Make Our Own Sunshine
Summer Newsletter
A chara [dear friend, in Irish] ~
Here in the north of Ireland, it’s been a pretty dismal summer so far. I realize that I wrote about sunsets in my last newsletter, but the weather’s gone downhill since then. There have been a handful of beautiful days, or hours, or minutes, but there have been far more rainy, windy, cold, gloomy times. And although Ireland has never been known for its summers, it’s starting to get to people. We retain a hope throughout the blustery, dark, wet winter that there will be bright, colorful, balmy summer days ahead. And then, when they don’t come, it’s a letdown. It feels like a punishment (as my daughter put it).
And yet, we have to find a way to accept the way things are, and enjoy ‘summer’ anyway.
I was chatting with a family on a pastoral visit last week, and the subject of the atrocious weather came up. Everyone’s faces got glum as we began reflecting on the wintery weather lashing outside the window.
And then, I turned to say something to their youngest child, who wasn’t looking out the window but was looking right at me, and who flashed me the most gorgeous smile. Her eyes twinkled as if she was about to make a mischievous joke or clobber me with a bear hug. She didn’t say a word, but just smiled her big, contagious smile at me. For that moment I forgot about the weather, and a smile radiated out of me, too, in response to hers.
I found myself saying, “Well, we’ll just have to make our own sunshine.”
Because that’s what was happening in that moment. We were sitting on that couch with the rain lashing outside but with big, goofy grins on our faces - making our own sunshine.
You may be reading this newsletter in a place where you’d love to have some of the rain we’re getting over here. You may long for a cool breeze to blow on your face (I wish I could send some of ours your way). We can all get stuck in that dismal place of wishing things aren’t the way they are. There is much in our lives, in the world, that we simply cannot change.
But even when things aren’t the way we wish they were, there’s always that possibility that we can make our own sunshine (or refreshing rain, or cool breeze), in precious little moments like the one I experienced last week.
And you never know, it may well be contagious, like that little girl’s radiant smile flashing sunshine on my rainy day.
What circumstances are frustratingly out of your control, and how can you make your own sunshine (or rain, or breeze) today?
Kiran
Upcoming Events
Dates for your Calendar in 2024/25:
9-10 September 2024 - Resilience Training (Zoom)
28 September 2024 - Psalm Gathering (Zoom)
12th-13th November 2024 - Darkness to Light Retreat (Corrymeela)
27/28th February-2nd March 2025 - Stillness in Community (Corrymeela)
29th April-4th May 2025 - Resilient Spirit Retreat (Corrymeela)
Retreats
Check out our schedule for retreats at Corrymeela in 2024/25 - dates and themes below. Contact welcome@corrymeela.org for more information.
Darkness to Light Retreat (Overnight) 12th-13th November 2024
Stillness in Community (2-3 Days) 27/28th February-2nd March 2025
Resilient Spirit Retreat (6 Days) 29th April-4th May 2025
Resilience Training 9-10 September
Upcoming Training: 9-10 September
I took the training in the Community Resilience Model® (developed by the Trauma Resource Institute in the US) literally one week before the pandemic shut down the world, and since then the concept of “resilience” has offered me hope that we would not only get through the challenges life presents us, but perhaps even develop different skills, grow into wiser human beings, and learn to flourish in a whole new way.
This propelled me to record an album during the Summer of 2020, because making music gave me joy and life even when the world seemed to be falling apart. It inspired me to reach out to others in intentional conversation on how the Psalms lift our spirits in difficult times, as I developed the Psalms for the Spirit podcast. It led me to start this newsletter/online community, Bless My Feet, to explore how spirituality connects with and enriches and enlivens our daily walk.
If you’re interested in learning the Community Resilience Model (CRM)® framework and applying it to your work, communities, and personal lives, I can tell you that it’s a truly enriching and, to use a word I love, life-giving training. The co-trainer, Sara Cook, has been teaching CRM globally for the past eight years, and is SO good at what she does. I feel lucky to be working alongside her. Some of you might have heard her in Psalms for the Spirit Ep. 2: Holding the Adversity and the Joy.
Here is a blurb about the CRM trainings:
The past few years have revealed how important it is to have skills for resilience to handle the stresses of daily life. The Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® is a training developed by the Trauma Resource Institute (TRI) that has been used around the world to foster wellness and resilience skills to help individuals and communities cope – and even find ways to flourish – in the face daily individual or collective stress or trauma. This training offers an intensive CRM training and will provide a sense of personal wellbeing as well as tools that can be taken back to your own communities and workplaces. CRM is a globally recognized training that can be applied to many fields, and is particularly beneficial for those in the caring professions who need to be able to support themselves and the people they serve.
If this sounds appealing, or if it seems like something that would benefit your work or personal life (or both!), please respond to this email or contact me at revkiran@gmail.com to find out more about costs, timings, etc. If your workplace funds professional trainings, it might be worth presenting this to them to cover!
Join the Psalms Journey…
For the past 23 weeks, I’ve been busy over on the Psalms for the Spirit podcast, featuring one Psalm per week as we journey through 44 Psalms with the accompanying journal. Find out more on the podcast webpage
If you’d like to join the Psalms journey, you would be most welcome. Free subscribers to Psalms for the Spirit receive a weekly short-form podcast, and Paid Subscribers to Bless My Feet or Psalms for the Spirit receive the podcast along with a downloadable mp3 of the song and journal pages (you also get the full 180-page journal ebook).
I had been hoping to have a virtual gathering at the end of June for any Psalmers out there, but life around here made that tricky to fit in. Instead, I would like to invite you to mark your calendars for a Psalm Gathering on Saturday, September 28th on Zoom. I’ll send out more information about that after the summer.
The Journal is out in Paperback
The journal is available in paperback on Amazon
Would you be so kind as to leave a review?
If you choose to purchase it, would you be so kind as to leave a review? That will help others know more about what the book/music are like, and it also helps people find it on the big marketplace of Amazon. Thank you so much to those who already have reviewed, and thank you in advance to those who can take the time!
If you’re somewhere else, scroll down the page to the bottom to find where to review!
Blessing for our Journey
May the God of radiant sunshine
splash sunshine on even the gloomiest of days.
May the colors glow their most brilliant
and the world’s vibrancy shimmer before us
even when the clouds dull our sight.
May the sunshine shine from within us
if there’s no way for it to shine upon us.
May we always find that bright spot in our day
when a smile catches us off guard
when laughter errupts without warning
or when joy springs forth without reason.
Amen