A Pen and a Path: Writing as a Spiritual Practice (an explorefaith.org book) - Softcover

Stockton, Sarah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0819221198 ISBN 13: 9780819221193

Verlag: Morehouse Publishing, 2005

Inhaltsangabe

A hands-on, practical resource for people who want to explore their relationship with God through writing.
Unlike other books that focus on writing itself, Sarah Stockton focuses on the discoveries made--about one's self and about God--through meditation and creative journaling. A Pen and A Path is a book for anyone who wants to explore where God has been present in the various experiences of their life, past and present. Stockton, a spiritual director and writing teacher, walks readers through thirty-five separate topics, which can be read and worked on in order or in any sequence of interest to the reader.

Topics explored include religious understandings such as how God is envisioned, how religious training formed (or didn't form) the reader, and how we envision ourselves as spiritual beings. Other chapters explore life stages: childhood, teenage years, elder years, as well as marriage, parenting, and sexuality. Focusing on emotions such as grief, shame, anger, and loneliness, as well as feelings about work provide readers with the opportunity to explore nearly any aspect of their life of faith.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sarah Stockton is a writer, writing teacher, and spiritual director. Her articles have appeared in America Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, Beliefnet.com, as well as many other publications. She is the author of Restless in Christ: Answering the Call to Spiritual Commitment (Crossroad Publishing, 2004) and teaches at the University of San Francisco.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

A Pen and A Path

Writing as a Spiritual Practice

By SARAH STOCKTON

Church Publishing, Inc.

Copyright © 2004 Sarah Stockton
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8192-2119-3

Contents

Acknowledgments
explorefaith.org books: An Introduction
Introduction
Part I: Choosing the Path of Writing as a Spiritual Practice
How to Use This Book
Part II: Beginning the Journey
Section 1: Reading the Map
Chapter 1: Images of My Spiritual Self
Chapter 2: How Others Have Influenced My Spiritual Identity and My 
Relationship with God
Chapter 3: My Own Perspective on My Spiritual Identity and My Relationship 
to God
Chapter 4: Beginning to Create My Spiritual Identity Anew
Section 2: Using the Compass: My Religious Tradition and My Relationship 
with God
Chapter 5: Envisioning God
Chapter 6: How My Religious Tradition Portrays God
Chapter 7: How My Religious Tradition Portrays Who I Am
Chapter 8: What Attracts Me about My Religion?
Chapter 9: What Do I Find Repelling about My Religion?
Chapter 10: Exploring My Relationship to My Faith Community
Section 3: Milestones on the Path
Chapter 11: Childhood
Chapter 12: Adolescence
Chapter 13: Young Adulthood
Chapter 14: Marriage and Significant Relationships
Chapter 15: The Single Life
Chapter 16: Parenting
Chapter 17: Education
Chapter 18: Work History
Chapter 19: Midlife
Chapter 20: Elder-life
Section 4: Recognizing and Navigating the Landscape of Experience
Chapter 21: Disappointment, Loss, and Grief: Shades of Sadness
Chapter 22: Trust/Lack of Trust
Chapter 23: Desire: Fulfilled and Unfulfilled
Chapter 24: Physicality
Chapter 25: Loneliness
Chapter 26: Anger
Chapter 27: Guilt and Shame
Chapter 28: Forgiveness
Section 5: Companions on the Path
Chapter 29: Family: Parents, Children, Siblings
Chapter 30: Intimacy
Chapter 31: Faith Community
Chapter 32: Global Community
Section 6: Mapping the World of Work
Chapter 33: My Current Work
Chapter 34: Seeking My Calling
Chapter 35: Manifesting My Calling in New Ways
Chapter 36: Spirituality and Creativity
Part III: For Further Exploration
If You Want to Write about Spirituality for Others
Finding and/or Forming a Creative Community
For Further Reading: Suggested Resources on Writing and Spirituality

CHAPTER 1

Images of My Spiritual Self

On the last day of my spiritual direction training program, we gathered togetherin a circle to "show and tell." Each of us had brought an image or an icon thatrepresented how we saw ourselves as spiritual directors, as we imagined goingforward into our new vocation. One woman brought a puppet shaped like a turtle:it represented both the interior and exterior life. A man brought a photographof an important mentor/teacher. I brought a doll-sized chair, which I hadpainted and decorated with small charms. This chair represented my listeningself. No icon, words, or pictures can capture all of our identity, but they canbegin to tell a story, to highlight an important aspect of who we are, and whowe want to be.

When asked to draw an image of your spiritual self, what would you draw? Whenasked to describe your spiritual self in words, what would you say? Images maycome to mind that are suffused with color and texture. A memory of kneeling inchurch, or hiking though the woods, or sitting with a dying loved one may fillour minds and open our hearts. These experiences of spirit that infuse one'sspiritual identity may or may not be related to the practice of religion, forour spiritual identity is partly composed of, yet much more than, our faithtradition, just as God is part of, yet much more than, any religious practice.Our spiritual identity is as unique as any other part of us, from ourfingerprints to our way of living in the world. How would you describe theunique spirit that is you?

Reflection

Because this is a book on writing as a spiritual practice, these exercises askyou to describe yourself today in words, rather than other mediums. Begin tothink about the images that spring to mind when you talk or write or think aboutwho you are as a spiritual person.

• Do you picture yourself in a specific setting?

• Which emotions, rituals, or states of mind do you associate with your spiritualself?

• How does thinking about who you are, and how you are spiritually, summon up aparticular attitude or framework for approaching your daily life?

• From there, begin to explore the feelings and assumptions attached to theseimages and states of mind or being. What are the emotions that color who you arespiritually?

• How do your usual thoughts or feelings about yourself change when you focus onwho you are spiritually?

Pen in Hand

Take some time to sketch in words or phrases, the images and descriptions thatcome to mind when you think about your spiritual self. These may be states ofbeing such as grateful, obedient, restless; they may include descriptions likefluid, wellspring, open, seeking; or they may be emotions like fearful, eager,grateful. Write as many of these words and phrases down on a page as you can.

Don't worry about order or structure. Try to keep going past where you think youshould or must stop—beyond the point where you think you are "done." See whatarises. Sometimes the most honest and startling answers show up when we push abit past our own limits.

Noticing

• How did it feel to write this list?

• Which words or phrases were more interesting to you than others?

• Which words or images, if any, were disconcerting?

• Think about or write about how you feel now, after doing this exercise.

On the Path

If a starting point or a direction has emerged from your list of words andimages, use it as a way into this next exercise. Using that starting point,write more thoroughly about your spiritual self for fifteen minutes. If you findthat you have said all that you can say before the time is up, try to write alittle more. If you then feel that you have reached a final stopping point andyour fifteen minutes aren't up, then write about the process itself until thetime is up.

If you don't sense a natural starting point or direction, try using thesuggested launching points below. Choose any that apply, or...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Morehouse Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2005
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0819221198
• ISBN 13: 9780819221193
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 148
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar