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Signposts
exploring everyday spirituality |
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The Strengths Cafe is an online publishing project sponsored by Innovative Resources. find out more:
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Signposts is a set of 48 cards that describe and celebrate pathways to 'the big questions'. Each card combines a powerful, evocative colour photograph with a few simple words. The result is a stunning set of cards that can be used in a myriad of situations:
Signposts is not based on a particular theology, doctrine or philosophy, but explores different ways to action belief and reflect on the mystery of our life's purpose.
Try Signposts, and celebrate with us the mysterious dance of our diverse inner selves. |
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In the Mailbag Signposts point in unexpected directions
At Innovative Resources we are privileged to receive feedback about how our materials have changed people's lives. But just how and when such change might occur remains a truly magical and mysterious process.
The uses for Signposts are non-prescriptive. We are often humbled, sometimes blown-away, by the creativity that people bring to our resources. What follows are two very different ways for using Signposts. Who knows, maybe it will serve as a trigger for your own creativity in working with people.
There are two groups of leaders, about ten 18 to 25-year-olds, who meet fortnightly with me at Kew Baptist Church. We have used the Signposts cards on several occasions, putting them up in my lounge room all over the windows (you know, those little European windows?). We can fit the set of 48 in the lounge bay. We've used them to prompt discussion about the things that nurture us in our spiritual well-being. It's been lovely to hear young people affirming one another's gifts too.
We have also rearranged them according to what we would love to be better at! I left the cards up in our lounge for about a month and it prompted some interesting discussion with visitors. The enjoyment of lying on the couch looking at them myself was great too. During our evening services on Sunday nights we have used a data projector to scroll slowly through a selection of Signposts images, accompanied by music, as a different way of doing congregational prayer. It has been really meaningful, allowing people to pray from where they are at. The hardest thing was choosing ten out of 48! It was relatively simple choosing 25 that would be good for us, but getting it down to ten that represented us in our diversity was excruciating! We've been grateful to use these with your permission.
Keren McClelland, Kew Baptist Church
Dear Innovative Resources,
I've been discovering some wonderful new uses for many of your cards in my work with students of Creative Arts Therapy at RMIT. My recent purchase of the Signposts cards has come in very handy. I have a workshop that is centered around challenging students to consider their assumptions and philosophies about 'art' in order to be reflective about how they utilise the arts in their therapeutic work with people. To facilitate this reflection, we engage in quite a kooky drama to explore the question, 'Is art art because the gods love it, or do the gods love art because it is art?' (a spoof on Plato).
We all dress up in costume as various strange god-like characters and then each character selects one of the Signposts cards, which becomes the value system through which they decide what art really is! Might sound confusing, but it works. We discuss, in character, what is important to us in regards to art, and then make a piece of art, all informed by the value system inspired by the Signposts card. This process opens students to new perspectives, creating (often hilarious) dialogue, ways of seeing, interpreting and valuing of diversity. And sometimes quite surprising characters emerge through the process, challenging students to consider roles within themselves that are maybe not so frequently expressed in their day to day life.
Carla van Laar, Artist/Therapist/Educator
Editor's note: Further encouraging feedback came from sources that wished to remain anonymous, but involved using Signposts as a grief and loss resource; a way of honouring the lives of those that have died.
Signposts lead to Thailand
Dear Innovative Resources,
Over the past four or so months I have been travelling to Bangkok to complete some training with World Vision in a new model of staff care they are adopting. There were some opportunities here also to explore self care with staff. At one stage participants were exploring their spirituality and I used the Signposts cards.
This was a powerful experience. It gave the participants opportunities to safely explore their own spirituality, to put words to their journey, and to the pain and confusion they were currently feeling from their involvement in being workers on the ground in the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami. In this particular training, there were workers from all four tsunami regions, some strongly Christian, some with missionary zeal, some who just no longer knew their beliefs, or felt safe with their beliefs. These cards, however, gave everyone an opportunity to be safe with their feelings and thoughts.
Social Worker & Aid Consultant, World Vision. |
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'Religion was danced out before it was thought out.' Rev
Dr Warren Bartlett |
Signposts and the Search for Meaning By Russell Deal, Director, Innovative Resources
How do we, as human service workers, handle questions from our clients, our students or even our colleagues about the big issues in life? These are the issues we all grapple with-issues about meaning, purpose, significance, human nature, God, good and evil, and life after death.
For many people, religion, philosophy and psychology help provide some answers to these big existential issues. The answers, of course, can be many and varied. At times the answers, or the absence of answers, can be confusing, painful and even agonising.
But how do we, in our counselling, teaching, pastoral care or other human service roles, open up to conversations about such things when we ourselves may be grappling with uncertainty? Most of us would not want to impose our world view on our clients because, clearly, we are not agents of conversion. However, when a client presents with a void or an ache about who they are and what life means for them, what do we do with our own sense of discomfort or reluctance to discuss spiritual matters?
It was this question of how we, as professionals, can respectfully contribute to the spiritual or existential journeys of others that led Innovative Resources to produce Signposts-exploring everyday spirituality. These cards invite people to talk about their journeys through the big questions without the imposition of any particular belief, doctrine, dogma or religious tradition.
The Signposts cards focus on how we journey, whether this is by ourselves or with others. They describe some of the ways people from many traditions have 'actioned' their journeys; what they have done or do now that provides them with purpose or meaning.
Each of the 48 cards in this set features a full-colour, original photograph by Brent Seamer, combined with a simple phrase, for example, 'recognising possibilities', 'walking through shadow', 'searching for meaning', 'seeking balance', 'sharing the load' and 'letting go'. Some of the cards only have a single word (the present participle), for example, 'giving', 'learning' and 'trusting'. Collectively, these cards describe the process of searching and discovering.
We wanted the cards to be accessible to people of all faiths and beliefs, including those who are not comfortable with words like 'God', 'spirit' or 'soul', or those who might describe themselves as 'humanists' or 'atheists'. Yet the cards are soulful; soulful in the sense that they can help us tell the stories of our spiritual journeys in ways that we can language ourselves.
Signposts is a resource which will delight and intrigue many people by the creative ways it opens windows into parts of ourselves that are often hidden. Whether the cards are used for personal reflection, journalling or conversation building, Signposts is a unique tool that challenges the materialism, the cynicism and superficiality that surround us.
Signposts-Ways to keep soulfulness alive
One day a colleague of ours, David Mitchell, a psychologist in private practice, remarked that an increasing number of the clients who came through his door were coming asking the 'big questions in life' about meaning, significance and spirituality. He asked whether we had ever thought of publishing materials that might help people talk about this level of concern and struggle.
Signposts is the result of two years thinking about, grappling with, and consulting widely about how to tackle such an idea in a respectful, socially inclusive way that might speak to followers of different religious traditions as well as those who would not define their journey as spiritual.
A breakthrough came with a book by David Cooper, given the intriguing title God Is A Verb (Penguin USA 1988). This made us think that it might be possible to produce a tool that talked about the 'doing' of spirituality or existential journeys.
We
attempted to glean the active components manifest in a range of
religious traditions and philosophies and match these actions with
the captivating photos of Brent
The result is a set of 48 cards where doctrine and dogma are noticably absent. God is not mentioned and there are not explicitly religious symbols. Yet by making the cards highly evocative and interpretable, we have discovered that people with strong, clear beliefs, people with no religious beliefs at all and others still searching for something to believe in can all find beauty and meaning in the cards.
The Signpost cards seem to contain a profound ability to invite people of quite different persuasions to create their own meaning, identify significant milestones in their own journey and share their insights in an open, 'non-prophesising' manner.
Some people find the words useful, others ignore them,and likewise with the pictures. We also know that the Signposts cards have been used in meditation retreats, pastoral care, church youth groups, school camps, discussion groups of all sorts and individual counselling.
Signposting Youth Pathways Braydon is a 15-year-old boy I was working with last year in Youth Pathways Hobart. He was having a hard time at school, always getting into trouble and finding it hard to fit in. He wore glasses that had been broken in several places and were taped up. Braydon was good of heart and lived with his father in a low socio-economic area.
The conversation continued and Braydon told me that his father was an alcoholic and quite often he would come home and bash him for trivial reasons. He told me how he would often wander the streets at night until his dad was asleep and he felt safe to return home. It was a huge step for Braydon to disclose this. It explained a lot of his tiredness and anti-social behaviour. The school had been unaware of his situation. Braydon was able to be helped much more effectively from this moment on. ... ... ... Elly is a 15-year-old who was referred to me because she rarely spoke, apart from the odd yes, no or maybe. Working with her was difficult because she found it extremely hard to express herself. In a group situation she participated in everything and showed joy in what others were doing, but still never spoke.
On following meetings with Elly we worked with other card sets. Over time it helped her to gain confidence in me and she began to speak a little more each time.
Janine Mitchell is a Youth Pathways advisor working in Hobart, Tasmania
Learning to Listen
At the time of writing this article Nicole Ellerton was the project manager of 'Everybody's Kids' at St Luke's in Bendigo, Australia
At the beginning of my workshops I invite each participant to choose a Signposts card they like, whether it is because of the image or because of the words. When everyone has chosen a card they are invited to pair up. Each person in the pair then takes a turn to speak about themselves (using the card as a prompt) for two minutes while the other person listens … and when I say listen,that's what I mean!
Listeners are asked not to interrupt with questions, comments or their own stories. Some of us are great at interrupting with our own stories,or interrupting by asking questions that take the story in an entirely different direction to where the speaker was going, for example, 'Oh, really? I write poetry too; mine are mostly about...'
Participants are given two minutes to speak about why they chose that particular card and what it means to them. At the end of two minutes the roles are reversed.
There are a variety of responses to this activity including, 'Two minutes is too long', and 'Two minutes isn't long enough.' The interrupters talk about having to bite their tongues and not interrupt and this prompts people to reflect on how often they do interrupt. Others reflect on how uncomfortable they are talking about themselves for two minutes, and others mention how uncomfortable they are with the silences.
This activity is great with people who have known each other for many years. A group of employees at a local bank recently participated in this activity. One participant reflected, 'I have just learnt more about Jodie in two minutes than I have in the past 18 years.' Powerful stuff!
The reason I do this activity is to set the theme of valuing children and young people. Many of us, in our busy-ness, don't take the time to really listen to kids, to hear their stories. When we stop, listen, wait during moments of silence, we are open to hearing some truly amazing things.
Some people think and talk really quickly; others process their thoughts and share their words more slowly. If we are going to ask a child or young person a question or invite them to share a story,if we are sincere about valuing them,then we must listen. I have been amazed by the number of people who have shared with me how much they have learned not only about their kids, but about other people's kids by truly listening.
I have more recently added the Deep Speak cards to my workshops as a second opportunity to practise listening. (Deep Speak is also published by Innovative Resources.) In this exercise listeners are allowed to speak by affirming what has been said or asking a relevant question, but they are not to hijack the speaker's story with their own. This activity allows for two-way communication (acknowledging and questioning, without interrupting).
With the Deep Speak activity I asked people to choose a question that they were comfortable to speak to for one minute. I did this because I didn't want people having to respond to a very personal question with someone they barely knew (for example, a question such as 'Does dying scare you?'). Interestingly enough, though, while many people did choose 'safe' questions such as 'What's your favourite food?' and 'How do you relax?' a number of people chose 'What responsibilities come with having sex?' and 'How do you feel about abortion?'
At the end of the activity each person read out to the group the question they had chosen. By the curious looks on people's faces, I could tell there were many more conversations to be had. People seemed genuinely interested in each other, despite the fact that most had never met before.
Again people were very aware of their speaking and listening capabilities. All agreed that these activities highlight a much more respectful way of communicating and that it is well worth taking the time to practise the art of listening. |
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'We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.' Joseph Campbell
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Ways of Using Signposts Signposts - THE WARNING
At Innovative Resources we are privileged to constantly receive feedback about how our materials have changed people's lives. Of course, we derive much pleasure when we hear stories of how this change may have opened up new possibilities for people. After all, our aim is to produce materials that are therapeutic and transformational for clients, communities, organisations-and in our personal lives. However, we can never predict just how and when such change and transformation might occur. It is a truly magical and mysterious alchemical process.
Signposts, we believe, also has the potential to be life-changing. It is our profound hope that many people will find Signposts uniquely helpful in reflecting on and talking about their spiritual journeys. We hope that Signposts will help deepen and enrich people's belief systems no matter how these are expressed. But we also know that by encouraging people to consider and shape their belief systems and their spiritual experiences in a different way, we are inviting them to open the door to change.
A journey is never static. The territory changes. Some belief systems are closed. Some have elements of elitism, intolerance and hatred. Some are fed by prejudice, fear and untested assumptions.
Signposts is not value-neutral. It has grown out of a set of values that many of us believe has a strong spiritual dimension. However, others may not agree, so it will not be surprising if this set of cards represents a challenge or a threat to some people.
Those who support a literal interpretation of ancient texts may consider Signposts to be vacuous or meaningless or worse even-evil. Theists (those who believe in a God or Gods) may be disappointed we do not name God or Gods in the cards. Those for whom an intellectual understanding of their faith is paramount may be frustrated by the simple English and the deliberate attempt to avoid theory, theology, dogma and debate. Traditionalists may see Signposts as 'new age' and reject it as superficial. Atheists may characterise the attempt as misguided; seeing it as providing yet another 'opiate for the people'. Materialists may decry the absence of objective 'scientific' reality.
And cynics? If anyone has any ideas for undoing cynicism, please let us know!
We invite you to bring an open and curious attitude to the conversations that arise from using this resource. We hope that you are able to comfortably embrace Signposts as a vehicle that may enhance our understanding of who we are and what is important to each of us.
The Applications
'Only the heart knows how to find what is precious.' Fyodor Dostoyevsky Ways of using any of the card packs published by Innovative Resources are endless. There are no formulas, no recipes, no rules and no instructions. We even hesitate to publish suggestions for how to use our materials in case these suggestions get in the way of the creativity of the user. However, while many people can pick up the card sets and immediately think of a number of applications, many also find other people's experiments and suggestions useful (and we are so often surprised by people's inventiveness!).
For Meditation, Contemplation and Reflection
'It always comes down to the same necessity; to go deep enough and there is a bedrock of truth, however hard.' May Sarton
There are, of course, many different traditions, pathways and techniques of meditation. Signposts won't fit them all. However, for those people who find reflective prompts useful Signposts might provide some creative alternatives and help develop meaningful rituals. Here are some ideas you might like to try:
1. Choose a card at random.
2. Spread the cards out on a flat surface so you can quickly scan them all.
3. Again, spread out and scan the cards.
For Journalling and Reflective Writing
'If we had to say what writing is, we would define it essentially as an act of courage.' Cynthia Ozick
The same questions suggested in the section 'Meditation, Contemplation and Reflection' can be used as prompts for journalling responses, rather than for reflection alone. However, there are also plenty of journalling techniques you can use to enhance your reflection.
Choose a card at random, or one that resonates with you for some reason.
Choose a different card at random (or consciously) for each day of a given week and write about it.
Possibilities for Creative Writing
Choose a card either at random or one that appeals to you when you scan the pack.
Try writing a story about themes in your life that match with particular cards.
Other Ideas for Different Moments
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We
worked one particular day with Innovative Resources' Signposts
cards. Braydon chose the card that had a picture of a ferris wheel
and the words 'letting go'. I asked him what he needed to let go
of and he said, 'Lots of things.' I asked what sort of things and
he replied, 'Stuff with Dad. 
I
introduced Elly to the Signposts cards. She sorted through
the deck and made two piles, choosing carefully and examining each
card with great care. Then she created a third pile which she was
happy with. I then tried to encourage her to speak about why she
had chosen the cards, but she seemed to choke on the thought. I
then grouped the cards that were similar, pointing out their meaning
and how they complimented each other in certain scenarios. Elly
nodded to let me know that I was on track and telling her story.
