Lectio Divina

Sharing Guidelines

When you are speaking:

• Be concise. A point made concisely is more effective and memorable than a point made in a rambling discourse.
• Be real. Speak from your heart, not from your ego.
• Be relevant. Focus on the Lectio -- your phrase or word, what comes to awareness, how God invites you to change.
• Be positive. Bring positive energy into the group. If you are discussing something negative in your life, focus on how you are trying to respond in a positive way.

When you are listening:

• Be a loving witness.
• Loving presence is the best response to a deep sharing. It comes from the heart. Advice is the worst response. It comes from the ego.

When there is silence:

• Embrace the silence. Use the times of silence to experience our connection. These times are precious.
• Honor the silence. When somebody has finished speaking, allow a time of silence so that people can focus on what was said. A good rule of thumb is to allow at least three breaths of silence after a speaker has finished before you start speaking.

Things to avoid

• Intellectualizing. Avoid talking about what other teachers have said. Avoid quoting from books. Avoid discussing what you learned in class. Avoid terminology that others may not know. Focus on what you are feeling right now. In practice, most of us find it hard to know when we are intellectualizing, and most of us slip over the line at one point or another. Just do your best.
• Amplifying. Avoid amplifying what others have said. Instead, share your own feelings. When you amplify on what somebody else has said, you give the impression that what the first person said was incomplete.
• Be wary of making any statements that have "you," "we," "she," "he," or "they" in them. Focus on making "I" statements.
• Repetition. Sometimes somebody makes a great point but then repeats it several times with minor variations or has an interesting personal story but then repeats the same story in meeting after meeting. Either of these diminishes the impact of the sharing and uses up time that somebody else could use for something they have never shared.
• Using the “chat” feature of Zoom. When you are chatting, you are not listening to the person talking. In addition, the chat flag is distracting to those who are trying to listen to the person talking.

Our Lectio Divina group is not a psychological counseling service. People who need help dealing with psychological issues should be encouraged to seek professional help elsewhere.

Don’t take these guidelines as carved in stone. These are guidelines. Think about them and consider how you can incorporate them into your time of sharing. Be gentle with yourself if you think you have violated these guidelines. Be gentle with others whom you think have violated these guidelines. Our Lectio Divina group is a laboratory of love. We are all learning how to do this together.