SESSION 8 – APRIL, 2009

PROBLEM SOLVING AS SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE

ADAPTED FROM HELEN ZIDOWECKI

Chalice:  If we agree in love, there is no disagreement that can do us injury, but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good.  Let us endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace.

Hosea Ballou

Check-in:

Reading:  Generally speaking, we regard discomfort in any form as bad news.  But for practitioners or spiritual warriors – people who have a certain hunger to know what is true- feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back.  They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away.

Pema Chodren

Quotes from the Common Bowl:  see attached

Life Questions:

1.  How do the recent events at the Fellowship affect you personally?  How do you think the congregation is affected?

2.  Do you believe that working through a problem or difficult situation can impact us spiritually?  How?  Can you give a real life example?

3.  How does changing the name from problems to challenges or opportunities, or a similar term, influence how we view them?

Closing Ritual:  May the light around us guide our footsteps, and hold us fast to the best and most righteous that we seek.  May the darkness around us nurture our dreams, and give us rest so that we may give ourselves to the work of our world  Let us seek to remember the wholeness of our lives, the weaving of light and shadow in this great and astonishing dance in which we move.

Kathleen McTigue

Check-out:

QUOTATIONS FOR SESSION 8 – PROBLEM SOLVING

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

        ~ Albert Einstein

The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.

        ~ Theodore Rubin

Have you got a problem? Do what you can where you are with what you've got.

        ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.

        ~ Marie Curie

If you're going through hell, keep going.

        ~ Winston Churchill

Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

        ~Joshua J. Marine

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

        ~ William Ellery Channing

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.

        ~ African Proverb

The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective.

        ~ Al Neuharth

The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

        ~ William Faulkner