Compassion as a Spiritual Practice: Discovering How Awareness of Our Feelings and Needs Brings Us to a Place of Compassion for Self and Others
Our daily lives are inundated with opportunities to be more compassionate, yet often we do not know how to respond. The question becomes for us, “How do we come to be more compassionate and introduce compassion as a deliberate practice in our busy lives?” This Friends Day of Prayer is for anyone seeking more compassion in their lives and in the world. During the morning presentation, presenter Sharon Scibek will share her knowledge from a year-long Compassion Course she completed with Thom Bond, founder and Director of Education for The New York Center for Nonviolent Communication and the creator and leader of The Compassion Course. She will take us through some practical exercises that will help us to understand how awareness of our feelings and needs can be helpful in learning to be more compassionate and reaching a place of empathy, which Thom explains is the “breath of compassion.”
The morning session will include personal reflection, prayer, and an opportunity to attend Mass before lunch. Free time will be offered in the afternoon to walk the labyrinth, spend time in quiet prayer and reflection, or shop in the bookstore. The afternoon will conclude with an afternoon presentation by Sharon.
All are welcome to attend the Friends Day of Prayer retreats, held monthly on the first Wednesday of the month. It is not required to attend every month, so register for one or more sessions as your schedule allows. While the presenters and topics vary, each Friends Day of Prayer typically includes includes pastries and conversation at 9:30am, a morning presentation at 10am, an optional Mass, a delicious lunch, short periods of free time, and an afternoon presentation.
Sharon Scibek is a certified coach through the International Coaching Federation. She brings to her coaching a wide range of life and professional experience, from church ministry to business, where she was a recognized leader in human resources. In all aspects of her work, Sharon emphasizes the importance of compassionate respect for the individual and their potential. Sharon founded Gracious-Space, LLC to fulfill her passion of guiding others to reach their full potential through her professional and life coaching and transformational conversation services. Her success is built on a simple approach: honest and respectful conversation. The transformational conversations that she guides are opportunities for small groups to share spirit-filled insights through deeper connections. Learn more about Sharon and her leadership and life coaching opportunities at Gracious-Space.com.