St. James' Episcopal Church - Potomac 301-762-8040 office@stjamespotomac.org
Your Inner Voice is Telling You…

Your Inner Voice is Telling You…

Hello friends,

Are you one of those people with a robust inner monologue? Or maybe you hear an inner voice only occasionally, but when you do it can be particularly helpful (or hurtful). I think we all have an inner voice, but maybe some of us hear it more often or more easily than others.

In our conversation tomorrow we’re going to talk about the conversations we have inside our own heads. We’ll watch a helpful video on overcoming bad inner voices and share our own experiences navigating our inner dialogue. Invite your Jiminy Cricket for what is sure to be an engaging discussion!

Our warm-up question for this week:

If you could record a 10-second audio clip for your 20 year-old self knowing that they would only be able to hear it one time, what would you say?

See you soon,
Alex

What Does It Mean to Have an “Optimally Functioning Mind”?

What Does It Mean to Have an “Optimally Functioning Mind”?

Hello friends,

If I asked you to describe what it means to be in good physical health, I suspect you’d have an easy time starting to answer. Strong, regular heartbeat; breathing easily; able to get around pain-free and with minimal effort; and so on. Now try the same exercise, but with mental health. Sure, it means there’s no mental illness, but that doesn’t really describe what a healthy state “looks like.”

We’ll watch together a wonderful video on what mental health means as a concept, and discuss how we’ve thought about our own health status over time. How do we think about our mental health when things don’t feel optimal? Do we judge ourselves too harshly? Are we as comfortable talking about our mental health in the same ways we talk about our physical health?

Our warm-up question for this week:

Tell us about a fun memory from a time when you were in the snow!

See you soon,
Alex

Continuing to Challenge Our Assumptions

Continuing to Challenge Our Assumptions

Hello friends,

A couple of weeks ago we explored how culture can shape our assumptions about mental illness. This week we’ll explore a related topic: how behavior and mannerisms influence our assumptions about mental health and well-being. This is a good time to discuss this topic because as many of us know, the holiday season is a time when people can experience both “high highs” and “low lows” in mental health.

We’ll watch a brief but powerful video about checking in with others, which was developed in partnership with a mental health organization called Samaritans. Hopefully we’ll have a candid and compassionate conversation about our own experiences with mental health symptoms and how they are or are not understood by others.

Our warm-up question for this week:

Describe your favorite dish from Thanksgiving in mouth-watering detail. Bonus points if you also describe an “epic fail” dish!

See you soon,
Alex