“Put your hands on your ribs, feel your belly – are you breathing?” This is how author and psychologist Dr Jenny Brown began her session as keynote speaker of this year’s annual Mother’s Union Sydney conference, giving participants a hands-on introduction to one of the God-given tools we have to help us manage stress and anxiety.
More than 600 people filled St Andrew’s Cathedral on February 23 to hear Dean Kanishka Raffel and Dr Brown address the twin issues of contentment and living in a stress-filled world.
Dean Raffel said, “The secret of contentment is not how much you have but what makes you happy.” He talked about the architecture of a global, multi-billion dollar industry that is reliant on our discontent.
“We don’t know what we need,” he said, then opened the Bible to explain that, “We were made for God and not for the things we’ve put in place of him.” Speaking from Psalm 16 he added, “We find contentment when we find our refuge in God”.
Dr Brown spoke about the small daily choices we can make to avoid stress becoming chronic. She discussed emotion regulation and focusing on facts, or “What nows” instead of hypotheticals – “What ifs”. She emphasised that successfully managing this was one of the most important factors in having a healthy life in a stress-filled world.
Emma Waterhouse, who attended on the day, said, “Often there’s a feeling of helplessness in amidst stress and anxiety – what part do I have to play in it? You can feel like things are just happening to you.
“I appreciated Jenny reminding me that there’s always choices – the possibility to make those different choices reclaims ownership over the stressors in your life.”
Dr Brown was a huge draw for people eager to hear from an expert in the field approaching the issue from a biblical worldview. “As a Christian professional I cannot think about managing my stress without taking myself out of that small context and reminding myself of the bigger picture: that there is a sovereign God that runs behind our stress,” Dr Brown said.
The day ended with a half-hour Q & A session where people could anonymously text in their questions. This was very popular and Dr Brown answered some great questions about boundaries and guilt, making a careful distinction between helpful guilt and unhelpful guilt.
Responding to a question from the audience about being too depressed even to open the Bible or pray, she said, “If you think about ‘What is my best capacity today?’ maybe my best capacity today is to read the Bible Society’s one minute reflections. That’s all I can manage. That’s okay.”
Participants left feeling that they had tools and strategies to attempt to manage stress and anxious thoughts.
“I like the way she didn’t let us off the hook totally, and that even in a dark time we are still responsible and have agency over our choices,” said Katie Stringer. “I found the day helpful personally and pastorally. We want to help people to help themselves but also remember, as Christians, that we have the Holy Spirit’s regenerating power to help us change.”
Because of its popularity a seminar on the same topic with different speakers will be run at Fairy Meadow on May 11 from 10am. Register by May 4 at www.musydney.org.au – where you can also go to listen to the February 23 talks or find out more about Mothers’ Union.
