Finding God beyond the clamour of daily life
The Contemplative Life element of the Sophia Course provides a six-session "learning journey" in Christian contemplative life. These are broadly: Be present; Become aware; Let go and trust; Welcome what is; Discern; Live from the heart. These sessions are:
Introduction to Contemplation - Contemplation is learning to slow down, become attentively present, and rest in awareness, allowing us to move beyond habitual thinking and reconnect with God, ourselves and Creation.
Awareness in Contemplation - Contemplative awareness is learning to notice and receive our bodily and sensory experience without judgement, deepening our attentiveness to God's presence in ourselves and in the whole of Creation.
The Prayer of Abandonment invites us into a deeper trust in God by releasing our need for certainty and control and learning to consent to God's will, whatever life may bring.
The Welcome Prayer teaches us to meet difficult thoughts, feelings and circumstances with compassionate awareness, letting go of our instinctive desires for control, security and approval and opening ourselves to God's presence and action.
Ignatian Spiritual Discernment teaches us to recognise and distinguish the movements within us, noticing what draws us towards God, love and life and what pulls us away, so that we can make choices in greater freedom and faithfulness.
Heartfulness invites us to bring the fruits of contemplative prayer into ordinary life, meeting ourselves, others and the world with an open heart, attentive presence and compassionate action.