Transforming Our Painful Emotions Spiritual Resources In Anger Shame Grief Fear And Loneliness

A psyhological and spiritual exploration of the positive potential hidden in our painful emotions. Its key conviction: our bad feelings can be good news, alerting us to endangered values, alarming us to hopes under siege, and arming us for the tough tasks of change. Filled with lively examples, the Whiteheads demonstrate how negative emotions can lead to personal growth, spiritual development, and social transformation. Family wounds, cultural temptations, and religious malpractice make it difficult for us to plumb the meaning of our passions. Breaking through these obstacles is part of spirituality's healing task.

Unlike other texts, Gudorfs work focuses on common, everyday issuesincluding food and diet, work, sex and marriage, proper dress, anger and violence, charity, family, and infirmity and the elderlywhile drawing out ethical implications of each and demonstrating how different religious traditions prescribe rules for action. An introductory chapter reviews standard ethical theory and core elements of comparative religious analysis. Each chapter opens with a riveting real-life case and shows how religious ethics can shed light on how to handle the larger issues, without determining for the reader what a proper ethical response might be.

I should be further along on the spiritual journey. Why don't I see any progress? What am I doing wrong? Do you ever feel like you are walking in spiritual circles? While we might think it would be different for a Franciscan priest, Father Albert Haase shares the same struggles. And yet he also affirms that we are all called to be ordinary mystics, who, in the words of his own spiritual director, are "ordinary Christians who do what we are all called to do: respond to grace." Learning to be a mystic is about cultivating a life with God in which we draw close, listen, and respond moment to moment. We know we will fail at times, but we can also be certain that we follow a God who never stops reaching out to us. This book offers a daily path to making the connection.

For religious communities to have integrity and credibility they must flourish as places of love and respect. Every aspect of church life is defined and protected by essential boundaries: boundaries around space, time, thought, speech, will, emotion, and behavior--both for clergy and church members. Lack of awareness and attention to boundary keeping diminishes the integrity of the church and harms its mission, whereas insight and vigilance about best practices lend freedom and energy to the calling of the church to care for others and to reach out to the world. In a flourishing Christian community, a wide array of boundaries must be recognized, celebrated, and navigated--from the boundaries that define and protect us as individual persons to role boundaries and the boundaries that define essential communal functions, such as worship. This book is no conventional account of boundaries. It takes a comprehensive approach to the challenge of understanding and creating healthy boundaries. It applies the lessons from the emerging field of behavioral ethics to the rich and rewarding complexity of boundaries in church life, helping us to be more loving and responsible in how we think, speak, and act, so that the church can be true to its identity and mission.

Though they are not quite the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the painful emotions of shame, anger, loneliness and fear have destroyed countless lives. The need to numb and distract ourselves from them leads us to engage in behaviors that only draw us deeper into shame and isolation. We do not need distractions or drugs, we need healing. This healing is not about solving our problems; it is about making us whole. This book explains how the qualities of honesty, forgiveness, compassion and faith can ease the pain of these negative emotions by filling the empty spaces they represent. Emotions are messengers. Positive emotions tell us when we are experiencing the presence of virtues such as kindness, and justice. Negative emotions tell us which virtues are missing in our lives. By developing our own capacity to practice these four core virtues, we not only heal our painful emotions, but we become masters of our own feelings. This book builds on the understanding of emotions explained in The Secret of Emotions, book one in the Love, Lust and the Longing for God trilogy, but is a stand-alone introduction to the practice of Honesty, Forgiveness, Compassion and Faith. If you or someone you care about is struggling with anger, shame, loneliness or fear, this book will jump-start the healing process. This series can be used by therapists and treatment centers to build a foundation for a wide range of recovery programs.

"Scientists have demonstrated the link between emotional balance and physical and mental well-being. When we learn how to handle our emotions, we can achieve balance in body, mind and soul. In Emotions: Transforming Anger, Fear and Pain, Dr. Marilyn Barrick, a transformational psychologist, takes the study of our emotions—and how to deal with them—to the next level. You will discover how to release anger, guilt and grief in a healthy way and replace them with inner strength, courage and peace of mind. The author shares techniques such as trauma-release therapy, peaceful self-observation and using nature as healer to help realize loving-kindness, mindfulness and tolerance. She also shares successful spiritual techniques she has developed in her practice. This book is an invaluable guide to creating heart-centeredness in our uncertain and turbulent world."

"Drawing from a wealth of psychological and spiritual sources, the authors help us gain a new perspective on how we handle our painful emotions. As always, the Whiteheads bring clarity and insight to an area of crucial importance for a healthy spiritual life".--Spiritual Book Associates.