Late Nights, Early Mornings

Breakfast Or Extra Sleep 

Inviting, indulgent, and mouth-watering are words I would use to describe the smell and sight of the delicious breakfast. The homemade bread pudding with raisins (at least that's what it reminds me of) permeates the warm air that feels the room. There are also boiled eggs, Greek yogurt, cereals, and the option to make a turkey and/or cheese panini (which seems to be a fan favorite every morning). While this is typically everyone's experience, some of us had a very long night. Instead, we are awakened by the scents in the four white walls where we lay. Reflecting on decisions made the previous night, Dr. Lawson's voice doing his daily breakfast countdown. "Thirty minutes until breakfast, today is Saturday, thirty minutes to breakfast;" his voice would echo down the hall. After breakfast, we head to the brand-new part of the Bible College where we have been hosting our classes. 

Unlike the previous two classes where Dr. Jones would start us in a circle and have us take turns speaking to get to know one another or simply to check in with us; Dr. Lawson would begin this class with a message. 

A Painful Death For A Beautiful Rebirth

Dr. Lawson stated that change was difficult in Greek culture and philosophy. And in many ways, change is a form of death. To actually change, we must kill something inside of ourselves. Something has to die. And from that death, we become something new. 

One of the most important parts of being a counselor is to sit with people and hold space for them while they are dying. And while on this journey of death (change), they yearn for someone who can love, emphasize, and support them. We as counselors, then become witnesses to the process of their death and rebirth. 

Dr. Lawson then emphasized how heavy the previous class was and how parts of yesterday were us experiencing death as we shared our stories.

Everything Is Spiritual

Dr. Lawson described the different views on the parts of self between the Jewish, Greek, and Roman cultures. He talked about the idea that in some cultures there is a holistic view of the self, while in other cultures they have splits. All these splits are very little integration processes. Dr. Lawson summed up his views on splits by stating that it is easy to split everything in our world in a way that allows us to feel safe but doesn't allow us to experience what's happening around us. We often miss God we don't allow ourselves to experience what's happening around us. When we understand that everything is spiritual, we can truly live life abundantly.

As Dr. Lawson concluded his message, he shared with us his support group's serenity prayer.

Final Presentations On Personal Culture

After Dr. Lawson's message, we had the remainder of our classmates present on their personal culture. What is it that makes us who we are? And how much of our intersectionalities, experiences, and upbringings are we willing to share with some people who we have only known for a week. One of the things that was interesting to me during our class days was how much or how little people were willing to share. We all have our own level of comfort. But what urges one person to open up and be completely vulnerable, while another person stays surface level? 

Although all the presentations were amazing and informative, there were a few quotes I would like to highlight from a few of the presentations:

"Keep using your voice."

"Even though you are surrounded by these things, it's not like you have to do it!"

"I love differences!"

"Culture is a big part of who we become until we discover who we are."

These quotes spoke to me and thought they may speak to someone else who reads this.

Dr. Jones wrapped up the presentations by letting us know we are the therapy. Understanding who we are as a human is important because it will impact who we are as therapists. 

We went from presentations to stuffing our faces with some tasty spanakopita for lunch. Spanakopita is a Greek savory pastry made with layers of crispy dough filled with a mixture of spinach, feta, cheese, onions, herbs, and eggs. The word spanakopita comes from the Greek words spanaki (spinach) and pita (pie), reflecting the main ingredients and form of the traditional dish.

While my table allowed our palates to savour the harmonious blends of the dish, we reflected on one of the presentations of the day. One student presented on being involved in youth bible drills growing up. As it turns out there were others who shared similar experiences with having to learn parts of scripture and then having competition-style assessments of those parts of the scripture. Some experiences of these drills were more strict than others. 

The Relationship Between God and Yourself

After lunch, Dr. Jones gave us an excerpt from the book, The Gift of Being Yourself, which we were tasked with reading and reflecting on. As I walked around the college, looking at the sheet of paper, I couldn't get past the title. Being myself hasn't always felt like a gift. After about 15 minutes of sitting and thinking through all the intersectionalities of myself and how this title seemed so far from my reality. 

 

When we came back together as a class, some beautiful reflections were shared but there was one that tugged at my heart and resonated with me. Someone shared an amazing poem-like reflection on their struggle with looking at themselves deeply. As they burst into tears yet found the strength to complete their poem-like reflection, I heard something so powerful. If they can get through the pain of their inner child, they can get to the other side of the pain and experience something beautiful. And this ties into the earlier message, they must first be okay with dying to experience life more abundantly. Because "both God and self are fully known in relationship with each other."

-Tavarous Faniel Jenkins