Healing Spiritual Wounds | spiritual-life

Welcome to Reflections on the Spiritual Life

Here you will find articles on spiritual direction, psychology and spirituality, contemplative practice, and the deeper movements of the spiritual life. Drawing on decades of experience in psychospiritual work and spiritual accompaniment, these reflections explore common themes such as shadow material, prayer struggles, images of God, dreamwork, and the emotional dynamics that shape our spiritual journey.

Whether you are seeking support in your own inner life or resources for spiritual direction practice,

I hope these writings offer clarity, depth, and encouragement.

A solitary, leafless tree standing in an open landscape beneath a heavy, overcast sky.

When the Spiritual Life Becomes Unsafe

The spiritual life has never promised safety. To follow a path of truth is to risk loss, disorientation, and the gradual undoing of familiar ways of being. The Christian tradition speaks plainly of dying in order to live, of losing one’s life to find it, of descent before resurrection. Such language does not shield us from vulnerability; it names it.

Shame and the Spiritual Journey: Healing the Inner World with Compassion

Shame longs not to be fixed, but to be met. Many people come to the spiritual life carrying a quiet but persistent burden of shame — a quiet, corrosive sense that something is wrong with who they are. It may not always be named as such, yet it often shapes how a person prays, how they imagine God, and how safe or unsafe it feels to be truly known. Shame whispers: “I am not enough.” “I am fundamentally flawed.” “If I were truly known, I would be rejected.” Shame is not simply

A god-like figure with white hair and beard wears a red robe, standing frighteningly among clouds with light beams, conveying a powerful presence depicting the scary image we often have deep inside from childhood of God as the distant sky-god.

Letting Go of Toxic God-Images

Our Images of God Are Formed Early Spiritual direction conversations often touch on the process of uncovering and letting go of toxic images of God that have been absorbed during life, often in childhood. In an earlier article, The Spiritual Life & Our Images of God , I explore how these images are formed and the influences that shape them. Our images of God are not the same as our ideas or beliefs about God. Rather, they are emotionally charged inner representations — proj

Two cartoon figures, one with hands on face saying "I've never seen spiritual abuse," the other surprised, saying "I've never heard about it!"

Healing Spiritual Abuse & Church Hurt

Since my first article on spiritual abuse , I have been surprised and saddened by just how many people have contacted me who have experienced forms of spiritual abuse and church hurt. Yet, it is an issue that many still deny as being real in our church and faith communities; awareness is only beginning to dawn. And, as that level of awareness about spiritual abuse continues to grow, there will be increasing numbers of people who recognise themselves as being affected. In thi

A vivid blue eye with a cross and a figure in front. The iris has yellow and blue patterns. The mood is contemplative depicting the idea of the images of God we can hold in our inner eyes.

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