Spiritual Directors International is proud to announce the newest book in the SDI Imprint series:

Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction (A Spiritual Directors International Book by Betsey Beckman and Christine Valters Paintner, 2010.

Book Description
This new resource is designed to help spiritual directors and others use expressive arts in the context of spiritual direction. It is the latest book in the unique SDI series, designed for spiritual directors, but also useful for clergy, therapists, and spiritual formation and religious education specialists.

Reviews

• "... [A]n inspiring and regenerating piece of work that teaches the intrinsic significance of the arts and the value of engaging body, mind and spirit in creative pursuit of awakening the Holy that resides within." --Rebecca Bradburn Langer, D Min, Adjunct Faculty, San Francisco Theological Seminary Program in Christian Spirituality, spiritual director, pastor, and teacher of supervisors in "Together In The Mystery" with Dr. Maria Tattu Bowen.

• "Christine Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman showcase the gifts of storytelling, imagination, dance, visual art, music, movement, poetry and presence. Through a gentle weaving of their insightful work, with reflections from workshop participants and the community of spiritual directors, the authors prepare a dazzling palette for discovery and deepening." -- Marianne Hieb, RSM, ATR, MFA, DMin, Director of Lourdes Wellness Spirituality Program, and author of Inner Journeying through Art-Journaling.

• "I put this at the top of the list as required reading for spiritual directors and spiritual formation classes. The clear, foundational writing introduces 'art in service to the soul.' Brimming with multiple art forms, we get to hear the voices of [spiritual] directors and [spiritual] directees who are profoundly affected by the arts. This book is the next best thing to learning directly from such wise, inspiring teachers." -- Cynthia Winton-Henry, cofounder of InterPlay®, author of Dance--A Sacred Art, and What the Body Wants.

• "Replete with exercises, examples, stories, and resources, Awakening the Creative Spirit offers the most comprehensive guide to date on how to develop the `spark of divine creativity' embedded in us all. Those of us engaged in teaching the art of spiritual direction will find in it a beautiful introduction to the arts as the `language of the soul.'" --Mary Rose Bumpus, RSM, PhD, Assistant Professor of Spirituality, School of Theology and Ministry Seattle University.

• "We have been far too left-brained, verbal, and linear in our attempts to transform and mature actual people--intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Here we have two women filling the tragic gap--and beautifully so! Spiritual direction is the growing edge of ministry today and this excellent book will surely direct that growth." -- Father Richard Rohr, OFM

• "Word, image, music, dance: this book provides a rich vocabulary for entering more deeply into conversation and communion with the One who gives us the arts as path to knowing God." -- Jan Richardson, artist and author, In Wisdom's Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season.

Please share your review about Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction (A Spiritual Directors International Book) by adding a comment to this blog.

Click here to learn about additional titles in the SDI imprint series.

 

 Would you like to...

• Learn and meditate in places holy to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
• Walk in the steps of our past to discover fuller dimensions of our present
• Honor Place, Celebrate Presence, Become More Fully Alive

Join Guides: Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon, Sheikh Jamal Rahman (The Interfaith Amigos)
Spiritual Directors International Host: Rev. Terry Moran
Local Host: Canon Iyad Qumri, Christian Palestinian Guide

Opportunity to Walk as Interfaith Spiritual Companions
Whether this is your first time to Israel and Palestine or you have visited many times, this pilgrimage is unique. Our pilgrimage guides and hosts bring sacred gifts for telling stories about spiritual companionship, and we are blessed with their abilities to speak many languages (The pilgrimage will be conducted in English, and our guides also speak Arabic, French, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish). We will walk slowly through the streets of Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Safed, the home of Jewish mystics. We will journey to the Dead Sea and have the option to swim — or really float — and benefit from the healing properties of Dead Sea mud. We will journey to the Mount of Beatitudes and Korazim for meditation and prayer.

Click here for full details, costs, FAQ, schedule, registration details, and more. 

 

 

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly features "February 26, 2010: Spiritual Directors" showcasing spiritual direction, prayer, and members of Spiritual Directors International. Airs Friday, February 26 through Monday, March 1, 2010, showing on almost all PBS stations. You will also be able to see it streaming on the RENW Web site after approximately 7:00 p.m. EST on Friday, February 26, 2010. 

 

• "February 26, 2010: Spiritual Directors" episode with video, text, and photographs.
  
  
• The show is available in a videocast and podcast through iTunes. To download the episode go to the Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly homepage. In the right column, locate and click the button for either "Watch Now" or "ListenNow" to link to the appropriate site.
  
  To learn when the show will play in your locale, click this PBS link: Check your local listings to see when Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly airs in your area.
  
  

A little background:
Filming in Seattle, Washington, USA
In November 2009, PBS Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly came to Seattle, Washington, to film a story about prayer and spiritual direction. PBS filmed interviews, a retreat, a spiritual direction session, and a seminary "Introduction to Spiritual Direction" class. Why? To tell the story of how people are learning to pray and how spiritual direction contributes to cultivating prayer and compassion in communities. SDI shares the story and photographs of filming in this blog post: "How Do People Pray Today? Where Do People Learn to Pray?"

Thank you to everyone who participated in the filming, production, and editing process.

We pray that the message of the PBS television segment will embrace people of all faiths. We pray this film will communicate the power that prayer and spiritual direction offer for healing, for nourishing exhausted hearts, for building capacity for compassion in community, and for connecting us with the source of compassion and peace. We pray the segment will provide encouragement and hope for the weary and downtrodden.

Please tune in, and share what you think about the show.

Ann Rodgers, reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, offers an invitation to spiritual seekers: "Ashes, which many Christians will receive on their foreheads today to mark the beginning of Lent, are intended to encourage repentance and renewal. Those who want guidance in that process can turn to spiritual directors. Most clergy aren't spiritual directors and not all spiritual directors are clergy. They have special training in guiding others into a deeper life of prayer and in seeking God's will."

Exploring reasons why a person might seek spiritual direction, and how to locate a spiritual director, Rodgers interviews Sister Ardath C. Blake, HM, an active member of Spiritual Directors International, Liz Ellmann, executive director of Spiritual Directors International, Dr. Susan Muto, and Rev. Graham Standish. Excellent insights about spiritual direction are offered, and include:

"Praying from the heart can be difficult for those raised primarily on memorized prayers." --Sister Ardath C. Blake, HM

"Life-changing events--such as a serious illness--can lead people to seek spiritual direction. And over the past year, job loss has had a similar effect. People are asking, is the work I was doing really my calling?" --Liz Ellmann

"You don't entrust your soul to just anybody, you need to make sure they've got a good background and didn't just go to a summer camp for spiritual directors." --Susan Muto

To read the entire article, click here: "More People Turning to Spiritual Directors: Specialists provide guidance to those seeking deeper faith."

 

 

Spiritual Directors International is grateful to reporter Ann Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for helping to educate everyone about the ministry and service of spiritual direction. Thank you!

Please contribute to the conversation by adding your comments to this blog post.

Wednesday, 17 February, marks Ash Wednesday, when the Season of Lent begins for Christians. What makes Ash Wednesday and Lent significant, year after year?

A Christian Response
I engage in daily prayer and meditation. Over dozens of years, a variety of spiritual practices have, at one time or another, given life, been shed, and occasionally re-embraced. A consistent thread is to make deliberate time periods for intentional reflection and turning toward God. Why is this important? In this time of my life I want to be a whole person, delightfully alive, and hallowed into radical authenticity and vivid presence. I know that God unabashedly loves me—and everyone who I desire to serve with mutuality, friendship, and compassionate care. I want to participate as fully as I can in God's ongoing love affair with humanity and all of the cosmos.

Spirituality is not a separate part of who I am every day—it is embodied and experienced through my senses and life particulars. I welcome the defined time period of Lent to turn to God with my whole self. This turning is ultimately toward the world.

An Olympic Story
Tonight I watched Olympic figure skating, pondered Lent, and allowed the Hebrew Scripture, “Return to me with your whole heart” (Jl 2:12) to glide within me. I looked at ice dancers become grace in motion—turning, spinning, twirling, arching, moving towards, away, tucking and reaching. I visually experienced the spiritual journey. Surely it encompasses all these moves. We are not meant to be spectators in life! We are invited to engage, participate, train, fall, glide, spin, embrace, and turn towards one another and God. Music dances through our soul, as rhythm glides into expression in our body and daily life.

Spiritual Guidance
Ash Wednesday and Lent invite a fresh turning—or return—to God’s embrace. As much as each of us is on a solitary journey, it is also communal. Meeting with a spiritual director can encourage genuine seeking and conversion. During spiritual direction we are accompanied in our turning to God with our whole heart, broken heart, or dancing heart.

Will you join me in turning toward spiritual practice, a daily discipline, and a radical acceptance of wholeness and connection with all of creation? Lent can spring the frozen places in our heart and actions, thaw our resistance to compassionate love, and grow our sacred dance with the Beloved.  

If you are seeking a spiritual director to accompany you, click here to discover good questions and spiritual directors to interview through the online, searchable: Seek and Find: A Worldwide Resource Guide of Available Spiritual Directors.

Pegge Bernecker is the editor Listen: A Seekers Resource for Spiritual Direction, published by Spiritual Directors International. To read more articles like this one, check out past issues of Listen, or click here to request your free quarterly Listen subscription.

Photos from Google images.

 

Enrichment, Formation and Training Program Locator

Are you searching for a program to learn about spiritual direction, or receive formation, training, or enrichment opportunities? Finding a program to discern your call to the ministry and service of spiritual direction is an important part of your spiritual journey. If possible, you might want to contact several programs to determine which one is right for you.

Spiritual Directors International provides the best Web site in the world to locate a program or institution, with the specific criteria that you seek.

Each of these links provides valuable tips or searchable maps. Simply click on the highlighted text.

Helpful tips when it is time to research, choose, and interview potential spiritual direction formation and training programs.

The SDI interactive Google map allows you to search anywhere in the world for an "Enrichment, Formation, or Training" program for spiritual directors or guides.

Suggestions about how to use the Enrichment, Formation, and Training Program Locator map.

"What is Spiritual Direction?"

Are you a trainer? Add your Enrichment, Formation or Training Program to the SDI Web site locator.

SDI is committed to providing excellent educational resources. Please comment about what you find helpful, and what you want more of!

A member of Spiritual Directors International, Alexander J. Shaia, PhD, contributes a "Guest Voice" to the On Faith blog at The Washington Post! He is one of the plenary keynote presenters during the SDI "Gratefulness: The Heart of Spiritual Care" educational events in San Francisco, California, USA.

Writing for our times with a fresh understanding of Christian gospels, Shaia explains in "Where is God Now" post:

But there are four paths to the journey; moving through suffering is only one. We know that there are times in our past and there will be times in our future characterized by stability and then change. We also know there are great moments of epiphany and joy. But in between, there are times of trial and suffering, and we all know that in those times, it can feel like it is overwhelming, never-ending, and that there is now way out.

Click here to read the full article, "Where is God Now?"

Come to San Francisco in April 2010 to learn with Dr. Shaia and all the other stellar presenters and attendees!

 

 

Sometimes my heart aches. I need to cry, yet I can’t access the tears welling up behind my eyes and surrounding my heart. I know a deep cry would help me connect with God, yet I can’t remember how.

I had one of those experiences during the Parliament of the World’s Religions in December. Presence editorial review panelist, Jack Stuart  graciously drove me many miles north of Melbourne, Australia to visit SDI member, Diana Cherry, who survived the devastating bushfires of Black Saturday (February 7, 2009). Scores of people died. Only seven homes remain in Diana’s community where hundreds of families used to live. Diana and her husband Ed  told the story of the roaring fire that swallowed up their community. In the aftermath of horrific tragedy, they are--one day at a time--spiritually companioning their devastated community through death into life.  

My heart ached when Diana took us to a ridge lookout. We saw charred forests and burnt homes for many kilometres in every direction. Peculiar, rotting smells of death entered my nose and heart. A sooty black picnic table where friends once shared laughter entered my sight and soul. An uneasy silence entered my ears and hung in the air where brilliantly colored parrots and bright-white cockatoos normally would be heard squawking in the treetops.

“Forgive us for we know not what we do.”
I prayed to the trees with my broken heart. I tried to pray for the arsonist who ignited the fires, and quickly realized I was too sad and in shock to pray for the perpetrator. How could someone do this to the helpless neighbors of Diana and Ed, including the powerless trees, wombats, wallabies, koalas, and lyrebirds that they dearly love? Inaccessible tears pooled behind my eyes.

As we left the ridge, I noticed stringy, peeling bark in a grove of scorched gum trees. Grateful to be with fellow spiritual companions, we paused together to watch the long strands of hanging bark gently blow in the wind . The trees were shedding their layers of protection, trusting that new bark would grow. Their compassion was palpable, each tree being present to the other, teaching me to trust the love in heartache and loss, bringing my tears closer to the surface.

Dead bark quietly and tenderly wafted in the wind, reminding me of Tibetan prayer flags, sending blessings on the breeze. In that moment, my heart opened to the love, resilience, and grace of the gum trees, reconnecting me to the cycle of life. Together we listened to the prayers of the trees, and the trees listened to our prayers, dissolving in the wind, filling all spaces with an eternal love found in the gift of communal heartache and tears.

How do you listen with compassion to the heartache and gift of tears of your own life and the lives of people you accompany in spiritual direction?

Especially after the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti, how are you caring for your sensitive heart and journeying with others who may be struggling to make meaning in the aftershocks of heart-wrenching destruction?

In the comments section on the blog, please share your thoughts.

Top photo:Diana Cherry and Presence journal editorial review panelist, Jack Stuart.

Middle photo: Scorched gum trees.

Bottom photo: Diana and Ed Cherry.

Spiritual Directors International is educating the public about listening with compassion, around the world and across traditions. Check out the blog, Facebook, or Twitter to see where.

Not one, not two, but THREE new videos in the "SDI Learns From..." educational video series!

Spiritual Directors International is delighted to add videos from Peter Ball and Carol Ludwig; Wil Hernandez, PhD; and Alexandra Kovats, CSJP, to the more than fifteen short educational videos in this series. The videos will help you tell the story of spiritual direction, also known as spiritual companionship, spiritual guidance, and spiritual accompaniment.

Please share these FREE video resources when you teach, via your workshops and online resource links, and with seekers.

Spiritual Directors International learns from Canon Peter Ball and Carol Ludwig: Peter Ball is an Anglican priest living near London, UK, who has authored two books, including the Spiritual Directors International book, Anglican Spiritual Direction. Ludwig co-directs the Center for Spiritual Care in Vero Beach, Florida, USA, and teaches in spiritual director training programs (Audire, Mercy Center Burlingame). Listen to Carol interview Peter and learn what nourishes spiritual directors.

Spiritual Directors International learns from Wil Hernandez, PhD, who conducts retreats, classes, workshops, and seminars all over the country focusing on the spirituality of Henri Nouwen. Hernandez regularly teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Franciscan Renewal Center, and the Center for Religion and Spirituality (Loyola Marymount University). He is the author of Henri Nouwen: A Spirituality of Imperfection and its sequel Henri Nouwen and Soul Care: A Ministry of Integration (Paulist Press).

Spiritual Directors International learns from Alexandra Kovats, CSJP, who teaches at Seattle University in Washington, USA. She shares her understanding of ecological spirituality as it relates to God's peace and the value of spiritual direction. Kovats offers spiritual retreats and spiritual direction around the world. She is a native of Hungary.

Please share these YouTube videos when you teach, via your workshops and online resource links, and with seekers. Offer your comments about who else you want to learn from in this series!

Click here to review the full list of videos in the "SDI Learns From..." educational video series.

Compassionate listening leads to discerned action. The ministry and service of spiritual direction helps people listen and respond to issues of freedom and justice.

Speaking powerfully of the need to serve, to be of service to one another, and in our communities, Martin Luther King, Jr., said:

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too heavy a burden to bear."

In the past week, notice the discerned action and compassion emerging throughout the world. Sometimes global events, like the earthquake in Haiti, cause us to awaken to needs in our own communities. Sometimes hearing on the radio or television the voice of a prophet, like Martin Luther King, Jr., gives us courage to build relationships, to serve. Wherever you look, notice service and love in action.

What grabs your heart of compassion and moves you to respond?
Take a moment to pause today. Begin by looking at your own life particulars. Notice where you might choose to love more, offer kindness, slow down. What burden can you let go of? Is there somewhere you can decide to stick with love, and respond with service?

Would choosing to serve and act with love heal a relationship and bridge barriers?

If you struggle or ponder how you can respond, explore your questions with a spiritual director.

 

Please share your thoughts or stories of inspiration by adding a comment to this blog post.

 

 

Spiritual Directors International members are featured on the CBS Evening News! Watch "Clerics Seek Peace through Humor, Dialogue" with Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon, and Imam Jamal Rahman interviewed by CBS News correspondent John Blackstone, December 26, 2009.

Encouraging peace through understanding ... simply click on the photo or this link to view the online video:

Watch the CBS News Video Online

Note: Please practice peace and patience with the CBS video, which includes an advertisement to quit smoking before the video interview of the Interfaith Amigos.

To read the full transcript of the video interview click here: "Clerics Seek Peace through Humor, Dialogue" Pastor, a Rabbi and an Imam - It May Sound Like a Joke Setup, but the "Interfaith Amigos" are Serious about their Mission".

If you like this video, learn more in one of these SDI interviews from the "Spiritual Directors International Learns From..." video series:

• Spiritual Directors International learns from Rabbi Ted Falcon
• Spiritual Directors International learns from Jamal Rahman

The global community of Spiritual Directors International invites you to pray with  K’T’U, a spiritual director, and notice how your relationship with God or the sacred invites you to respond …

 

 

Prayer for Haiti

Together let us join in prayer
wrap a mantle of compassion upon Haiti
for the babies, sisters, brothers, workers, family, friends, strangers, enemies, animals, and more, more, more who died and will die,
who are wounded and ache
and will ache, suffer,
who grieve, breathe in shock
crawl
paw through the rubble of time
a violent collapse of daily routine.

 

.....


May fresh air breathe with vital necessity.
May we sacrifice and share.
May we enable compassionate action, and service—now. Right now.
May our mantle of compassion console and heal.
And may our prayer build grateful action, life.

--K’T’U, 13 January 2010

 

 

To add your prayers and thoughts please click on "add your comments" below.

In many traditions, to light a candle is considered a sacred action. Add your flame to the "SDI" group and click this link to light a "SDI" candle, in the "SDI" group at gratefulness.org.

Click for Photograph source

Spiritual direction is the featured topic of the Winter 2010 issue of Hope, a publication from The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, in Indiana, USA. In this issue, Connie Schnapf, a member of Spiritual Directors International, describes spiritual direction as "a gift you give yourself." You can read the feature article, "Spiritual Direction: You Are Not Alone," discover how spiritual direction has aided the faith journey of several women, learn about the role of doubt, and peruse additional articles and suggested resources. Sister Catherine Livers explains, “In our spiritual journeys, we are always growing, we are always learning more and more about God’s love and grace.” Sharing about her experience of spiritual direction, Vanita Moore says,

“After meeting with Sister Catherine [Livers] for two or three times, I remember looking at her and smiling and I said, ‘I really like spending this time with you. I feel like I can ask you anything and talk to you about anything and you’re not trying to fix me.’ And she laughed and smiled great big and said, ‘Oh, honey, you don’t need to be fixed; you just need somebody to travel the path with you.’ I love that. That’s what our relationship has been."

Follow this link to read the online issue of Hope, Winter 2010, Volume 5, number 2.
Please offer your comments here to continue the conversation.

 

In the New Year, what ancestors are you grateful for? Where are you searching for treasure? How do you know when you have found pearls of great price?

Today, I am celebrating the founding members of the Spiritual Directors International Coordinating Council: Janet Ruffing, RSM; Gerald May, MD (rest in peace); Lucy Abbott-Tucker; Rev. Donald Schell; and the first executive coordinator, Mary Ann Scofield, RSM (pictured above circa 1990). These extraordinary servant leaders recognized the treasure in the ministry and service of spiritual direction. They created an organization to foster global collegial care for the pearls of great price related to spiritual companionship.

For twenty years, Spiritual Directors International has been offering educational programs, inspiring publications, and raising awareness of the importance of spiritual companionship. Of course, spiritual direction has been around for a lot longer.

During the December Parliament of the World’s Religions, my heart awakened to a deeper awareness of how ancient the treasure of spiritual direction is. While I was listening to an Australian Aboriginal presenter, Vicki Walker, share her faith and her Aboriginal heritage, she said, “For 40,000 years, my ancestors have lived here. We have been listening to each other and to the land with our hearts. We know the land is treasure given to us, and we need to live in sacred relationship. I am related to you, and you are related to me and to the land too.”

The phrase, “for 40,000 years” is still opening in my heart and seeping into my mind as a pearl of great price. I often tell people that spiritual direction has been around for thousands of years. Depending on the person asking, I talk about Jewish mashpiahs offering spiritual guidance for more than 2000 years, or tell stories of Christian desert ammas and abbas from about 170 CE, or site Buddhist spiritual teachers who have been listening with compassion since about 450 BCE. Now, because of my encounter with many Aboriginal and Native people during the Parliament of the World’s Religions, I will as well be telling the story of spiritual companionship that dates back 40,000 years. I am grateful for our Aboriginal ancestors.

In this new year, I am also grateful for YOU! Grateful for your commitment to a ministry and service of spiritual companionship that dates back 40,000 years. I invite you to join Spiritual Directors International in thanking our treasured ancestors during the April 2010 educational events in San Francisco. Come participate in the amazing educational program, Gratefulness: the Heart of Spiritual Care.

In the comments section below, please share your stories of the founding of Spiritual Directors International or searching for treasure in your spiritual heritage.

Happy New Year!