Description
Introduction
For many adults in contemporary Western society, worry is a daily experience. In fact, when worry becomes unmanageable, and is combined with a variety of other symptoms, it can lead to a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder. To be diagnosed, you need to experience worry and anxiety most of the time for at least a half-year, struggling to handle your worrying thoughts. You must also suffer from several other symptoms, such as exhaustion, uneasiness, trouble focusing, irritation, tension, and trouble sleeping (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). For self-assessment on anxiety check here.
This program is based on preliminary empirical research, with encouraging results that support the effectiveness of the program.
Drawing from the latest research in the clinical psychology literature (Dugas & Robichaud, 2007), we will be exploring alternative ways for you to relate to your worry, helping you let go of the tendency to use worry to predict and control the future and attain certainty in an unpredictable world. Given that securing certainty outside of your relationship with God is not possible, we believe that learning to accept the uncertainty of life is a useful alternative approach to navigating through daily living. Therefore, we will be presenting one of the newest theories on worry, helping you reduce the tendency to futilely pursue a certain, predictable life.
Beyond helping you improve your psychological functioning, we believe there is a key spiritual component to your current struggles as well. In fact, from our perspective, approaching your struggle with uncertainty from a spiritual perspective is one of the best ways to address worry. As a result, drawing from both scripture and the contemplative Christian tradition, we will be working with you to learn to “rest in God,” a phrase coined by Gregory the Great, sitting in silence with him in order to cultivate a deeper trust in the infinite God. Learning to trust in the attributes of God—he is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful—on a deeper level can be especially important in your journey, since finding rest in him is possible when you have a deeper awareness of this combination of his characteristics, rooted in both scripture and your personal relationship with him.
This eight-week program goes beyond mindfulness to a specifically Christian approach using contemplative prayer to help Christians with the problem of chronic worry. Such worry is associated with a basic inability or struggle to accept or tolerate life’s inevitable ambiguities and uncertainties, especially about the future. A spiritual or Christian antidote for chronic worry that focuses on developing the following fundamental and deep beliefs about God:
(a) his infinite knowledge and wisdom;
(b) his infinite love and goodness; and
(c) his infinite presence and power.
This program contains much deep wisdom drawn from scripture and the practices of the early Christians and others through the centuries of church history, emphasizing the central role of contemplative prayer in overcoming anxiety and chronic worry. It includes very helpful exercises that do require some time (at least 20 minutes) each day for practicing them and benefiting from them. Examples of contemplative prayer covered include: the serenity prayer, Ignatian contemplation, the Jesus Prayer, centering prayer, and the welcoming prayer.
Sep. 20th, Week 1 –the relationship between uncertainty and worry
Oct. 4th, Week 2 –an introduction to contemplative practice
Oct. 18th, Week 3 –ignatian prayer
Nov. 1st, Week 4 –the Jesus Prayer
Nov. 15th, Week 5 –an introduction to centering prayer
Nov. 29th, Week 6 –a continuation of centering prayer
Dec. 13th, Week 7 –an introduction to the welcoming prayer
Dec. 27th, Week 8 –surrendering to Divine providence in daily living
We provide services in English and Mandarin.
Sign up before September 15th. Starts on Wednesday the 20th at 6pm U.S. CST.
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