SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
In our current day, spiritual direction takes different forms, and it’s important to find a director who is a good fit. St. Teresa of Avila warned that if your spiritual director is not a good fit there may be no benefit, or at worse, some harm. So, it is best for you to seek wisely. Perhaps a spiritual director with a Jungian perspective may be best for you, or one using Gurdjieff’s framework, or one who focuses on the enneagram, anam cara, or centering prayer. If you know what might serve your needs, you should have some luck with an internet search. If the variety is confusing and you are not sure, many spiritual directors offer a free short initial session (as do I) to help you discover your needs and what they have to offer.
So, here’s what I have to offer. I focus on two things:
· I consider spiritual direction to be relationship counselling – the relationship between you and God. I often ask, “How are you and God getting along these days?”
· I consider spiritual direction to be an examination of your unique spiritual story. I ask, “Where are you at in your spiritual journey?”, then, “Let’s look at how you got here,” and then go on to, “If you continue this way, where will you end? Is this the path you should be on?”
For the first consideration I draw on attachment theory and object relations theory, as they apply to the directee’s relationship with God and faith institutions. I help the person examine their unconscious and subconscious templates with which they filter their understanding of their relationship with God and the world.
For the second consideration I draw on ego development theories, focusing on how these theories meld with classical teachings on spiritual development, faith development studies, and spiritual states (purgative, illuminative, unitive).
To support these considerations, I draw on almost 40 years experience as a psychotherapist and more than twenty years of being a trauma therapist (exploring the integration of logical and intuitive functions of awareness – your left brain and right brain have different perceptions of God!).
In short, I do what can be considered spiritual psychotherapy.
In my years as a psychotherapist, and until my retirement five years ago, approximately 10% of my clients have focused primarily on spiritual issues. I am now “semi-retired” and currently 100% of my clients focus on spiritual issues. I am widely read on the variety of religious orientations, and therefore have worked effectively with
· Evangelicals Muslims Post-evangelicals Sikhs Catholics Buddhists
So:
If you are feeling some uncertainty about your faith, if you’re not sure what you believe anymore,
You are feeling that you are “not on the right path”,
You are feeling spiritually dry,
You want to deepen a healthy faith,
and you think that it would be helpful to talk with someone who will not judge your “path”, but who will challenge you in your growth, feel free to contact me at begalkabart@gmail.com, and Linanna Therapy (linannatherapy.ca).
I offer sessions online, or in person in Cloverdale (Surrey), British Columbia.
I charge a sliding scale from $100 to $160 (Canadian).
In my late teens and early 20’s I would often hike into the desert on Manastash Ridge (Washington State) to meditate. This is Manastash Ridge.
thanks to J Brew, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons