Our second August gathering is Thursday night, 8/28 (can you believe August is practically over????).
I look forward to seeing you at 7pm in the Worship Arts office area. Bring a notepad and a writing utensil - that's all you need, except for your desire to have fun. Oh and freedom to WRITE! :0)
grace & peace,
deAnn
I would like to say a big "Thank you!" to the women that attended Reflective Souls on August 12th. I was filling in for dee and this was my first time ever leading, you all made it very comfortable for me and for that I am truly grateful!
I would also like to apologize for the delay in getting this posted I wanted to comment immediately after the evening but time seemed to get away from me...
With that said, on with the recap! (And it's a long one! Sorry about that!)
One of our writing prompts for the evening was to write about "your perfect playground". I asked everyone to go back to being a child and think about recess and, if the sky was the limit what would be on that playground? Would you have all kickball fields? How many monkey bars would you have? What about sliding boards? And swings? Oh, and don't forget about hopscotch and four square! Would you have areas set up with huge bean bag chairs and pillows for reading? I have to say that this exercise was alot of fun! Even though, I came up with the prompt, I didn't realize that it would be so great to go back in time to a place that was totally carefree and fun. The pieces that the women shared were awesome and even though everyone had a different playground, they all seemed to have one common thread---NO ADULTS ALLOWED!
Later, we kind of moved into a more reflective, serious part of the evening. I shared a chapter entitled "Perfectionism" from the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. She writes about how perfectionism prevents us from doing what we are meant to do for fear that it will never be good enough. I then read some of the words to the song "Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns, a song about a man's struggle and desire to hear God's voice(the positive encouraging loving one) over the negative one that always seems to be louder and stronger. We all then wrote letters to that negative voice, our own personal inner critic. I have to say I was completely blown away by everyone's pieces and felt extremely honored and blessed that they felt comfortable enough to share them with the group. To say that the letters were amazing would truly be an understatement! So for any of you that are still saying, "oh, I'm not a writer...", let me tell you right now, that is definitely your inner critic speaking and it's time to pull out that letter right now and reread it! To end the evening, we moved into a time of silence to listen for God's Voice, the Voice of Truth and write about what we heard. Again, a wonderful experience.... Thank you ladies for being honest, vulnerable and supportive.
Do any of these prompts inspire you to write a little something? I would be willing to bet that they do. Try it... Stop listening to that inner critic that's playing so loudly in your head. Stop... Have a quiet moment or 2, now write, write what is in your heart and from your heart and not from what is in your head... Then maybe take the next step and share it with us, we would love to hear it...
At our last gathering, one of the writing prompts was to write a letter to your nasty inner critic, you know the one - the negative voice that stops you from doing creative endeavors such as writing...Here is Hilary's letter to her Inner Critic...
-Pink Slip-
Dear oppressive part of my inner self.
I am here by releasing you of your self appointed duty's
sabotage is no longer needed
self doubt has been removed form your job description
feelings of inferiority are due to be replaced with confidence this very day
second guessing and shutting down, although you have 100% efficiency in these areas, have been deemed counter productive and are not in accordance with the newly revised vision statement
there will be no compensation pay and you may take nothing with you. All pieces of me you have, over the years, been claiming as your own will need to be relinquished at the end of this reading along with your badge and keys.
In light of these developments a new position is being formed in which the Spirit Himself will reside.
Thank you, Carol, for taking the lead at the August 12 gathering. I heard you did a fabulous job and used very creative ideas for writing prompts.
In fact, I heard that there was some amazing pieces of work from the girls at the gathering! We'd love to have your piece posted here on RS. If you are game, send your written piece to either me (droe@lwccyork.com) or Carol (cshafer2@comcast.net).
Our next gathering will be on Thursday, August 28. As we continue to see if meeting twice a month is a good thing - please let me know if you can attend on 8/28. I really appreciate it! I am beginning to dream up ideas for this gathering...
Grace & peace, deAnn
