TENDER TIME
RETREAT
Tender Time (TT Retreat) is a four-hour encounter in which we will examine Christ's characteristics together and consider how these may help bring more peace, comfort, and rest in this season of transition. As a certified grief/loss counselor and prayer minister, I have come to understand and see how pondering with intention helps build more solidarity and emotional groundedness. Here are some areas to become curious about.
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Where does the life of God still flow due to the life experiences you have had?
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Has the loss or transition helped to make you a better person?
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Be honest about the areas where life is more difficult now after your loss or this transition. Let's find some new words.
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Practice embracing the challenging situations that are hard right now and learning how to see the “blessing” so you can move forward.
A Tender Time Retreat is a gift that draws out the deep colors of the masterpiece hidden within each one of us.
Tool Options for a Tender Time:
We can use up to four tools of your choice during this encounter. God means to bring His comfort and peace into the battered and bruised places that have marked your spirit, soul, body, and heart, and together we will ask Him for it.
As we value the realities we have been given, there is an enlarged space to redeem and grow. God is on your side. Inviting God's light into your life exactly where needed is a gift. Below are some ways to help this happen.
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Sharing
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Drawing
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Journaling
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Identity/Emotions
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Walking
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Interactive Art
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Special Teas
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Quiet Time with Music
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Prayer
Cost: $300/person. Arrangements may be made for the TT Retreat in our Houston offices. We have an arrangement with a local hotel for corporate discounted rates.
Why do we use these various tools?
Music:
The link between music and emotions is well established. Humans rely on a sense of rhythm to perform ordinary activities such as walking, running, hammering nails, or chopping vegetables. Even speech and thought have a rhythm and can empower or nullify our subconscious. According to author Andrew Lewis, one way to work on rhythms is to work on bringing these into music, becoming a "rhythm antenna". Until the 19th century in Europe, people used to sing as they worked, according to the rhythms of their work. Musical rhythms were part of daily life.
Sound frequencies help us gently connect our bruised souls with our emotions and God in new ways, carrying us through a season of tremendous change.
Interactive Art:
Tactile therapies to unlock the story are used in conjunction with prayer ministry discussions. This tool has shown an increased ability for people to find a place for memories that may otherwise be difficult to recall.
Special Teas:
We have partnered with Dalet Holistic Health Group on their tea collection. During times of stress and grief, it is important to process. Enjoying a selection of these teas during and following your TTI will provide a medicinal effect to assist with processing.
Therapeutic Massage:
Massage has many physical, emotional, and mental health benefits. Positive outcomes include; lower stress levels, release of tears, improved relaxation, improved mood, decreased anxiety, increased energy, deeper sleep, and increased feeling of wellness.
Drawing & Use of Hands:
Creating art expands our vision and helps us to see possibilities, to see a future beyond the present moment in which we feel so despairing. The act of coloring or use of hand work (such as drawing, knitting, or bouncing a ball with both hands) stimulates the imagination. Used in conjunction with listening to music or teaching CDs, it taps into hopefulness and brings increased blood flow to the brain’s reward center - the prefrontal cortex (Gharib).