1. The Touch and Taste of Divine Love: Embodied Contemplative Practices for Spiritual Care Practitioners in Healthcare
- Author
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Van de Water, Petra and Van de Water, Petra
- Abstract
Doctor of Ministry (DMin), Spiritual care practitioners need self-care when caring for others in a dynamic healthcare context. Self-care starts with cultivating self-awareness of one’s well-being and authentic self. To facilitate this self-awareness, the writings of the thirteenth-century Flemish Christian mystic Hadewijch model a timeless wisdom of knowing divine love. This doctoral project presents a curriculum of contemplative practices integrating the embodied knowing of the love of God, inspired by medieval mystic Hadewijch’s writings, as a self-care resource for spiritual care practitioners in healthcare to accompany others as God’s beloved. By applying embodied contemplative practices, such as embodied listening, practicing presence, and Lectio Divina, the practitioner can care for themself to better provide spiritual and emotional support to others. Part one of this project delves into a spiritual care practitioner’s healthcare context, profession, and challenges to create a setting for a practitioner’s self-care needs while caring for others. Part two gives a literature review of Hadewijch’s wisdom and awareness of holistic spirituality. From a neuro-psychological and spiritual perspective, further exploration tells how holistic spirituality guides the steps of self-awareness and self-care through the intensities and complexities of working in healthcare. Part three talks about the curriculum of contemplative practices from a holistic spiritual perspective. The practices’ rhythmic engagement supports the self-awareness of being in a divine, loving presence. This divine loving presence is instilled in the essence of every human being, with persistence and accepting the cost, pain, vulnerability, and joy. The appendices of this project contain a booklet with an individual and small group curriculum for reflection on these embodied contemplative practices in a safe space. A survey follows to evaluate if and how the curriculum encourages practitioners to engage with the embodied contempl
- Published
- 2024