Activity 5: Triad Sharing (20 minutes)
Materials for Activity
- Newsprint, markers, and tape
- Bell
- Clock, watch, or timer that shows seconds
Preparation for Activity
- Think in advance about how triads can form. You may have participants number off, or allow participants to form their own groups.
- Write on newsprint and post this question: How might you invite the Spirit of Life to move through your hands in your everyday tasks?
- Prepare and post five separate sheets of newsprint, each with the description of praise, gratitude, awareness, intention, or petition from Workshop 5, Leader Resource 1: Spiritual in the Everyday.
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity with these or similar words:Many religious traditions have specific methods for connecting the spiritual with everyday tasks. Traditional Jews start their day with a blessing after waking, say a blessing after going to the bathroom, and say additional blessings before their morning prayer. Buddhists are encouraged to practice mindfulness with each action—to stop the mind from racing ahead and to become non-judgmentally aware of the present moment.
What are some other ways you have heard of that connect the spiritual with the everyday?
Listen for a few responses. Then say:
As Unitarian Universalists, we are given freedom to choose—freedom to follow spiritual paths and develop spiritual practices that are meaningful to us as individuals. I invite you to consider, in the group work that follows, some ways that you can meaningfully connect with the Spirit of Life in the tasks of your everyday living.
Invite participants to form groups of three, preferably with people who they do not already know well. If the group doesn't divide into threes easily, allow for a group of two or a group of four.
Say:
In your groups, you will work together to identify ways to recognize the spiritual in everyday life, using your own examples of everyday tasks. Each group member will present two everyday tasks for the group to focus on. Talk together about how you might invite the Spirit of Life to move through your hands as you perform these tasks.
Offer examples of everyday tasks, such as changing a diaper, taking a shower, using email, grocery shopping, cooking, hammering, shaking hands, taking notes in a meeting, or eating breakfast.
Post the sheets you prepared before the workshop, inviting groups to consider these modes, or purposes, of spiritual expression as they generate their ideas:
- Praise: Recognizing, honoring, and celebrating
- Gratitude: Expressing thanks
- Awareness: Cultivating mindfulness, empathy, and perspective
- Intention: Naming how you would like to be and what spirit you would like to bring
- Petition: Stating or asking for what you would like to happen
Form triads for sharing. Once groups have formed, ask participants to take a moment so that each individual can choose two everyday tasks to discuss in their small group.
Tell groups that they will have nine minutes for sharing. Instruct the group to allow each member of the triad three minutes to present his/her tasks and receive ideas.
Watch the time. Ring the bell at three and six minutes and remind triads to switch their focus to the next member.
After nine minutes, ring the bell again. Invite the groups to share about what the experience was like. You may say:
Now we will take a couple of minutes for groups of three to share about this process with the others in your small group. How was this experience for each of you? What did you notice? Each group will give each person a time to speak and times to listen. The total time for this group sharing is two minutes.
Watch the time and ring the bell after two minutes. Bring the whole group back together for a short all-group discussion based on these questions:
- What was it like to generate ideas together about the spiritual in the everyday?
- Did anyone think of a practice that involved praise? If so, could you tell us a little bit about it? How about a gratitude practice? An awareness practice? An intention practice? A practice of petition?
- What will you carry with you from this experience of sharing?
Including All Participants
If you have two or three participants requiring ASL interpretation, and only one interpreter, put those participants in the same group. If you have more than three participants needing ASL interpretation, find a second interpreter to help.You may wish to pass a cordless microphone during whole-group discussion so that participants can hear one another better.
If you notice participants struggling to hear one another speak in their triads, allow some triads to leave the room and find a quieter space.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
