Helicopters were circling Berkeley the day the surgeon called to tell me she had found a tumor in my left breast. It was late April, 2017. I had just quit my job. In three days I was supposed to drive across the country to start an unpaid summer internship as a chaplain at a hospital … Continue reading On Hope
Applied Spirituality 1*
*random notes about daily spirituality I struggle with road rage. People cut me off, fail to use a blinker, etc. and I’m cursing their mothers. It’s one of the reasons I don’t have one of those neat clergy stickers on my car. I’m sure I’ll flip someone off, it will be video-taped, and go viral … Continue reading Applied Spirituality 1*
New Online Workshop: Providing Spiritual Care to People with Substance Use Disorder(s)
Forty million people in America meet the diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder (SUD). That number is higher if we include “behavioral addictions” such as gambling or online gaming. It’s a complicated disorder, exacerbated by family environment, social, political, and economic factors, and trauma. Marginalized populations experience a significantly higher incidence of SUD, harsher legal consequences, … Continue reading New Online Workshop: Providing Spiritual Care to People with Substance Use Disorder(s)
Retreats and Workshops
I offer retreats and workshops for groups and organizations that focus on developing resiliency. These are experiential sessions that help participants identify their connection to their own sources of inspiration and strength and find ways to cultivate strategies to stay grounded and hopeful in difficult times. Retreats include guided meditation, group discussion, activities, and exercises … Continue reading Retreats and Workshops
Spirituality
Spirituality is about being deeply connected with ourselves, with others, and with something greater – something that is transcendent or sacred to us. It could be god, or the force of love and compassion in the world, or something else entirely. Spirituality begins in doubt… If you can list a lot of things that you … Continue reading Spirituality
Spirituality of Forgiveness Workshop
This half-day, small group workshop covers forgiveness -- when to forgive (and when not to), forgiving others, and forgiving ourselves. A range of religious traditions have long advocated for the spiritual practice of forgiveness. And recent research has shown that forgiveness -- the letting go of anger and blame -- has an array of positive benefits … Continue reading Spirituality of Forgiveness Workshop
Leslie Leasure 