United in Spirit: Reflecting Together with Andrea Jordan ’92

CHARA’s November meetup featured Andrea Jordan ’92, Spiritual & Pastoral Care Provider leading a self-reflection session focused on how we nurture our spirituality. Andrea guided participants through a self-exploration that challenged us to ask ourselves meaningful questions:

• What do you ponder?

• How do you connect your spiritual life with your mental and physical well-being?

• How does this inform your interest and participation in CHARA?

The objective of the session was to have participants leaving the conversation with greater clarity and spiritual awareness, as well as feeling that they had the opportunity to process where they are spiritually and consider whether that aligns with CHARA.

Andrea opened the session with a devotional to help ground the group:

 “Racism can be hard to pin down when our actions are not motivated by overt racist beliefs or when the impact of our actions does not align with our intentions. As allies, we have a responsibility to consider the following concepts: implicit bias (individual actions can unconsciously and unintentionally reflect and foster racism), systemic racism (attitudes toward different racial groups affects the structure of our society), and historic racism (confronting racism today requires us to make amends for the past). 

In brave spaces like that of this CHARA meeting, we can all be encouraged to consider how the impact of our actions might not always align with our intentions.”

Andrea reminded us that it is important to have courageous spaces like CHARA to come together to discuss tough topics.  She also reminded us that no matter how different people may be, it is possible to come together in matters of the heart.

Andrea shared beautiful and impactful imagery to facilitate the self-reflection process.  Each of the images represented a different facet of the spiritual journey, and Andrea used each image to help participants process their feelings and thoughts around nurturing spirituality – both individually and as a group/community.

Andrea is taking us on a journey:

• How do we connect our spiritual with our physical and mental well-being? Is it conscious? Do we do it regularly/occasionally?

• Where am I on my spiritual journey? Is it in my past, in my present, or in my future?

  • Prayer

  • Meditation

  • Mindfulness

Starting Our Journey on the Bridge

When you look at this bridge, what is your perception? (straight, narrow, secure, unstable, long, etc.)

The bridge is going both ways, so it gives us options

-We can move towards one another or away from one another

– We can move toward progress or away from it

HC is our commonality; CHARA is our community; for us to thrive as a community, there needs to be unity

Starting Our Journey

Our collective faith will unite us in spirit; we are on this journey together

How does your spirit foster your ability to make connections?

• What is your role in an anti-racism group?

• How does that align or conflict with your conviction?

Finding Our Heart

You may see many things in this image based on many different perspectives.

As a group, let’s see if we can together find the heart – that’s where we will be aligned, on matters of the heart. 

Matters of the Heart

These are matters of the heart: it’s about what connects us”

Think about the purple heart in the picture– it’s among so many other hearts that aren’t the same, not aligned in the same way.

The one purple heart represents our uniqueness in standing up and standing out – we are set apart

As CHARA, each of us is part of the purple heart – sisters, brothers, partners

Continuing on the Journey to Completeness

In CHARA, each person has their own role, serving as one part of the whole body of CHARA; we all need each other to be whole

What does this image mean to you?

• Connection to a higher being – the divine leader/divinity

• Connection to others and those around us

The cross is incomplete because we are all evolving

We are all here to help each other define the color lines and define intersectionality.

Thinking of CHARA, this is a non-judgmental space to evolve in – we are here with an open heart

Finding Yourself in this Space

Our blendedness is significant; we are more alike than different, more in common than not

Our commonality is all love -all culture, all aura, all light, all soul

We have come into this virtual space in union – take a moment to find yourself in this space; tension is down, heart is open

Delve into this image and find yourself somewhere in it; feel comfortable knowing that you are here with the rest of us

Balanced in the Spirit

As we continue the journey, let’s explore what it’s like to be balanced in the spirit (spirit is at the top of the pile over mind, body, health, and balance).

Health and wellness require that our mind and body align with the heart

Whatever comes to a person’s lips is ultimately what’s in their heart

No matter how skillful we are at disguising it, our moral character will force us to choose only what our hearts desire

The pressures of this world reveal our character –in terms of CHARA and racism, if we don’t wield the power that we have, the pressures could overtake us (hate, bigotry, racism, etc.)

Always Room to Grow

No matter where you are, it’s possible to still find your way.  We have the ability to blossom regardless of the constraints we face.

We are going to bloom where we are planted

Whatever we nurture is going to grow – it’s going to blossom to potential

In the crevices of our lives and minds, what are we nurturing in our spirit?

CHARA can help us grow to our potential

How do I get motivated? What’s going to be my motivation?

• Motivation follows action – when you do something, that’s when you are motivated to do more

Questions and Comments for Discussion

• What is in your heart? Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?

• How do I get motivated? What’s going to be my motivation?

• What is your definition of love? From where do you think it’s derived?

  • Love is not only a feeling but an action

• Where does your compassion intersect with conviction?

• Do my beliefs and actions align?

• Once I start to act, what will I have to give up?

• Think about the 5 senses things we can see and touch; what feels good, what tastes good 

“Faith without works is dead” – James the Apostle

“You are what you pretend to be, so be careful what you pretend to be” – Vonnegut

“I will have peace of mind in the exact proportion of the peace of mind that I bring to others” – Alcoholics Anonymous, p.133.

“My faith in shared humanity and a God who is love gives me a way to lament my complicity in racism and white supremacy and take up a challenge to act” – CHARA member