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PASTORAL CARE
April 30, 2018
Find tips and resources for self-care, material to assist you in providing pastoral care, and general information to help you in your practice of ministry. Information will be updated every two weeks concurrent with the East Ohio E-news. Archives Here ...
A Movie: Jenny’s Wedding
Jenny’s getting married. This is a sad story of the struggle in a conventional, conservative Catholic family with a gay daughter in Cleveland OH. Jenny has been pressured by her family to find a good man, get married and have babies. What they don’t know, and she has been fearful to tell them, her roommate of five years, Kitty, is her partner. Jenny decides to come out to her family as she is tired of their unending attempts to fix her up with a nice young man. She also wants to get married and start a family, so she proposes to Kitty. The family gathers to meet Jenny’s fiancé and the outing is loaded with confusion, conflict, betrayal and the threat of destroying this close family. The emotional journey of each of the characters speaks to the struggle faced by LGBTQ persons and their families.
Tuesday, June 12th at Noon
Annual Conference Spiritual Formation Gathering and Luncheon
Upper Room of the Pavilion
Watch for more details
Truly, Madly, Deeply in Love with. . . Myself
by Sharon Begley
Narcissism has fascinated and bedeviled researchers for decades. While people encountering them may consider it a disorder, narcissists themselves are quite content with their gargantuan self-regard.
Joshua Miller was just starting out as a clinical psychologist at a treatment center for addiction when a new patient sauntered into his office. People with addictions often have other disorders, so Miller was prepared for anything. “The first time we met, he put his feet up on my desk,” said Miller, now a professor at the University of Georgia. “It was a clear display of bravado, dominance, and entitlement”—key ingredients in narcissism. “It was like a dog peeing on your desk,” a show of territorial dominance that spells out, I’m the alpha male here. Don’t mess with me, you insignificant twerp. . . .
Narcissistic personality disorder was almost dropped from the latest (2013) edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual (the DSM-5), partly because people with this constellation of traits are not necessarily distressed or impaired by them. (A condition must cause distress or impairment to be considered a mental disorder, according to the DSM.) The debate highlighted an important facet of extreme narcissism: People who have the disorder do not rate its core traits—including sky-high self-regard and even the antagonism they typically feel for others—as undesirable. Narcissists don’t mind their egotistical traits: “They don’t want to change.” (Joanna Lamkin). . . .
When grandiose narcissists lash out, they’re not defending a secretly doubted superiority. Instead, they believe the rules of office behavior, friendship, marriage, and social interaction don’t apply to them. Being questioned and disagreed with are intolerable assaults on their superiority, and they make risky decisions because of “overconfidence in their own knowledge and abilities,” Miller said. Bernie Madoff thought his brilliance would let him fool not only his clients but also government regulators. This delusion earned him a 150-year prison sentence. (Joshua Miller)
Keeping a Soul Print Journal
by Joan Leof
A unique approach to capturing special moments in your life.
I’ve been keeping a journal for over 50 years. Suddenly, in 1997, I found myself writing “SP” over an entry. That was code for “Soul Print.” Already quite familiar with magical things happening when I journaled, this new practice was not questioned. Affirmations had poured forth, some even in rhyme. Names appeared for different aspects of myself to write to. Promises to keep declared themselves. I do verbal portraits of my life experiences and store them in my Soul Print journal.
“Verbal portrait” does not mean that the words were dressed in their finery. They came out in the journal as I lived them – raw. Not photoshopped. And in that natural form, owning the experience just as it emerged, every so often, an entry managed to touch my soul. . . .
Ninety percent of the Soul Prints have to do with the joy in my life. Painful experience prompting spiritual and psychological epiphanies also warrant an SP, always a reminder of the 17th century Japanese Haiku, “Barn’s burnt down. Now I can see the moon.”
I have always understood my life best through the imprint of my writing. One word can express the integration of years of psychological and spiritual searching, . . writing Soul Print on top of a journal entry, knowing I merged with that moment, owned it, “got it.”
When I finish a journal, I go back and copy each SP into the Soul Print journal. This ritual feels sacred, a commemoration of my life’s blessings.
It’s especially helpful when I am down. Even just holding the unopened book in my lap and staring at it reminds me of research about interacting and exchanging gazes with one’s dog. A study says that both dogs and their owners experienced rushes of oxytocin in their brains. What a wonderful quick fix my Soul Print journal is when I merely gaze at its cover! . . .
A Soul Print journal is not the same thing a gratitude journal, which is also very beneficial. This is living your life on the page and being alert to those moments whose imprints transform you.
Anais Nin, a 20th century author most studied for the diaries she started writing in her adolescence and continued for six decades until her death, has said, “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” My practice of Soul Prints allows ongoing licks of life – living it in the moment, in retrospect when writing the journal entry, yet again when copying into Soul Print journal, and thereafter whenever I need to nourish my soul.
View online ...Monthly Live Online Spiritual Practice Groups are being provided by East Ohio United Methodist Program in Pastoral Care and Counseling using ZOOM. The ZOOM format is very easily used by just responding to an invitation email and following the links; no subscription or downloads needed. These groups will be limited to 8-10 participates and will be added as they are populated. Current groups are meeting 1st Thursdays at 1:00 p.m. and 2nd Thursdays at 2:00 p.m.
The purpose of these groups is to create space for our souls to be nurtured by exploring a variety of spiritual experiences, spending time in meditation and through the fellowship and encouragement of other sojourners. We use the term “Practice” to indicate that these are groups engaged in the practice of spiritual formation.
Please contact the Office of Pastoral Care for any questions and to be added to one of the groups. Phone: 330-456-0486. Email: pastoralcareeoc@gmail.comThe Program in Pastoral Care and Counseling encourages the spiritual formation of our pastors believing a strong spiritual base is the greatest resource a church leader can possess. It helps us weather the many storms of ministry and deepens the incredible joys ministry provides. Following is a list of Spiritual Directors in our area. We encourage you to take advantage of this rich resource. This listing will appear in each edition of our bi-monthly webpage updates and new names and contact information will be provided as we learn of them and have permission to include them. If you are a director or know of a director that is not included here please let us know.
Spiritual Directors:
Debbie Baker - connectingministries@gmail.com
Bruce Batchler-Glader – brucebg@yahoo.com
Harry Finkbone - Finkbone1@gmail.com
Joyce Gordon - joytgordon@roadrunner.com
Karen Hollingsworth - karenj.hollingsworth@gmail.com
Liz Nau – mlnau2002@gmail.com
Hazel Partington – lakehavenministries.com
Jennifer Olin-Hitt – jolinhitt@gmail.com
Judy Ringler -- jringler77@gmail.com
Sharon Seyfarth Garner – spiritualdirection@att.net
Valerie Stultz - vstultz704@gmail.com
Carol Topping - cptopping@gmail.com
Laura Tradowsky -- ltrad@earthlink.net
Laurie Tucker - ltfriendship188@gmail.com
The Art of Easing into Change
by Theo Koffler
Change is as constant as the breath — our circumstances are never fixed. For many of us, it can be difficult to accept uncertainty, out of fear of what comes next — even when change brings something good like a new relationship or better job. Here are a few ways to cultivate mindful awareness during those inevitable moments of change:
Here’s hoping you all find moments to enjoy being mindful this week.
Yours,
- The Mindful Editors
If you have any questions or issues you would like for us to address or would like to get email alerts when new resources have been posted please contact Howard Humphress at hkhumphress@gmail.com or use our quick contact form.
Or contact our office at pastoralcareeoc@gmail.com or call 330-456-0486.
The East Ohio Conference Pastoral Care Office:
Howard Humphress, D. Min.
Executive Director
E-mail
Office Administrator
Lynn Smith
E-mail
Address:
1445 Harrison Avenue NW · Suite 301
Canton, Ohio 44708
Phones/Fax:
Local: 330-456-0486
Toll Free: 866-456-3600
Fax: 330-456-6421
Office Hours: Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
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