God in the City – Weekend Retreat

DBYES, Nairobi, 9 Mar 2013.  
 
“God in the City” is one of the weekend programmes offered by DBYES in the current year.  This weekend (8th-9th March) 28 youth from Upperhill Parish, accompanied by two brothers from Utume, participated in God in the City.  They were led in the 24-hour retreat by Selvam.  The topics included: What is the city like; the role of silence in today’s world; Jesus Prayer – praying continually; Journaling – as a means to transform events into experiences; Recognising God in nature; Prayer-Garden Experience; God in the web – websites and apps useful for prayer.  The participants were also given opportunity to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation.  The programme concluded with the Eucharistic Celebration.  What the youth, most of who were university students, enjoyed most during this weekend was silence!

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Mindful Journaling

Journaling as a psycho-spiritual exercise – Guidelines
Quieten yourself.
Spend a few moments breathing in and out.
As you breathe out, relax the different parts of your body.
Get in touch with your thoughts and feelings at this moment.
 
When you are ready, begin to write your thoughts and feelings down.
If you find it difficult to begin somewhere, just begin by describing the events of the day or the past few hours.
What people have you met?
What events have you witnessed?
What touched you most during the day?
Were there insights that cropped up in your mind during the day?
 
How were your quiet moments, including the contemplative practice?
Generally, were you serene and centred (focussed) during the day?
(You might want to follow a particular style of journaling from among the different approaches described in Appendix B).
 
Consider your diary as a faithful listener and companion.
Consider your diary as a safe space where you can be yourself.
Consider your diary as the […]

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Strengths Based Journaling

STRENGTHS BASED JOURNALING
 Wisdom
Try to answer the following questions as you write your diary for the day: were there statements that you heard or read from others that rang a bell for you?  Were there certain insights deep within you that made some special sense for you?
If there were some difficulties or unpleasant experiences during the course of the last few hours, ask yourself now: how are these experiences challenging your own beliefs about your self, God, world, and other persons? Was there in these experiences any particular insight about the meaning of life for you?  Gently and calmly write these lessons down.  If you so wish, you could end up writing a poem or a verse.
If you have longer time you could try to answer these questions in writing: how would you want your life to be narrated to your grandchildren. Write a summary of your life.  A few days […]

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