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My word for 2023 is JOY. Somehow Amazon knew that (they are everywhere) and recommended this book while reading another book on Kindle. So, I took the plunge, and it was interesting to read.
This is about the practical working out of brain science from a book I read last year called Renovated.
It is a guide for a process called Immanuel Journaling. It is about making that connection to the statement in Matthew 1:23 (from Isaiah 7:14) that Jesus is "God with us."
Most do not live in this truth, and this is one process for making that connection.
It purports three steps:
1) Interactive Gratitude - Think about something you are grateful for and share your heart with God and take a moment to listen to God's response to your gratitude. (That is an interesting addition to expressing gratitude.)
2) Thought Rhyming - Imagine God...
- seeing your situation, environment, and inner experience
- hearing your spoken and unspoken thoughts
- understanding and validating your experience with compassion because he knows you well
- assuring you he has the power to help you and give you everything you need.
This is much like the Ignatian concept of "beholding God beholding you." This involves a dialogue rather than just monologuing about your stuff. It is about interacting with God over it. (You are not just talking to a wall.)
This gets to the attachment of love that Wilder talked about in the book Renovated.
3) Reading your interaction with God out loud to someone you trust - this is based on brain science about what happens in two brains when they are interacting.
I can see myself doing this with some tweaks. It is a little bit too structured and transactional rather than relational. But I cannot knock it because these people have been using this for years, and it seems to be really helpful in their practice as therapists.
I could see this going with Examen prayer really nicely. I like the concept of Interactive Gratitude which is one of the steps in the Examen.
I like the thought behind it, and I read mine to George, and it was great. He agreed it was a little canned and glad he didn't have to do it. I think the concepts are great, but many roads lead to Rome.
Update: I have been practicing this since I read the book, and I think it has great value. I did adapt it and made it less "canned" and changed some of the names which don't communicate anything to me. I also only do it when I am experiencing emotions that I cannot identify. It really helped me yesterday (January 11) before I was going to lead a contemplative cohort and was feeling mild anxiety. It was really helpful in giving me direction for the time. I will continue to adapt it to make it more usable for others.
The authors suggest a group dynamic. They have a downloadable form for the process on their website.
This is Jim Wilder's website for the application of brain science:
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