In the Christian tradition, the Book of Proverbs describes our heart as 'the wellspring of life', conjuring up in our imaginations the beautiful image from the Song of Songs of our soul, our spiritual being, as an enclosed fragrant garden with the Fountain of Life at its centre, and where the Wind blows over the flowers releasing and spreading their exotic scents into the world. But, I know from my own path and from those I am privileged to accompany as a spiritual director ,

The journey of descent often begins being triggered by an event in life - an inner event or process of the outside world such as job loss, the loss of a relationship, grief or trauma; a crisis that shakes the familiar ground of our ego's reality. As this ground of our ego's sense of self and reality is shaken, we find things begin to fall apart, challenging what we thought of as our sense of reality about ourselves.

Ancient stone carving with ornate cross design, covered in orange lichen. Set against a textured stone wall. Mysterious, ancient vibe suggesting the mystery of the compassion of Christ.

I was recently at a wonderful workshop for spiritual directors run by Pádraig Ó Tuama leader of the Corrymeela Community, Northern...

Soul is the most common translation of the Hebrew word nephesh and the Greek word psyche . The biblical meanings of these concepts are richly varied. In the Old Testament, for example, the meanings of nephesh range from life, the inner person (particularly thoughts, feelings and passions), to the whole person, including the body. Similarly, in the New Testament, psyche carries such meaning as the totality of the person, physical life, mind and heart. Here, soul is presente

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 Travelling... about 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 end up seeing ourselves as an improvement project and striving for our own wholeness, not living i

In my earlier article on Struggling with Prayer: A Psychological Perspective , I looked at ways we can unconsciously resist the change prayer can start to bring within us. In this article, I take a wider view to look at ways we can undermine or sabotage our spiritual transformation. It may, at first, seem a strange idea that we can in some unconscious way resist our transformation in Christ, which is what we consciously desire and proclaim. But growth is understanding what w

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. Healing from these images requires that we look deep inside ourselves to expose them to the light. However, because they are often rooted in painful emotiona

God calls us to wholeness, through self-transcendence, to embrace our true selves in God - our deepest Ground of Being. Richard Rohr (a contemporary Franciscan monk and spiritual writer) expresses this as the journey from our False Self to our True Self. Jung understands it as the journey of individuation from the Ego to the Self. What increasingly interests me in my work, as both a spiritual director and psychologist, is the role the unconscious plays in this journey. If, in

As explored in my earlier article, Cultivating Compassion is seen as embodying a divine quality that brings us closer to our true selves in God. Wisdom - seeing others and all of life through the eyes of God - guides us into such compassion. And through cultivating wisdom and compassion we can become a conduit opening up the flow of divine compassion in the universe, embodying the mystical understanding of the interconnectedness of all being. The international Charter for