“We all have values. Sometimes we don’t realize what those things are. What’s important is gaining the courage to talk about them and have them align with how we want to live our lives. ”
Spiritual Counseling
I have found that spiritual counseling helps to provide individuals with a space to listen as well as to take inventory of the areas of their lives they feel called to broaden or engage. Most importantly, it gives us the ability to recognize what areas in our life require more mindfulness and stillness. We all believe in something greater than ourselves even if its just the relationships and communities that we are a part of, these places give us meaning and purpose to life. However, we all see it differently and interact with it differently. Some people call this "something greater than themselves" the divine, transcendent or God. However, for the last 10 years I've expressly worked with individuals who would identify with the "something greater than themselves" as humanity, the cosmic, the present moment. My experience of practicing and living in both worlds has given me a rich perspective to meet the spiritual needs of those who identify with humanistic perspectives and to broaden my engagement of those with theistic beliefs.
“In your light, I learned how to love.
In your beauty, I found poetry.
You dance inside my heart
where no one can see you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art. ”
Spiritual Counseling helps to awaken individuals to a fuller experience of being human without just the categories of religion to direct the experience. Much of the work of spiritual counseling is creative and curious. So, we learn how to become an artist on the canvas of your life. You define your medium of expression. As the photograph of the dancer elicits and Rumi captures so well in his poem, we follow the movement of your spirit to get us there. It's ultimately, about creating a life that is meaningful to you and could include other aspects of therapy and counseling that are intergrated into the sessions.
What is Spiritual Counseling?
In order to best answer this question we start by first defining faith. Faith, simply put, is the whole of a person's values. Spirituality is the lived practice of an individual’s personal values.
Faith then deals with what brings meaning to your life. It's our values that shape this meaning making.* These beliefs or values carry a sense of hope and relinquishment. We have to let go in order to have faith in something outside of ourselves. The thing that holds together our values and beliefs is what's at the center of that idea of "something greater than ourselves"; the divine, belief in the goodness of humanity, etc. Spirituality is the act of creating rituals and traditions that embody the values that are important to us. By living out our values in concrete ways it helps ground what is important for us and to do it with those we connect with in life.
- *When I speak of beliefs or values I do not refer to a religious set of values or beliefs. However, a religious framework of values and belief can inform a person personal values but they are independent.
Spiritual Counseling: who's it for?
The goal and purpose is to deepen one’s relationship with self, humanity, the divine, the cosmic, and/or God. The work of spiritual counseling consists of intergrating therapy and spirituality to move more readily toward healing and new forward momentum. It entails discovering, attending to, and becoming mindful of the relationship we are in with the present moment and/or with the divine. It also allows for space to heal from trauma from moments when we might have been disenfranchised by previous communities or faith practices. Spiritual counseling is like therapy for the soul. Anybody interested in working on or deepening their spiritual life or curious about exploring spirituality is an ideal candidate. It is the practice of being with individuals as they attempt to deepen their relationship with something greater than themselves, to learn and grow in their own personal practice of their spirituality.