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Appreciating Ourselves

Appreciating Ourselves

Hello Stronger Together friends,

This week’s topic is from a short article about appreciating ourselves. It is short enough to read together on Thursday. I think it is not only helpful for us to consider this technique, but to also to share personal “practices” we each use to find self value.

Here is the warm up question: What place would you really like to visit and have yet gone to, and why are you drawn to going there?

See you soon!

DeAtley

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