A New Year: Getting to the Root
January Newsletter: Upcoming Events, Online Year-End Examen
"Recovery is a process of identifying your fears and moving toward resolving them... Recovery is more than abstaining--recovery is healing." ~ Michael Dye
Merry Christmas & Peace-Filled New Year!
Amidst all going on the world, I am all the more convinced of the importance of doing our own inner work. It is brave work and doesn’t come naturally for most of us. We understandably use a lot of strategies to shove, deny, or cope with our emotions and experiences.
Often in the New Year, we desire to make changes. Yet without addressing the inner narratives that drive our behavior, making changes can be futile. This New Year, I invite you to engage in a deeper journey of recovery from socially accepted addictions.
I have a few offerings below, the monthly Soul Care Groups, Contemplative Meditation sessions, an in-person San Diego Soul Care for Wounded Healer Workshop, and From Wounds to Wisdom: Recovery & Resurrection series over the season of Lent (which starts mid-February!) See below for dates & details.
Yearly Examen
One particular way that helps me to slow down and untangle my motivations and re-set vision and hope is to engage in a Yearly Examen. Over the past couple of years I have offered online Year-End Examen reflections—which I will do again in a shorter version this year on Jan 9th during a Soul Care group time (see link below to sign up).
I have also created a free downloadable PDF to use on your own:
Whether now or in the beginning of the year, I hope you find time to slow down, to wait, to linger, even when things aren’t as you imagined or hoped for.
with gratitude and joy,
Bethany Dearborn Hiser
Upcoming Soul Care for Wounded Healer Events
Thur, Jan 4th , 10:30-11am PST: Contemplative Silent Meditation
Thur, Jan 25th, 10:30-11am PST: Contemplative Silent Meditation
Tues Jan 9th, 10-11am PST; New Year Examen Soul Care Group
Fri Jan 10th: IN-PERSON San Diego Soul Care for Wounded Healers Workshop
Make a weekend of it, and join Cultivate 2024 Jan 19th-Jan 20th, where I and others will be offering spiritual direction to a movement of churches seeking to be rooted and engaged in their neighborhoods.
From Wounds to Wisdom: 8 Closed Soul Care Group Sessions
Guided Group: Limited to 12 participants
Self-guided available to all through Substack paid subscription weekly newsletter
Whether your addiction is to help others, to be busy, or to the adrenaline of the next thing, in silence and guided meditations, in group discussions and personal reflection, you will be invited to explore your motivations and the wounds that drive you. Material weaves together: Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, Lectio Divina, guided imaginative exercises, somatic practices, and reflection questions.
I offered a version of this last year, so some although it may be familiar, I invite you to reflect and deepen your journey.
Recovery is best done in community.
If you have a small group of folks you meet with, I highly recommend committing to gather together every other week to connect and share.
I also recommend having read and engaged with the material of From Burned Out to Beloved: Soul Care for Wounded Healers prior to this material. It will create a solid foundation for going deeper and shared terminology.
Weekly Journal Prompts & Practices
Each week there will be journal prompts as well as practices or poems for meditation. Set aside around thirty minutes a week for journaling and perhaps another thirty for meditating on a poem or engaging in a practice. You are welcome to choose the questions that are salient for you, that spark something in you. You do not need to do all the questions--they are offerings to choose from.
Online Soul Care Groups: For those who are joining the full Recovery & Resurrection, you’ll get another email with zoom info and details.
Small Groups: Gather a few friends or community group and go through the material together.
Substack Newsletter
The Wounds for Wisdom and other weekly newsletters are for paid members, $5/month to protect for copyright, so upgrade or let me know if finances an issue and I’ll comp you.
Support Soul Care Resources: Access for All
I provide ‘pay as you can’ events, individual spiritual direction sessions, and workshops for helping professionals and ministry workers around the world and free for therapists and staff at Northwest Family Life. I raise funds to offer these services.
If you’d like to contribute to the Soul Care fund, please make a tax-deductible donation today, noting for Soul Care Fund.
Thanks to eleven donors who have been supporting this work for the past five years!
RESOURCES
BURNOUT & RECOVERY RESOURCE LIST (Hay varias en Español también)
List includes: spiritual director search sites, counseling cooperatives, trainings, cohorts, apps, as well as some of the resources I use in my soul care groups.
If you have recommendations, I'd love to hear about them!
Recent Article: I was invited to write an article for Bold Journey, check it out here: https://boldjourney.com/news/meet-bethany-dearborn-hiser/
INSIGHT TIMER GUIDED MEDITATIONS: NEW YEAR MEDITATION
There are lots of New Year’s Meditations from other contemplative leaders I know and on Insight Timer. See if you find any others that you enjoy!
MY RECORDED MEDITATIONS
Follow me on Insight Timer to be notified when new meditations are posted.
I’ve recorded some of my soul care group meditations for your listening and prayerful contemplation on-the-go! I welcome your rating and sharing of the meditations.
SOUL CARE FOR WOUNDED HEALER: CUSTOMIZED NON-PROFIT WORKSHOPS
Based on the book, From Burned Out to Beloved, workshops integrate discussion questions, grounding activities, trauma research, recovery tools, contemplative practices, and other spiritual disciplines. They seek to improve the overall well-being of individuals, enhance organizational culture, and improve sustainability and effectiveness in work.
Workshop topics can be combined or tailored specifically for your group. Contact me to start the conversation.
Bethany Dearborn Hiser is the Director of Soul Care for Northwest Family Life, a network of therapists trained to work with survivors of domestic violence and sexual trauma.
She is the author of From Burned Out to Beloved: Soul Care for Wounded Healers. For more about her, her book, or workshops she offers, visit: