FALL SESSION - SYLLABUS
Sept. 18: Denial

Denial is a fear-based reaction to adversity that prevents you from seeing,
accepting, and moving beyond the truth of your situation. Denial is the
conscious or unconscious avoidance of reality. Fear is at the root of denial.
FEAR: False Expectations Appear Real
Sept. 25: Hope

The Hope step is realizing that we are not God. It is believing that God that
God does exist, that I matter to Him and that He has the power to help me
recover and overcome every issue in my life. It is realizing that anything
hidden from God has power over me.
Oct. 2: The Seven Desires of the Heart

We will learn what the seven desires of the heart are. We all have them.
They are universal no matter your age, gender, culture, or religious
background. Ultimate fulfillment in life is the result of having these desires
met as well as having the opportunity to serve the desires of others.
Oct. 9: The Truth About Who You Are

You were fearfully and wonderfully made, a beloved child of God, made in His
image, brought into this world not to be harmed but to prosper. What
happened to those truths in your life? The challenge starts, for all of us, early
in childhood.
Oct. 16: Expectations: Pathway to Anger and Resentment

“Whoever is adequate? We all create situations which others can’t live up to,
then break our hearts at them because they don’t.” (Elizabeth Bowen)
We will learn why we have expectations, why expectations harm and
disappoint us, and what to do about expectations.
Oct. 23: Perceptions: Meanings and Core Belief

Core beliefs, meanings, and perceptions can affect all areas of our lives, work,
and relationships. We cannot truly understand a person unless we have the
chance of knowing who that person has been; and what that person has done
and liked and suffered and believed.
Oct. 30: Feelings

When you are able to identify, feel, and express your feelings, you can make
the appropriate moves, changes, and decisions that will enable you to
experience and enjoy your life to the fullest.
Nov. 6: Coping

Unhealthy coping is a false solution in that we hope the coping strategies will
work, but they never do. Sometimes these coping strategies can be observed
or seen. Sometimes they are internal in the ways we think. In this lesson, we
will talk about individual coping and coping in relationship.
Nov. 13: Triggers & Land Mines

In this lesson, we will learn how desires are triggered, how triggers can incite
a vicious cycle and how you might get triggered into coping behaviors by
your interaction with the world.
Nov. 20: No Class
Nov. 27: Triggers as Transformations

Strategies for dealing with triggers and how to find deeper answers and
meaning in them.
Dec. 4: Using the Iceberg Model

Explain the levels of the Iceberg Model and how to use the Iceberg Model to
really understand the seven desires of your heart. The Iceberg Model can
help you reframe many of your unrealistic expectations; reinterpret your
distorted perceptions, meanings, and beliefs; allow you to have honest and
congruent feelings; and avoid unhealthy coping behaviors.
Dec. 11: Contentment

We hope that you are coming to know that contentment does not come
externally through finding perfect relationships, acquiring material things, or
having unique and exciting experiences. Contentment comes internally
through our relationship with God, and it comes in fulfilling our own seven
desires and the desires of others.