St. James' Episcopal Church - Potomac 301-762-8040 office@stjamespotomac.org
Learning to Forgive Ourselves

Learning to Forgive Ourselves

Hello friends,

This Thursday’s topic is Learning to Forgive Ourselves: We make mistakes and in hindsight know they are wrong.

Join others to watch this short video about forgiving ourselves followed by an open discussion on how we might forgive ourselves for these mistakes.

Warm-up question: What has someone done for you lately that you really appreciated? Or what have you enjoyed doing for someone else?

How to Forgive Others

How to Forgive Others

Hi folks!
Rev. James is leading our gathering tonight at 7 p.m. We will watch a short video and then discuss, hopefully learning from one another and sharing our thoughts and insights. Please join us!
How to Forgive Others: One of life’s biggest challenges is forgiving someone for wronging you. Join us in watching a short video about forgiveness followed by an open discussion on how we might  forgive others and move forward from that hurt.
Kirsten
When It’s All About You

When It’s All About You

Hello friends,

I love when our Stronger Together discussions take us down a different path than we planned, or open up new topics in unexpected ways. In last week’s conversation on apologizing and gratitude, we briefly considered an interesting exception: what about narcissists?

To be clear, there are narcissistic behaviors we all have exhibited from time to time, as well as people who are pretty narcissistic in general. Then there’s narcissism to a degree that is a form of mental illness: Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or NPD. Our conversation this week will focus on NPD–how we can understand it better and empathize better with people affected by it. We’ll watch a video that describes the diagnostic criteria for NPD as well as some of what the symptoms “hide” in the person experiencing this form of mental illness.

Remember…we all have a bit of narcissistic tendencies. That’s normal and part of what makes us human!

Our warm-up question for this week:

Tell us about a truly great vacation or trip you took. What made it so special to you?

See you soon,
Alex

Apologies and Gratitude

Apologies and Gratitude

Hello friends,

If only it were easier to say “I’m sorry.” If we could just be better at apologizing — truly apologizing — think of how much easier it would be to move past conflict, maintain loving relationships, and build trust. Probably there’s a good reason why saying “I’m sorry” is inherently difficult.

If it’s difficult to apologize, does that mean we can get better at it? That’s one of the things I’m hoping to figure out in this week’s conversation! We’ll watch a brief video titled, “A perfect apology in three steps” (it’s only three steps, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy). In it, the speaker talks about how to craft an effective apology, and how this turns us toward a place of gratitude. If you don’t have time to watch the video beforehand, no apology is necessary. 😉

Our warm-up question for this week:

What’s your favorite summer Olympics sport to watch?

See you soon,
Alex