Are you interested in deepening your spiritual life?

Are you interested in deepening your spiritual life, and your relationship with God? Do you need to discern the next step in your life's journey? Are you looking for fulfillment and meaning in your daily life? Do you want to talk about spiritual issue you’re struggling with? If so, a spiritual director/friend can help explore these questions in a safe, supportive way.

I have spent the last two years training to be a spiritual director in the Stillpoint program (http://www.stillpointca.org/ ), and I am willing to offer my services for free. I am a warm, caring person who loves people and works for peace. If you’d like to meet once a month to talk about your life from a spiritual perspective, please contact me at interfaithquaker@aol.com.

I have been trained in compassionate listening and written a book on this and a number of other faith-based subjects  (see http://www.quakerbooks.org/AnthonyManousos). I have been a Quaker for 30 years and have lots of experience with “clearness committees” and the spiritual discernment process. You can learn more about me at  http://laquaker.blogspot.com/2013/09/becoming-human-being-fully-alive.html

What is spiritual direction?

 
Spiritual direction is an ancient ministry, a unique one-to-one relationship in which a trained person assists another person in the search for an ever-closer union of love with God.

Stillpoint offers a two-year training program in The Art of Spiritual Direction (click here for details), and also provides references and resources for persons who are seeking spiritual direction.

Spiritual directors listen carefully to the unfolding of directees' lives, to help them discern the ways in which God is leading them.

Spiritual Directors meet regularly (usually once a month) with persons who are seeking to share and explore their journeys of faith. The term "spiritual direction" has a long, rich history, and the term is still used today even though the practice of spiritual direction consists much more of "holy listening," rather than direction in the sense of offering guidance or direct advice.

A Spiritual Director is a privileged witness in the spiritual unfolding of another person. The focus is on the relationship between the "directee" and God, much more than on the relationship between the director and directee.

Spiritual direction explores a deeper relationship with the spiritual aspect of being human. Simply put, spiritual direction is helping people tell their sacred stories everyday. Spiritual direction has emerged in many contexts using language specific to particular cultural and spiritual traditions. Describing spiritual direction requires putting words to a process of fostering a transcendent experience that lies beyond all names and yet the experience longs to be articulated and made concrete in everyday living. It is easier to describe what spiritual direction does than what spiritual direction is. Spiritual direction helps us learn how to live in peace, with compassion, promoting justice, as humble servants of that which lies beyond all names. (as described on the website of Spiritual Directors International)