How to find a Spiritual Director
Finding a Spiritual Director has not always been that easy in the UK. Historically, this ancient ministry has been rather hidden away, available only to those in the know within the Church, such as priests and monastics, as I discuss in my article Contemporary Trends in Spiritual Direction . If you are exploring spiritual direction for yourself, you may also find it helpful to read more about what spiritual direction involves and how I work. You can find out more about the h
Inner & Outer Journeying: Holding the Paradox of the Spiritual Path
In my earlier post on Spiritual Landscapes I describe the contemplative places where our inner and outer spiritual journeying can come together, and in my post 'Spiritual Journeying' I reflect on the living paradox of how there both is and isn’t a journey to God. It is key to hold both understandings in mind as we reflect on our spiritual life and path. If we go to the extreme of one side, we can end up seeing ourselves as an improvement project and striving for our own whol
Psychological Ways We Can Undermine Our Spiritual Transformation
On the spiritual path, we often assume that our deepest desire is for transformation — to become more open to God, more loving, more whole. Yet many people discover, sometimes with confusion or self-judgement, that alongside this longing there is also resistance. Change can feel unsettling, even threatening, to the familiar sense of who we are, and this tension is not a sign of spiritual failure but a deeply human reality. This reflection explores some of the psychological wa
Healing Our Distorted Images of God
In my earlier article on the Spiritual Life & Our Images of God I looked at how our inner images of God (as opposed to beliefs about God) can impact on our spiritual journey. These images often lay buried deep within us and, because our distorted images often begin to form early in life, we may not even be aware of them. Why Our Images of God Matter Because our images of God operate largely beneath conscious awareness, they can quietly shape our spiritual life in powerful wa
Wholeness & Our Unconscious
Much of our spiritual life unfolds beyond the reach of conscious intention or effort. Beneath our prayers, beliefs, and spiritual practices lies a deeper inner world that quietly shapes how we experience God, ourselves, and others. In this article, I explore how our unconscious life plays a vital role in the journey toward wholeness, and why spiritual growth so often requires us to attend to what lies hidden as well as what is known. Wholeness, Selfhood, and the Spiritual Jou
Praying with the Labyrinth: Journeying to the Centre and Back
The labyrinth has re-emerged in recent years as a quiet but powerful aid to prayer and reflection. Used across cultures and spiritual traditions, it offers a way of engaging the body, imagination, and inner life together. For many, it becomes not simply a practice, but a living symbol of the spiritual journey itself. The Labyrinth as Symbol A labyrinth is an ancient symbol of wholeness . It combines the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful pa
Cultivating Compassion Meditation: A Meditative Practice
Compassion is understood as a divine quality that draws us closer to our true self in God. Wisdom — learning to see ourselves, others, and all of life through God’s eyes — gently guides us into this way of being. As wisdom and compassion deepen, we become a conduit through which divine compassion flows into the world, embodying the mystical truth of the interconnectedness of all being. The meditation that follows arises from this wider understanding of compassion as rooted i
Cultivating Compassion: From Ego to Christ-Centred Love
Compassion lies at the heart of every authentic spiritual path, not as a sentiment but as a way of seeing, being, and acting in the world. Compassion as Walking in God’s Ways Most spiritual paths teach that we come close to God when we 'walk in God's ways' - that is when we embody the divine quality of compassion. In the midrash below, from Jewish mysticism, the attributes of divine mercy revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai form the template for the practice of compassion: ''Wa
Knowing God: Wholeness & Self-Knowledge
The spiritual journey has always been understood as a journey of transformation — not only of belief, but of the whole person. Across the Christian tradition, wisdom teachers have recognised that knowing God and knowing ourselves are inseparable movements of the same deepening process. This article reflects on how self-knowledge and wholeness belong at the heart of an authentic spiritual life. Wholeness, Self-Knowledge, and the Spiritual Life In our contemporary world, we und
Praying with the Imagination: Entering the Sacred Story
Imaginative prayer offers a way of meeting God that engages the whole person — mind, body, senses, emotions, and memory. Rather than standing at a distance from scripture, it invites us to step inside the sacred story and discover how God may be present to us there. For many people, this form of prayer opens a deeper, more personal relationship with God, precisely because it welcomes the inner life rather than setting it aside. Imagination and the Christian Tradition Imagina
