Trauma and Wellness Program
I’m taking a deep dive into supporting directees in trauma. Although I am just getting started in the class (Session 3 of 12), I have already found that companioning people who are in trauma or experiencing PTSD is some of the most holy work. As a companion I will stay with you through the process. You may also have a therapist, or I may suggest one, and I will be as available as you need as you move through the trauma.
Spiritual Director and one of the wise leaders of this group, Shannon Michael Peter, shares how our neurobiology often leads us to understand that moving from our bodies to our minds can allow us to access more peace. In sessions, this might mean that we introduce some movement, even subtle or through guided meditation, before we do much talking. For many of us, words and speaking is our typical way of processing. When in trauma or challenge, moving from body to speaking can be opening to new narratives and new ways of processing and feeling the pain of our current or past situations.
I am learning much that will help me hold better space for you.
Breeze
Let the breeze in
Let it clear the air.
Let the breeze in
To stir my heart
Dust out the cobwebs
Bring a freshness
To my life.
Let the breeze in
Let it clear the air.
Let the breeze in
To open my soul
Enliven my being
Tickle the essence
Of my life.
Let the breeze in
Let it clear the air.
Let the breeze go
And let me settle
Into rearranged tiles
For the New Year
To fill my life.
Writing Toward Wholeness
I have started a local in-person writing group and it has totally jump-started my writing. I have found that the every week writing opportunity is fantastic for actually sitting down to write and so I wanted to share a more spiritual-direction focused online writing community-based opportunity.
This is now offered online at your own pace.
You will need one book: Writing Toward Wholeness: Lessons Inspired by C. G. Jung by Susan M. Tiberian. No previous writing or knowledge of Jung needed, but if you are a devotee of Jung, this book allows you to engage personally with your past learning as well. Note that many contemporary spiritual writer insights are included in the book, including Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Annie Dillard, Thich Nhat Hanh, Maya Angelou and many more.
For each online sessions, plan on 60-90 minutes to allow ample time for writing. You are encouraged to participate with a buddy, with each of. you registering for the program.
- 15 minute presentation
- 50-60 minutes of silent writing
- 15 minutes to share any ahas through journaling or sharing with your writing buddy.
I find writing for yourself and just sharing verbally how the process went frees up our writing when we know we will not be required to share our first drafts on the spot!
If you are a current spiritual directee, you are welcome to bring your writing to our next session (and if you are not yet a regular spiritual directee of mine, you can schedule individual or sets of 5 sessions with me–at your convenience).
Please purchase the book Writing Toward Wholeness: Lessons Inspired by C. G. Jung by Susan M. Tiberian when you sign up and read through Chapter 1, page 35 or if a Kindle ebook, stop when you get to Chapter 2, Active Listening. I will also draw from several other books on writing the spiritual journey.
Cost for the series is $100 per participant and $50 if you are a current regular spiritual directee of mine. Email twinflowerpress@gmail.com to confirm (or ask questions) and I will send you an invoice (perhaps your professional development funds will cover this), and the password for the sessions. You have all of 2023 to complete it (and if you pay in 2024, you have all of 2024 to participate).
Feel free to pass on to any seekers who you would like to embark on this Spiritual Writing Journey together. Email twinflowerpress@gmail.com to confirm your participation.
Mystics
Book of Awakenings
Recently, the poet Mark Nepo did an online poetry reading to support Spirituality and Practice. He quoted that a mystic is anyone who believes there is something beyond themselves.
Another quote on mysticism: “A mystic is a person who has a direct experience of the sacred, unmediated by conventional religious rituals or intermediaries,” Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics, tells OprahMag.com.
I have so appreciated Nepo’s Book of Awakenings, which is a day-by-day meditation and action book. For me, each day encourages me to look beyond myself and be in connection with the world, which I term mysticism. One of the quotes I particularly like for spiritual direction:
“Sometimes the simplest and best use of our will is to drop it all and just walk out from under everything that is covering us, even if only for an hour or so—just walk out from under the webs we’ve spun, the tasks we’ve assumed, the problems we have to solve. They’ll be there when we get back, and maybe some of them will fall apart without our worry to hold them up.”
Perspective Changing Dreams
One of the classes I am taking with a colleague has focused on looking at the darker characters in our dreams, or perhaps when doing a guided meditation, poke around to see if there are any dark bits. These more negative characters and insights may just have something to tell us. As an example from one of my guided meditations, I saw a flower blooming in response to asking “what do I need to know.” Of course, this gave me great pleasure and hope as focused on what new growth or learning was unfolding in me. However, when I look at the entire seen and look for the darker bits, I saw that the background in my image was blurred and although my blooming flower appeared to be in a forest near the ground, the blurriness of the background was now interesting to me. Why would the background be so blurry? What does a background of blurred dirt and trees suggest to me? How am I like a blurry background? Dirt? Trees?
Looking for the dark bits to see the whole.
I appreciated this model of moving more deeply into our images and recognizing, like ourselves, that a whole image includes what we see at first (our ego, persona) and that when we look at the context (the collective) we might see parts of ourselves that were otherwise hidden. Our perspective of the darkness can bring deeper understanding of ourselves and our connection to the mystery of life.
Supporting Spiritual Direction Programs
I’ve agreed to do an interview for the new Spiritual Director program at Meadville Lombard Theological Seminary and to speak to the spiritual direction cohort at Cherry Hill Seminary.
It’s an honor to share my philosophy and experiences as a spiritual director with spiritual directors in formation. So many wonderful mentors have crossed my path and supported me, it feels great to create similar space for others!
Books that Influence my Spiritual Direction Practice
- Anam Cara by John O’Donohue
- Everyday Spiritual Practices by Scott Taylor
- Faithful Practices: Everyday Ways to Feed Your Spirit edited by Erik Walker Wikstrom ( I have an essay in this one)
- Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction by Margaret Guenther
- Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions by Teasdale
- Natural Spirituality: A Handbook for Jungian Inner Work in
- Noticing the Divine by John Mabry
- Sadhana by Anthony De Mello
- Spiritual Conversations with Children, Lacy Finn Bargo
- Spiritual Community by Joyce Rockwood Hudson
- The Secret Spiritual World of Children by Tobin Hart
- The Seeker’s Guide by Elizabeth Lesser
- Wisdom of the Enneagram by Riso and Hudson
- The Wisdom of Your Dreams by Jeremy Taylor
Deepening Dreams through Focusing
“Focusing is an elegant way to finding your way into the body” notes the teacher in my latest class: “Focusing and Dream Work: with Dr. Leslie Ellis. Focusing is an approach to both our inner worlds and our dreamwork that helps us connect with images that may be more connected to our souls than the intellectual work of the head. Focusing asks us to create images and connect them with feelings to understand ourselves and our spiritual lives more deeply.
If we are processing trauma, or recognize that part of our journey will be to face and process trauma, it will be helpful to strengthen our inner selves so that we have both images and feelings that we know well and can connect to our spirit. These images and feelings can bolster us for the challenging images and memories that will arise in trauma work.
Dreams can be a fascinating and deeply meaningful way to focus. Using the images in a dream, we can draw our attention to our inner world, finding the conduit to our inner wisdom that is hidden in waking life. We can also use active imagination to find our way to this conduit to our souls, Self and inner wisdom. Sitting with images and being guided to explore them with a companion can be heart opening and provide the spiritual “aha” moments that deepening our living experiences.