| Gratitude | | |
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
--John F. Kennedy
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Contact Me
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Shauna Summers
Coordinator of Pastoral Care and Counseling
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Quick Links
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PCC is very interested in your experiences, concerns, and feedback. Listening to clergy and families will enable PCC to better serve and address your needs.
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Stretching Your Healthcare Dollar
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With all the changes in the health insurance environment, this is a good time to remember other resources that are available to us. For example, our Conference Pastoral Care and Counseling (and Preacher's Aid) have made a Clergy Assistance Program available to our active and retired clergy families.
This could be a helpful resource during this time of transition. The Clergy Assistance Program includes some important benefits for clergy, spouses and dependents.
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| Issue #5: Stress, Gratitude and Forgiveness | June 2015 |
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Greetings!
PCC will have a table in Hall D at Annual Conference and are excited for you to stop by!
Do you ever wonder why so-and-so procrastinates, or why you have such a hard time not micromanaging? Come see PCC and find out what type of work style you have. It may answer some questions and facilitate better communication or working relationships between the different styles you work with.
Also, if you have questions about any of the benefits available to you from our Clergy Assistance Program (1-800-433-7916) provided by Chestnut Global Partners, please stop by the PCC table between 2 and 4 p.m. on Friday, June 12 (IGRC Information Section link) as a Chestnut representative will be waiting to meet you and answer questions. Our CAP program may be most well known for its confidential counseling services but there are so much more benefits you and your dependent family members have access to. Nutrition and exercise consults, legal and financial consultations, identity theft restoration services, and elder care assessment and referrals. In addition, thousands of articles on a variety of topics (mental health, relationships, stress, etc.) are available at www.chestnutglobalpartners.org with user name: igrc.
Our Pastoral Care and Counseling Coordinator will be at the PCC table looking forward to visiting with you frequently as will many of the PCC Board members. Anyone will be happy to talk with you, looking forward to your stopping by!
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Reframing life with gratitude
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Feeling grateful vs. being grateful
"There is a difference between feeling grateful and being a more grateful person," writes IGRC Pastoral Care and Counseling Coordinator Shauna Summers. "Thinking outside the box and expressing gratitude for (or to) those who harm you can be challenging, but important. Just as expressing gratitude for (or to) those you help is important, being a grateful person allows one to view the world through a lens of abundance, see what life is offering, view life as a gift (even the things we don't choose), and to feel satisfied with our life is much better than viewing life through a lens of scarcity, what life is denying us, burdensome, and feeling deprived by life."
No one is perfect, but doing our best to practicing gratitude on a regular basis will help us do that.
Read more...
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Gratitude in Ministry
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A Few Reasons why Ministry is the best job
In response to Thom Rainer's Ten Joy Stealers in Ministry, PCC Board Chair Kent King-Nobles offers 10 Reasons Why Ministry is the Best Job in the World.
"Even with all the challenges, I feel like ministry is the greatest job in the world. I really do," King-Nobles said. " As I talk with my friends and parishioners about the struggles they face at work, I haven't found one yet that I would really trade places with."
Read more...
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| Stress | |
Overlooked factors when dealing with stress
We generally accept that physical stress can affect emotional stress and emotional stress can affect physical stress. We also know that it is virtually impossible to live without some degree of stress.
The Apostle Paul uses the illustration of a runner removing as much as possible that could slow him down in a race as a concept in leading our Christian life.
We can use that same concept in dealing with stress. After you have worked on having adequate stress relievers, reduce the stress you can and possibly set up some new methods of dealing with stress. Dr. Curt Keller explores some lifestyle issues such as what we eat.
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| From Chestnut Global Partners | |
Gratitude and forgiveness
Gratitude can be powerful and life-changing. Research has shown that it leads to feelings of optimism and enthusiasm. Forgiveness also plays a role when it comes to gratitude. When you learn to forgive, your levels of depression, anger and stress will decrease. The beauty of gratitude is in its simplicity. What will you do today to show your gratitude?
Read more...
For additional resources, please contact your CAP at 1-800-433-7916 or you may email your concerns directly to igrc@chestnut.org
Clergy, spouses, and their dependent family members can access the Clergy Assistance Program (CAP) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call the CAP at 1-800-433-7916, or Clergy Assistance Program (CAP).
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Blessings,
Shauna Summers
Pastoral Care and Counseling Coordinator
Illinois Great Rivers Conference |
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