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What’s one insight that resonated with you. Feel free to mention the corresponding session it came from.

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Share a quote or passage from the summit that moved you. Feel free to mention the corresponding session it came from.

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Share a resource from the summit you found helpful, insightful, moving, etc. Feel free to mention the corresponding session it came from.

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What questions or concerns are lingering with you? Feel free to mention any corresponding sessions or speakers.

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Questions from Julian Reid, Notes of Rest

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Questions from Julian Reid, Notes of Rest

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What anxieties threaten your Sabbath practice?

What rest do you receive when you live simply?

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Julian from Notes of Rest - Sabbath is not a practice for the affluent, but was first given by God to the poor.

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Appreciate the List Being Generated on How Folks Keep Sabbath: 

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Appreciate the List Being Generated on How Folks Keep Sabbath: 

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journaling

walks

time outdoors

art

crafting

going to church

being with others

no work or homework

reading

coloring

cooking brunch for my fam

outdoors and doing something that is just fun like riding my electric tricycle

restorative yoga

games with my kids

going to the park - I was taught a simple framework for Sabbath “we rest, we play, no work, God loves us” - so I run activities through that grid often

playing music

dancing to a song like no one is watching

deprioritizing productivity

taking breaks from technology

being in community --> experiencing communal sabbath

play

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Books I'd Like to Check Out in the Future

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Books I'd Like to Check Out in the Future

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Liberating Church

Joy Unspeakable

Meditations of the Heart

And

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Julian's Website

Center for Action and Contemplation

Leonetta's Website

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"Sometimes beauty comes in a shattering"

- Leonetta Elaiho, Contemplative Prayer and Beauty

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Defined by Leonetta Elaiho on Contemplative Prayer and Beauty

"A way of understanding beauty that aligns with Divine relationship and communal flourishing.

Rooted in theological, indigenous, and ancestral wisdom, an orthoaesthetic moves beyond classical notions of symmetry, form, and surface beauty to embrace a beauty that is a relational and a sacred force undiminished by circumstance.

It acknowledges that true beauty is not about ideals or perfection, but a way of being in right relationship-with the Divine, with each other, and with creation."

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On the days when gratitude is not accessible, search for beauty.

-Leonetta Elaiho

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Praise God for the "new melodies on our hearts," personal and collective, "even when the old songs seem so loud."

- Alfonso "Trey" Campbell, in a prayer inspired by Lectio Divina with a passage by Howard Thurman

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"What is in the way is the way." James Finley, from Dr. Donny Bryant, Jr on Contemplative Union

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When everything is failing (or falling apart) there is something in you that cannot fail (or fall apart)

paraphrased from Dr. Barbara Holmes by. Dr. Donny Bryant Jr.

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relationship is when two people or more choose to participate in one another's healing

-Dr. Donny Bryant Jr

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Postscript from America (poem) - Drew Jackson

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Postscript from America (poem) - Drew Jackson

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Postscript from America — DREW E. JACKSON

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I write to you, beloved, from the land of our captivity.

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Barbara Holmes (on her death bed)

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When do I allow for stillness, in my body, mind, and soul?

What is possible with God when I let myself be still? What do I miss when I preclude stillness?

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"A contemplative is one who takes the time to observe herself and the world around her closely, sensitively, with an openness and without an agenda."

-Rev. Dr. Barbara Holmes

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personare (Latin) - to sound through

"One through whom the whole resounds." Cynthia Borgeault

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"Wholeness is when the truth of our being matches the way of our being"

a friend of Felicia Murrell (Contemplative Prayer And the Restorative Power of Love)

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"Do you believe what love believes?"

Felicia Murrell (Contemplative Prayer And the Restorative Power of Love)

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Religious certainty and white supremacy go hand in hand

from Cole Arthur Riley (God in the Dark: Doubt in Times of Divine Silence)

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"Silence might be a mercy in a world whose noise will not relent."

Cole Arthur Riley (God in the Dark: Doubt in Times of Divine Silence)

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(paraphrased)

"How do we grasp a sacred darkness?

How do our conceptions of light and dark destructive to Black bodies?

What healing comes when we enter into a tension of light and dark rather than a hierarchy?"

from Cole Arthur Riley, God in the Dark: Doubt in Times of Divine Silence

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"The shadows will save you in desert places."

Cole Arthur Riley (God in the Dark: Doubt in Times of Divine Silence)

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our ancestors learned to wait with one another through the dark, through their fears.

What does it look like to wait with one another through the dark?

from Cole Arthur Riley, God in the Dark: Doubt in Times of Divine Silence

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We have to think about how our ability to control light and dark is shaping us.

from Cole Arthur Riley, God in the Dark: Doubt in Times of Divine Silence

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"Our doubts are credible, our disbelief human."

from Cole Arthur Riley, God in the Dark: Doubt in Times of Divine Silence

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"Can you meet the tears of God in the face of the suffering?"

from Cole Arthur Riley, God in the Dark: Doubt in Times of Divine Silence

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Poem "Like Jesus to the Crows"

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/155838/like-jesus-to-the-crows

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Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.

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There is something in every one of you that waits, listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself and if you cannot hear it, you will never find whatever it is for which you are searching and if you hear it and then do not follow it, it was better that you had never been born...

You are the only you that has ever lived; your idiom is the only idiom of its kind in all of existence and if you cannot hear the sound of the genuine in you, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls...

There is in you something that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself and sometimes there is so much traffic going on in your minds, so many different kinds of signals, so many vast impulses floating through your organism that go back thousands of generations, long before you were even a thought in the mind of creation, and you are buffeted by these, and in the midst of all of this you have got to find out what your name is. Who are you? How does the sound of the genuine come through to you...

The sound of the genuine is flowing through you. Don't be deceived and thrown off by all the noises that are a part even of your dreams, your ambitions, so that you don't hear the sound of the genuine in you, because that is the only true guide that you will ever have, and if you don't have that you don't have a thing.

You may be famous. You may be whatever the other ideals are which are a part of this generation, but you know you don't have the foggiest notion of who you are, where you are going, what you want. Cultivate the discipline of listening to the sound of the genuine in yourself

Now there is something in everybody that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in other people. And it is so easy to say that anybody who looks like him or her, anybody who acts as this person acts, can't hear any sound of the genuine. I must wait and listen for the sound of the genuine in you. I must wait. For if I cannot hear it, then in my scheme of things, you are not even present. And everybody wants to feel that everybody else knows that she is there.

I have a blind friend who just became blind after she was a grown woman. I asked her: "What is the greatest disaster that your blindness has brought to you?" She said, "When I go places where there are people, I have a feeling that nobody knows that I'm here. I can't see any recognition, I can't see... and if nobody knows that I'm here, it's hard for me to know where I am."

There is something that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in your mother, in your father, in the people you can't stand, and if you had the power you would wipe them out. But instinctively you know that if you wipe them out, you go with them. So you fight for your own life by finding some way to get along with them without killing them.

There is something in you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in other people. And if you can't hear it, then you are reduced by that much. If I were to ask you what is the thing that you desire most in life this afternoon, you would say a lot of things off the top of your head, most of which you wouldn't believe but you would think that you were saying the things that I thought you ought to think that you should say.

But I think that if you were stripped to whatever there is in you that is literal and irreducible, and you tried to answer that question, the answer may be something like this: I want to feel that I am thoroughly and completely understood so that now and then I can take my guard down and look out around me and not feel that I will be destroyed with my defenses down. I want to feel completely vulnerable, completely naked, completely exposed and absolutely secure.

This is what you look for in your children when you have them, this is what you look for in your husband if you get one. That I can run the risk of radical exposure and know that the eye that beholds my vulnerability will not step on me. That I can feel secure in my awareness of the active presence of my own idiom in me.

So as I live my life then, this is what I am trying to fulfill. It doesn't matter whether I become a doctor, lawyer, housewife. I'm secure because I hear the sound of the genuine in myself and having learned to listen to that, I can become quiet enough, still enough, to hear the sound of the genuine in you.

Now if I hear the sound of the genuine in me, and if you hear the sound of the genuine in you, it is possible for me to go down in me and come up in you. So that when I look at myself through your eyes having made that pilgrimage, I see in me what you see in me and the wall that separates and divides will disappear and we will become one because the sound of the genuine makes the same music.

***
You can access the full text of Thurman's address here. For more inspiration join Saturday's Awakin Call with animal rights activist Jasmin Singer who followed the voice of the genuine within herself. RSVP and more details here.

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The Sound Of The Genuine, By Howard Thurman | DailyGood

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From Howard Thurman&#39;s 1980 commencement address at Spelman College.&nbsp; There is something in every one of you that waits...

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Elevating and engaging the voices of Black contemplatives.

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Let’s find and wait with each other in the darknesses, rather than grasp for any (artificial) light switch.

- Cole Arthur Riley

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We do not share our members with any spammers

The Spiritual Directors of Color (SDC) Network, Ltd., is a nonprofit in good standing incorporated in the State of Maryland and headquartered just outside the city of Washington DC.

The first convening of the SDC Network was at a Spiritual Directors International event in March 2008 in the greater Washington DC area. We were 10 spiritual directors of color from across the globe gathered at a networking table to discuss our concern for the low representation of people of color in contemplative-focused organizations and at related events, and in the resources they use for formation and certification. We were African American, Cameroonian, Puerto Rican, South African, and South Korean. In December 2014, as a founder, convener, and organizer of this Network and after publication of our first anthology Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color, Therese Taylor-Stinson incorporated the Network as a non-stock, tax-exempt partnership with approximately 100 members from around the world, but predominantly African American. After several scrubs to our roster, we now stand at approximately 125 members. Our second anthology Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Stories of Contemplation and Justice published in October 2017, with Therese Taylor-Stinson as the sole editor, won an Independent Author Legacy Award (IALA) in 2018 in the category of social awareness. Our most recent book Kaleidoscope: Broadening the Pallet in the Art of Spiritual Direction edited by Ineda Adesanya is a curriculum holding up the contemplative practices specifically addressing the needs of people of color.

The SDC Network also hosts a closed Facebook group where approximately 83 percent of our members are more closely connected through social media. Events, accomplishments, and collaborative activities are announced and celebrated there, as well as members welcoming each other and creating a web of connection through social media via Facebook. Our Facebook page also contains our Boards, our Vision and Mission statement, and featured activities.

We have an ongoing supervisory peer group, currently on hiatus as we shift leadership for many of our small groups. The peer group facilitates discussions about the practice of spiritual direction using the Shalem group spiritual direction model and the Quaker clearness committee for discussions of contemplative leadership. We have hosted two learning circles thus far--one on our first anthology Embodied Spirits and another on "Spiritual Direction as a Business," which we hope to repeat as a webinar in the future. We have also convened two Emotional Emancipation Circles (EECs) for spiritual directors of color and others, using our webinar capabilities with certified EEC facilitators, Amber Golden, Therese Taylor-Stinson, and Paula Owens Parker. Emotional Emancipation CirclesSM (EECs) are self-help support groups in which Black people work together to overcome, heal from, and overturn the lie of Black inferiority: The root cause of the devaluing of Black lives.

21 𝚂𝚎𝚌 𝚊𝚐𝚘 - 𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 Kraven the Hunter 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝙾𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝟷𝟸𝟹𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚜 & 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝙸𝚝, 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 Kraven the Hunter 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 Kraven the Hunter 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎....

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21 𝚂𝚎𝚌 𝚊𝚐𝚘 - 𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 Wicked 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝙾𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝟷𝟸𝟹𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚜 & 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝙸𝚝, 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 Wicked 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 Wicked 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎. Wicked 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 𝚊𝚟𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝙼? 𝙸𝚜...

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21 𝚂𝚎𝚌 𝚊𝚐𝚘 - 𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 Gladiator II 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝙾𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝟷𝟸𝟹𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚜 & 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝙸𝚝, 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 Gladiator II 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 Gladiator II 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎. Gladiator II 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺...

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21 𝚂𝚎𝚌 𝚊𝚐𝚘 - 𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 Kraven the Hunter 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝙾𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝟷𝟸𝟹𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚜 & 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝙸𝚝, 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 Kraven the Hunter 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 Kraven the Hunter 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎....

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21 𝚂𝚎𝚌 𝚊𝚐𝚘 - 𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 Wicked 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝙾𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝟷𝟸𝟹𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚜 & 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝙸𝚝, 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 Wicked 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 Wicked 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎. Wicked 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 𝚊𝚟𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝙼? 𝙸𝚜...

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21 𝚂𝚎𝚌 𝚊𝚐𝚘 - 𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 Gladiator II 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝙾𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝟷𝟸𝟹𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚜 & 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝙸𝚝, 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 Gladiator II 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 Gladiator II 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎. Gladiator II 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺...

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We do not share our members with any spammers The Spiritual Directors of Color (SDC) Network, Ltd., is a nonprofit in good standing incorporated in the State of Maryland and headquartered just outside the city of Washington DC. The first convening of the SDC Network was at a Spiritual Directors International event in March 2008 in the greater Washington DC area.

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Contemplative |Shawn T. Ellison| Integral Coach

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Integral Coaching for spiritual awakening, spiritual-related issues, and psychospiritual development

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Elevating and engaging the voices of Black contemplatives.

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I am made of words.

If you were to peel back my skin, adjectives and misplaced commas would seep out in blood and atoms bearing the likeness of my ancestors. I am a woman of deep doubt and some faith as well, and together they draw me deeper still into a spiritual tradition marked by mystery, embodiment, and contemplation.

I write and I speak and I curate resources. If you meet me and you do not receive a book recommendation at some point in our conversation, you have indeed stumbled into a moment rare and peculiar. Marvel at my restraint.

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I am made of words. If you were to peel back my skin, adjectives and misplaced commas would seep out in blood and atoms bearing the likeness of my ancestors. I am a woman of deep doubt and some faith as well, and together they draw me deeper still into a spiritual tradition marked by mystery, embodiment, and contemplation.

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Centering Prayer is a receptive method of Christian silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God's presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself.

This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to deepen that relationship.

The Guidelines

Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within.

Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God's presence and action within.

When engaged with your thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.

At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.

Practice Centering Prayer for a minimum of 20 minutes, twice each day, with the intention of deepening your relationship with God.

Getting Started

If you are attracted to Centering Prayer and the contemplative dimension of Christian teachings and practices and don't know where to begin, you may find these suggestions useful. Pray for guidance, discernment and wisdom, that you may be clearly guided and drawn by God's will for you.

Open Mind, Open Heart

Open Mind, Open Heart is designed to initiate the readers into a deep, living relationship with God and provides step-by-step guidance in the method of centering prayer.

The Method of Centering Prayer

This is a helpful overview of the prayer, including the four guidelines and tips for practicing.

The Method of Centering Prayer, Part 1

The Method of Centering Prayer, Part 1 Thomas Keating presents the basic method of the contemplative practice of Centering Prayer and its background.

3 Ways to Learn the Practice

Intro to Centering Prayer Workshop

Centering Prayer as Practice and Process

Centering Prayer: A Training Course for Opening to the Presence of God

Community Support

Local

Most Centering Prayer groups also include some time of Lectio Divina reflection as part of their group.

Online

If there is not a local group near you, consider joining in an online video prayer group.

Centering Prayer App

Use the free Centering Prayer mobile app timer to support your daily prayer practice. The app is available for iOS and Android mobile devices and is also available in Spanish-language versions.

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Centering Prayer - Contemplative Outreach, Ltd.

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Centering Prayer is a receptive method of Christian silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God's presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to deepen that relationship.

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Story Workshop for Racial Trauma & Healing - The Allender Center

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The Story Workshop offers encouragement and wisdom as you seek to understand, write, tell, and live your story in deeper and more transformative ways.

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Felicia is a spiritual companion, speaker, certified master life coach and former ordained pastor with over twenty years of church leadership experience. She also serves the publishing industry as a freelance copy editor.

With a deep understanding of what it means to be human, Felicia is dedicated to empowering individuals to embrace who they already are and who Love is inviting them to be.

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Felicia is a spiritual companion, speaker, certified master life coach and former ordained pastor with over twenty years of church leadership experience. She also serves the publishing industry as a freelance copy editor. With a deep understanding of what it means to be human, Felicia is dedicated to empowering individuals to embrace who they already are and who Love is inviting them to be.

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You've been introduced to a way of living that has changed your life and you want to share it with others. Whether you're clergy, the executive director of an organization engaged in meaningful action, or leading a team that's transforming the world one courageous act at a time you can see how contemplation and action can create lasting change, and yet you're not quite sure how to translate and integrate these aspects into your current context.

Integrating contemplative wisdom into organizational frameworks can present leaders with a myriad of challenges. Leaders grapple with the struggle of reconciling ancient wisdom with modern demands, facing skepticism or misunderstanding from teams accustomed to a different pace. Balancing the urgency for results with the slower, reflective nature of contemplation becomes a delicate tightrope walk. Navigating these hurdles requires patience, conviction, and a steadfast belief in the profound benefits that contemplative practices bring to an organization's culture and impact.

Since 2017 I've been weaving contemplative wisdom and practices into liturgy, ministry, and business. I've provided contemplative perspectives and teachings for ​​The Reformed Church in America​​ as they consider the church of the future, serve as a member of the DEI subcommittee for the YMCA of the Rockies as they work to create a more diverse and just space for employees and guests, and have been recognized by Wesleyan Impact Partners as a Woman With an Entrepreneurial Spirit who is part of the next generation of leaders changing the face of the Christian church.

I'm a 2023 sendee of the Center for Action and Contemplation's Living School and currently serve as pastor of Awakenings, Inc; a contemplative community based in Houston, Texas. Before any of that I was managing the suites sales department for an NBA Team and selling corporate sponsorships for some of the most well-known community events in Houston - experiences that continue to shape and form my approach to consulting.

Let's connect and explore if working together to discover ways you can integrate contemplative aspects into your current context is a fit for us both.

Share your name and email below and I'll send a note your way about scheduling time to visit.

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You've been introduced to a way of living that has changed your life and you want to share it with others. Whether you're clergy, the executive director of an organization engaged in meaningful action, or leading a team that's transforming the world one courageous act at a time you can see how contemplation and action can create lasting change, and yet you're not quite sure how to translate and integrate these aspects into your current context.