DEACON Health and Wellness Practices

Health and Wellness Practice for Ministers of Word and Service

D = Discern - Quiet Time, Listening to Your Heart and the Voice of God

Body Apron - Find your diaphragm, move this muscle with your deep breath!

Chalice Prayer Breathing Sequence: https://youtu.be/2Xax6SJrcX4?si=JgCDPaFHyFUtyFbd (2:56)

Creating a Life with God: The Call of Ancient Prayer Practices by Daniel Wolpert

Japa Meditation - repeat affirmations at you touch the beads "I am safe. I can relax"

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17SusQEWEs/ YH=inhale, WH=exhale

"In Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, Marva Dawn identifies four aspects of Sabbath observance: ceasing, resting, embracing. At its core, Sabbath is about ceasing from labor. It is also, as Dawn points out, about ceasing from striving, from anxiety and worry, and from the pressure to be productive. Sabbath is an invitation to cease our activity, to rest in God's peaceful presence, to embrace a countercultural way of living, to feast on the beauty and joy of God's world and the eschatological hope of God's kin-dom.

Sustaining self-care requires ceasing.  It is not that we lack self-care because we are lazy, neglectful, or irresponsible with our time. We lack self-care because we do not know how to cease.  We do not know how to cease work, how to cease pressures of productivity and consumption, how to cease self-criticism and self-judgement, how to cease saying yes, how to cease the belief that we are not good enough.

We have the power to cease. God has gifted us with the power and invited us . . . no, commanded us to use it. Let us all make every effort to exercise the power so that we will not be disobedient."~Self Care is Sacred by Chanequa Walker-Barnes, pp 177-178

E = Empathy - Walking in Someone Else's Shoes, compassion, empathy

All your feelings are valid.  They are messengers and visitors and the visits have a beginning, middle, and end.  Feel your feelings, but honor your boundaries as you walk with others.

Circle of Control: https://youtu.be/CncHPlChNkk?si=RGG3cZ_BEBp2Hfrh (0:17)

Set Boundaries, Find Peace: a guide to reclaiming yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab

A = Act - Battery

You have a finite amount of energy . . . use your spiritual gifts and give space for others to use their spiritual gifts. Allow a ministry or practice to "die" if no one steps up.  What supports your mission and vision?  What is supporting Loving God and Loving God's People?  You can't start a new thing if you don't stop one . . . you only have a finite amount of energy.

"All beliefs are welcome, but not all behaviors."  Model what you wish to see others do . . . you cannot force the horse to drink the water!!😆

Sacred Self-Care: Daily Practices for Nurturing Our Whole Selves by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes

C = Connecting with Community - Bundle of Sticks

ELCA Deaconess Community: https://deaconesscommunity.org/

EDGE: https://www.edgedeacon.org/

ELCA First Call Cohorts

O = One Body in Christ - Romans 12:5, Toothbrush, Broom

If you're a broom, don't try to put on makeup . . . If you're a toothbrush, don't try to clean a toliet bowl.

N= Novelty - Be YOU! desk goose

Be You by Peter Reynolds - There is no one else like you in the whole, wide world.  You need to be healthy and strong to do the unique work God has called you to do.  Be yourself, and SHINE, SHINE, SHINE!