Posted in reflections, tagged solitude, women pastors on February 28, 2017| 2 Comments »
Photo by CLAUDIA DEA
By Ajung Sojwal
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. Mark 1:35
One of the lessons I have had to learn as priest and pastor to a church is the one about the priesthood of being a sacred symbol for the people. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged anxiety on February 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Photo by Ingrid Taylar
By Jerrica KF Ching
The idea of self-regulation is to regulate one’s self without intervention from external factors, and I for one am often influenced by external factors. It is very easy to respond positively to a positive outcome. Positive outcomes include: when we find out we received that job we were hoping for, when an event we planned in ministry goes well, or when we are recognized for our efforts by others. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged EQ, grace on February 14, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Photo by Malcolm Slaney
By Melanie Mar Chow
“Self-regulation… [is] the quality of emotional intelligence that liberates us from living like hostages to our impulses.” — Daniel Goleman, A Star Leader’s Secret Weapon
It must be February! Why? My recent trips to the gym have thinned, post-New Year’s resolutions. Only thin people persevere to regulate body size. Where are all of my new friends who were going to lose weight this year with me? What happened to my own discipline, especially when I got a cold and didn’t go to the gym for a few weeks? (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged ordination, pastoral ministry, reconciliation, social media on February 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »
By Diana Gee
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
–Gal 5:22-23
This past week I was in an ordination workshop. The class was made up of people in the process of being recognized as set apart for the ministry of shepherding God’s flock. What this all means is still being worked out both for me and for my church. For the record, I have no actual agricultural experience. The closest is of the gardening variety and pet-sitting. I feel unqualified and doubtful most of the time. Nonetheless, it’s a journey worth travelling, even if it is rather daunting and lonely. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged self-awareness, wholeness on January 31, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Photo by Michal Ziembicki
By Eun Joo Angela Ryo
One of the life-changing experiences I had last year was to walk the Camino from Portugal to Spain to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. I was part of a group of sixteen women from church, ages ranging anywhere from mid 70s to early 40s. We walked over hundred miles in two weeks and became sisters for life. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged calling, pastoral ministry, suffering, vocation on January 24, 2017| 3 Comments »
Photo by pedro sorrentin
By Ajung Sojwal
After being ordained a priest in the Episcopal church for ten years now, I am just beginning to understand this extraordinary call from Jesus. It has taken a crisis to bring about the crushing of my ego to make room for the real heart of a priest and a prophet from God. Why prophet? (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged community, indifference, pain on January 17, 2017| Leave a Comment »
By Ben Sutherland
By Sarah D. Park
I was reading Rebecca Solnit’s book The Faraway Near, and she wrote about leprosy as a physical condition and as a social metaphor. Interestingly enough, leprosy “strangles nerves, kills off feeling, and what you cannot feel you cannot take care of: not the disease but the patient does the damage.” (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged introversion, self-awareness, whole brain assessment on January 10, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Photo by Rachel Barenblat
By Maria Liu Wong
Cultivating self-awareness was critical for fully engaging in my cohort-based doctoral program in Adult Learning and Leadership at Columbia. We were asked constantly to reflect in journals, to think critically in small and large group settings, and to engage in various exercises and activities. This made us hyper-aware of how we felt, how we showed up, and how we experienced others from our positionality. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged EQ on January 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »
And so it begins! Another new year is upon us, and we here at AAWOL are ready to embark on reflections and stories on new themes for the coming year.
To kick off 2017, Young Lee Hertig — founder of AAWOL in 2004 — suggested that we reflect on the five dimensions of Daniel Goleman’s EQ (emotional quotient), mainly: 1) Self-Awareness, 2) Self-Regulation, 3) Inner Motivation, 4) Empathy, 5) Social Relationship.
Since I myself only had a vague understanding of the concept of EQ, I asked Young to explain a bit more about her choice of themes. (more…)
Posted in reflections, Uncategorized, tagged fears, public speaking on December 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Photo by Jan Tik
By Wendy Choy-Chan
Fears – If I see them from a distance, I will usually find a way to go around them or gear myself up to head right into them. This goes for all kinds of fears, from spiders to sickness, from public speaking to confrontations. It seems at first like I am handling my fears pretty well. See a spider outside the house, find another path to walk on; see a spider inside the house, with broom in one hand and bug spray in another, I prep for a gladiator fight. But if it appears out of nowhere right in front of me, I scream and I jump and I run like I am in the Olympics!
Not every fear comes announcing its arrival. I have had migraines for about 15 years, and at first, it manifested itself with a headache and eventual nausea. (more…)
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