Listening to the Heart: Spiritual Direction as Contemplative Presence
How often does it occur in conversation that, when opinions differ or clash, we fail to truly listen? While the other is opening their heart, sharing intimate and often sacred thoughts, we gather just enough of what they say to prepare our response — or our rebuttal — the moment they pause, if we even wait that long. We may call this dialogue, but in truth one person speaks while the other does not listen. After the exchange, roles reverse, and both have spoken — yet neither
Depth Spiritual Direction: Tending Soul and Spirit
A contemplative space where soul and spirit are held together, and deeper truth is allowed to emerge. Spiritual direction has always been concerned with the interior life — listening where soul and spirit meet — with how a person responds, over time, to the presence and movement of God. At its best, this ancient practice has never been limited to prayer techniques or spiritual discernment alone, but has attended to the whole terrain of human experience through which the spir
Images of God: How Theology Shapes Our Experience of the Divine
In this series on Images of God , I have explored how our personal psychology can shape our perception of — and relationship with — God, through the potent inner images of the divine we may consciously or unconsciously carry. I have also reflected on how wider cultural consciousness influences these images, often in ways we barely notice. Another significant, and sometimes overlooked, influence on our images of God is theology itself — the ways we have learned to think about
Working with our Dreams in the Spiritual Life Part III
Dreams often linger with us long after we have woken, carrying questions, images, or emotions that do not easily resolve. In this final article in the series, I turn toward how we might respond to what a dream reveals and allow it to shape us over time. Responding to the Dream When a dream has been lived with prayerfully — recorded, explored, and allowed to speak — we often arrive at a quiet sense that something has been revealed. This knowing is rarely dramatic. More often
Guided Imagery in Spiritual Direction: Recovering a Creative, Ancient Practice
Across religious and psychological traditions, images have long been recognized as carriers of truth, insight, and transformation. Yet in much contemporary spiritual accompaniment the imaginal dimension—once central to Christian prayer and discernment—has often been sidelined or treated with caution. A rediscovery of guided imagery opens a creative and deeply rooted way of engaging the soul, a way that resonates with the ancient Christian imagination as well as with modern de
Our Changing Images of God: A Jungian Perspective
The ways in which human beings imagine God are never static. They shift over centuries, reflecting not only theological debates but also profound transformations in human consciousness, culture, and as I have shown in previous articles, our psychology - each shift revealing something about the inner landscape of the human soul. Carl Jung invites us to read this unfolding not as doctrinal confusion but as psychological evolution. The God-image changes because we change, it evo
Jungian Psychology and Spiritual Direction
Jungian spiritual direction aims to help individuals deepen their connection with their inner selves and the divine by exploring the unconscious and embracing the wholeness of their psyche (soul).
Practicing G.R.A.C.E. in Spiritual Direction
G.R.A.C.E. can be an active and adaptive process not only in the spiritual accompaniment encounter but in the context of our whole lived experience, and a powerful resource for us, not just a technique. When we live it, it can become a way in which we align ourselves with our integrity, values and deep aspiration to be of service to others in our life with God.
Growing Up and Waking Up: Psychology and the Spiritual Life
The invitation is to weave these two journeys together. Growing up helps bring tenderness to my own humanity, while waking up reminds me that my identity is larger than the struggles I face. Together, they invite a way of being that is both deeply human and gently transcendent.
Spiritual Bypassing: Discernment, Healing, and the Holding Presence of God
When our spiritual practice is not integrated with our psychological material, it can lead to shadow problems. We split ourselves in an unhelpful way that is not true to any path of wholeness or spiritual transformation.
