In trauma-informed spiritual direction, we seek to recover and deepen a direct connection with wisdom.

When you attend to the way the dawn comes, you learn how light can coax the dark. Quietly before you is the mystery of a new dawn, the new day. —John O’Donohue

Here’s an invitation to engage with poetry as a prism for Spirit. What words shimmer for you in this poem?

This 8-minute video is the best resource I’ve found to simply explain how residues of our overwhelming experiences shape our felt sense of safety in the present. The awareness can be a lens for compassion and curiosity for ourselves and others.

“Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.” Follow the threads that call you and listen for what is stirred with you.

One day your child may summon the courage to tell you their most tender truth. Here’s what I wish I would have known before mine did.

A playlist for days we are holding the paradox of Sorrow & Joy. Naming and feeling our own pain reminds of our connectedness to others, in sorrow and love.

Off-the-beaten-path threads of spiritual wisdom woven into a tapestry of wisdom on grief. Whether we are grieving the loss of a loved one, a faith community, a dream, or a self-image, in attuning to our felt sense granularly, we bear witness.

I was in a minor car accident a couple of weeks ago. Though not badly hurt, I received a prescription for brain rest. My doctor also suggested bundling up and going outside to be among the trees and birds. Nature as medicine.

“What if all of the love that you ever dream of already belongs to you?” —Jess Ray

Waiting for medical test results, I found it difficult to get a deep breath. Worst-case scenarios danced in my head. I took a walk, capturing images along the way. As I contemplated this image, my soul gifted me this blessing.

My spiritual director wouldn’t give in to my pleas for a narrow way. As I look back now, I see that in her wisdom, she resisted the human temptation to “fix” or “save” me.

Spiritual Director Todd Spencer provides a weekly opportunity to engage in Lectio Divina, a sacred reading prayer practice.

This On Being short video is an invitation to notice what moves us. What does it stir in you?

This episode is food for the soul. I find it deeply resonant with my image of spiritual direction. It was my favorite podcast episode of 2020.

Music that’s calling to my soul this winter.

If you’re weary of trying harder, trauma therapist Aundi Kolber suggests an alternative— trying softer.

The human soul doesn’t want to be advised or fixed or saved. It simply wants to be witnessed — to be seen, heard and companioned exactly as it is.” Parker Palmer