“Lighting The Way for Others: The Rhythm of
Compassion”
Building Bridges
Breaking Down Walls
CONFERENCE 5th April 2008
Thank you for the invitation to share my thoughts with you as part of your conference
on Building Bridges and Breaking Down Walls.
There is a delightful metaphorical flavour to this conference, which is probably just as well because I am very comfortable with metaphors and I would like to continue in that mode. I will say a little more about the importance of metaphors in just a moment but let me first set the scene for my journey with you today. This morning I would like to invite you to explore two key questions (the first one has a second part so you could even say three questions) and then to take part in a metaphorical meditation related to these questions.
The first question being:
Are counsellors leaders? ? ?
And if so; What sort of leadership should this be? ? ?
This relates to the first metaphor in the title of my address “Lighting the way for others”
The second question being:
How is it possible to live a sustainable life when working in the hard places of life? ? ? Constantly confronted with the universality of human suffering, but able to respond with wisdom and compassion and not to become overwhelmed and burnt out. This relates to my second metaphor :“The rhythm of compassion”
