What is Spiritual Direction?  Is it mostly about prayer? Is it a form of counseling or psychotherapy?  While many people are unaware of the term it has, over the last few years, gotten a lot of interest, especially among Protestants interested in spiritual formation.  Once the domain of Orthodox, Catholic or Anglican religious orders it has moved from the monastery to the mainstream.   But what is it and what does it look like? 

Spiritual direction is about our relationship with God and becoming more sensitive to what God is doing in our lives.  This can take many forms.  It takes shape in prayer, in our religious experience, and in our relationships and circumstances.  People often say that they would like to hear God’s voice more clearly but often find it nearly impossible to pick out His voice amid the cacophony of voices in their lives.  Spiritual direction is the process of learning how to become more present to God, of learning how to be more attentive to the activity of the Holy Spirit, of being more aware of the movements of our own hearts. 

Working Your Addiction Backwards

Breaking the addiction cycle can be hard.  But it is even harder when no one can tell you how to do it.  Lots of people give us "have to".  You know the sound of that.  “You have to stop this!”  or “Why can’t they just stop it?”.