soothing”.
markerpostsandshelters.wordpress.com
This was an inspiring book to read for my few nights in the hermitage last week. Especially as one of Brown Taylor’s chapters is about doing exactly that. She writes insightfully about spendi…