Listen to Your Life:
A Sacred Voice Is Calling
A Five-Month Hybrid Program of Bread of Life
Faculty members include Joan Stockbridge, Darlene Carlson and John Ensign.
What do you tell yourself about your life?
You’re not alone if the inner messages which pop up in vulnerable moments are more critical than kind. The human calling is to go beneath the noisy messages of culture to the “still, quiet voice” resident in each of us. This voice is the Source of your irreducible value and life’s purpose. It is the place from which your authentic voice and contribution in the world emanate. And it takes conscious attention and discerning companionship to separate this voice from the layers of louder, competing voices inside and out.
We all have a “life story” that we tell ourselves and others. And yet there is so much more to our story than we can access alone. Stepping into that exploration in the company of others in the same process is eye-opening and can lead us to our own deepest gifts and purpose.
Listen to Your Life will be a foundational experience, discovering new dimensions about who you are and how you can respond to the call of God.
Who would benefit from this program?
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Those who are at a life passage and know the intentional spiritual journey is part of what’s being invited.
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Those who sense it’s “time for something more.” An interior “restlessness” or “itchiness” can speak to a life that feels too small or needs fresh focus.
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Those experiencing a transition in faith. Often experienced as a “loss of faith” it’s most often an invitation to a wider, deeper faith. We call it “losing faith to find God.”
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Those considering spiritual direction as a way of tending other’s souls. This year is accepted as equivalent to Sacred Journey by Mercy Center (Burlingame) which precedes the 2-year program in the Art & Practice of Spiritual Direction.
The next Listen to Your Life series will begin in February, 2023. It is a 5-month program that includes two in-person overnight retreats at Mercy Center, Auburn. In addition to the retreats, four monthly whole-group sessions and four small-group mentor meetings will be held via Zoom. The cost is $1500. Scholarship funds are available.
If for geographic, health or accessibility reasons, it is not feasible for you to attend the in person retreats, we have developed an online version. Please contact the office for details.
For more information, including an application form go to Listen To Your Life.
OPENING THE HEART
2023 Monthly SoulCollage® Oasis
via ZOOM
3rd Wednesday of the Month
1:00am to 3:00pm PST
(w/optional introduction to SoulCollage® at 12:30:00pm)
$20 per session
Register at https://www.mercycenter.org/ongoing-series
Our theme for 2023 is Opening the Heart. Our monthly online gatherings will use sacred texts, poems, Soulcollage® and other creative processes for reflection, renewal and restoration.
We’ll explore many aspects of compassion, including compassion for ourselves, others and creation. Themes will include hospitality, forgiveness, healing, courage, hope, wisdom, acceptance, resilience, imperfection and grace.
Each session will stand alone; newcomers are always welcome. An optional introduction to Soulcollage® will be offered at 12:30.
Soulcollage® is a playful and accessible collage and journaling process, usually enjoyed even by “non-artists.” It is a profound way to access inner resources, allowing insight into our gifts as well as our challenges and providing a gentle way to work with both. For each session you’ll need a journal, glue stick, scissors, magazines and 5 X 8 cardstock.
January 18 Opening to Unconditional Love
February 8 (2nd Wednesday) Welcoming Our Brokenness
March 15 Forgiving Ourselves and Others
April 19 Trusting in Goodness
May 17 Finding Common Ground
June 21 Developing Gratefulness
July 19 Overcoming Separateness
August 16 Recognizing Partial Selves
September 20 Seeing our Hidden Wholeness
October 18 Cultivating Generosity
November 15 Living Whole-Heartedly
December 20 Opening to Oneness