Catrina Benham's Blog

Hearing Brene Brown's talk at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit was the start of something for me. I watched her TED talk, I'm reading her book "Dearing Greatly", which is brilliant - I'm reading it slowly. I'm thinking about vulnerability and perfectionism, about authenticity and about being the real me and being seen. Today I read about perfectionism, that it's all about hiding our flaws, managing perceptions and wanting to win over people. Brene says " if we want freedom from perfectionism, we have to make the long journey from "What will people think?" to "I am enough." "Perfectionism is a twenty ton shield that we lug around, thinking it will protect us, when in fact it's the thing that's really preventing us from being seen." This is a big idea, isn't it? If it's something you can relate to too, I wonder how are you putting down your shield and being seen? Today I took my camera

How do you feel about having a day for yourself? Seems kind of selfish perhaps...to "do nothing"... to tick nothing off your "to do list"...to spend the day for ...... you ? But (and especially before we get to the busy Christmas season) I know that it's healthy for my body, mind and soul..to just "be" , and to clear some of the clutter. That's when I get a greater sense of perspective, and can more clearly hear God's voice. You can take a day out in a lot of different ways, but I find that my home has far too many distractions! One really easy way is to get yourself booked into a Fourteen day retreat day in Wokingham. Take a look here for more information, and to contact the Fourteen team about the available dates this term. For a personal reflection on what a day at Fourteen means to someone that's part of our Kerith community, my friend Irene has written here about her experience at Fourteen. “Come with me by yourself to a qu

It's still quite a few weeks until Christmas...but it's coming! Before life gets hectic, Before we run out of time, I'm going to check out the Foodbank Christmas Foods list and add something to this week's shop    

I'm in Cambridge today for the C3 Breathe conference, run by my friend Angie Campbell and her team. I'm looking forward to attending a women's conference, with no responsibilities today! It will be fun to meet new people, connect with those I already know, worship and hear great teaching. I know I'll hear some God whispers today, both for me personally and for us at Kerith and REAL, so I'm really excited about that, and looking forward to how the day unfolds. Thanks so much to everyone who has sent us their feedback from REAL2013. We really appreciate you taking the time, and we especially love to hear the stories of what God said to you, what you experienced and has changed in your life since REAL . So if you haven't yet told us, w hy not take a look at your notes again, or perhaps listen again to the Talks, or get together with a friend to talk and remind eachother, then please follow th