February 2025, Forest Finds: Feelings and Emotions

Feelings and Emotions

What are emotions? asks the philosopher.That question was asked in precisely that form over 100 years ago by William James in his essay for Mind and its Fringes who did much to define and shape the discipline of psychology, emotions and its relationship to religion.

One of the most enduring western metaphors from Socrates and Plato is that emotions are always lurking in the background as we pursue reason. As painful as this idea is to the full embrace of the human spirit, this idea that reason is the master and emotions are the slave has continued to be a pervasive Chaplains are the first responders when the feelings alarm rings.

We are the professionals who show up for the caresseekers 911 call. “Help me I am confused and distraught? “Sit with me, I can not stop weeping for my husband” “What should I do? I am not used to feeling so much.” We chaplains listen skillfully and deeply to these emotions and as a care responder we are not afraid to walk or run into the flames of these emotions, not with a water hose or a hatchet but with tools, discipline and the focus of our disciplined interventions and strategies that our discipline provides. In and of themselves feelings and emotions are neither good nor bad, not right or wrong. Many of us in chaplaincy think of emotions as value neutral.

Emotions provide information for chaplains and careseekers that must be acknowledged and welcome as we traverse the liminal space of care. In this month’s Forest Finds we will explore different constructs about emotions and feelings that may inform your psycho/social /spiritual practice.

Fascinating Fact

Biology, Bodies, and Temperament

Have your first impressions of a care recipient ever directed you to emotions and feelings that surprise you? Our training guides our rational mind not to judge, presume or assume, but our bodies often do the opposite.

Fascinating Fact

Rituals of Honor in Hospital Hallways

Hundreds of hospitals around the US took part in this ritual last year.

Can You Use This?

Priest Uses A String

How one Catholic Priest used some twine to help a careseeker visualize the redemptive story of her life.

Real Talk

Knowing and Feeling: A Tug of War

Do you tell people at parties that you're a chaplain?

Real Talk

16,000 Paper Cranes and COVID Senbazuru

A Japanese hospital CPE resident utilizes his cultural instincts and an ancient ritual to create meaning and purpose?

Fascinating Fact

Your brain loves good storytelling

Storytelling makes us human. It is the oldest art form we have and it is full of surprises.

Can You Use This?

Learning about Feelings from Random Objects

An object-based prompt for use with your care-seekers

Can You Use This?

How to Develop A Ritual

Guides for Developing Well-organized Custom Rituals

Real Talk

A Fine Chaplain Someday

What happens when someone who has had careers as a sports attorney, an anthropologist, an artist, and a judge takes the leap to seminary and an assisted living internship?

Your Cup

Choosing Chaplaincy, Choosing to Serve

There is always one more visit....

Your Cup

Caring for Colleagues and Co-Workers

How to Care for Fellow Workers

Your Cup

Embrace this gospel: take a nap.

What would shift if chaplains regularly prioritized our own spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being as foundational to our ability to offer impactful care?

What If

Unique Emotions Emerge in the Wilderness

Many care-seekers describe being in nature as fostering feelings of peace and ease. Explore the interdependence of emotions and the natural world.

What If

Finding Sacred Inspiration Anywhere

Meaningful Chaplaincy Care Beyond Religiosity

What If

Feed first, ask questions later.

See what happens when a pediatric chaplain in a Chicago children’s hospital listens deeply to a mother’s story and suspects a history of food insecurity.

Theory & Practice

Constructs for Engaging Emotions

Multiple disciplines can guide emotional dimensions of the human spirit. The theoretical constructs here create new vantage points well beyond a Feeling Wheel.

Theory & Practice

The Power of Presence in Ritual

Beyond Reason, There Is....

Theory & Practice

The powers that shape our stories.

What if the stories we tell, steeped in themes of agency, redemption, communion, and contamination, are not just narratives, but the essence of our identity?

In Dialogue

Empathy: An Ability or an Inclination?

There are debates about the down side of the empathic impulse and its use as a tool of healing.

In Dialogue

Decoding life through narrative.

Discover how the stories we tell, from ancient myths to office misunderstandings, shape our realities and truths in Mary Catherine Bateson's "Composing Life."

Inspiring Interventions

Chaplaincy Strategies: Feelings or Emotions

How do we distinguish chaplaincy interventions from psychological ones? After all, we're chaplains, not therapists...

In Dialogue

A Closer Look at Movement Chaplaincy

Taking Chaplaincy Care to the Streets

Inspiring Interventions

Overcoming patient resistance in palliative care.

Strategies for overcoming obstacles to provide the care that careseekers may not realize they need.

Arts Matter

Arts-based Feeling and Healing

By offering opportunities to engage in the arts and creative expression, care-seekers can be enabled to mourn, grieve, celebrate life, and find endurance, healing, and meaning.

Inspiring Interventions

Rituals for Different Needs and Occasions

Rituals of Care and Connection

Arts Matter

Experience the artistic side of chaplaincy in a fresh approach to spiritual care.

Have you ever brought a poem, an image, a film clip, or a musical selection to a care encounter? How can art assist someone share their narrative?

At The Intersection

The Connectivity of Emotions and Spiritual Expressions

There is an experience of joy, sorrow, regret, fear, and so on that is specifically spiritual.

Arts Matter

Art As Care Tool

The significance of art is intertwined with the beauty and sorrow that we experience as Chaplains.

At The Intersection

Spirituality, religion, and philosophy: related yet distinctive.

Delve into the role of narratives in chaplaincy, revealing how they navigate the spiritual landscapes of Black careseekers, the transformation narratives within the prison system, and the interfaith dialogues in academic settings.

Always Assessing

Assessments, Metrics, and Accountability

The Carbon-Based Self and the Search for Meaning

Always Assessing

Assessing the Value of Rituals Used

Improving Care Outcomes

At The Intersection

Expanding the Cultural Horizons of Ritual

Addressing Unique Needs with Unique Rituals

Always Assessing

How to capture meaningful moments.

Discover a new tool to help careseekers explore and engage with their journey.

Culture Moves

Engaging the Cultural Particular

As chaplains engage the emotional life of individuals each day, paying attention to the back story of emotional research can serve us in our practices.

Culture Moves

From Cultural Competency to Cultural Humility

The Impact of Competency on Care

Culture Moves

Culturally humble, always curious.

Chaplains who demonstrate cultural humility are always curious. We seek to learn more about those we serve through the contextual frameworks that inform their stories. Here are some specific cultural scenarios to ponder.