Spiritual direction and companionship inspires people to experience authenticity in their lives as they connect with and explore the ground of all being, that deepest of truths which is beyond life and death and goes by many names, including God, and no name at all.
The spiritual companions of SDI share their stories on our blog. Receive nourishment, learn a new practice, and gain insight into the healing modality of spiritual companionship through one of the stories shared below.
If you are an SDI Member interested in writing an SDI Story for the blog, please use our submission form here: Submit an SDI Story.
By Dr. Jeanette Banashak Keep a green tree in your heart, and perhaps the singing bird will come. I must share with you a story about a particularly barren time in my life when I used a tree for a spiritual director. I learned so much that year because I
By Angela Marie Gage This is the story of the moment – or moments – I felt the call to spiritual companioning and how heeding that call has changed my life. In my early 50’s, I was invited to attend a personal and silent retreat at a men’s monastery. I
By Joan Alexander It is early morning and the hotel room is dark. I pause for a moment at the window. The curtains are closed and the only sound I hear is the air conditioner as it blows cool air on me. Slightly disoriented – yesterday had been a long
In our schools and in our homes, let’s teach our children how to listen and converse with new people to make them feel welcome. Let’s teach our kids how to ask others for their stories and how to receive them warmly and nonjudgmentally. Let’s start a paradigm where all new
Editor’s note: We are grateful to Eric Zimmer and his podcast – “The One You Feed” for giving us permission to share a transcript from a part of his session with Rev. SeiFu Anil Singh-Molares, executive director of SDI. Eric is himself a trained spiritual director as well as a
Editor’s note – Sister Marguerite Buchanan played an essential role in the development of the pioneering Mercy Center spiritual direction program at Burlingame, California in the 1980s, working alongside SDI founders Sister Mary Ann Scofield, RSM and Jack Mostyn, among others. Sr Marguerite once said, “There is life going on
Editor’s note: Spiritual director and noted author Carl McColman generously offered to share his teaching here for our whole community to enjoy. Please note this post is not only meaningful for spiritual directors and spiritual companions, nor just for Christians, but for anyone with a curiosity about contemplative spirituality. Carl
By Jodi Cohen As someone who leads a self-examined life, I did not like what I found this past week. As always, the lesson involved Morty. Ah Morty, my little mirror, my reflection pond. The invisible choreography of the Universe making a match between me and MortyPie never, ever escapes
As is so often the case, my session with Jerry allowed thoughts and ideas lying just below my consciousness to surface, like trout waiting for the right moment, waiting to surface for sustenance. Frequently I’ve described time with my spiritual director Jerry each month as “oral journaling” in which I’m
Breathing is in vogue. The power of breath is the marketing anchor for pandemic-era businesses. Weight-loss plans, organic clothing lines, and meditation apps arrive in my social media feed. Images of willowy, culturally ambiguous young women breathe in serene meditative poses. In an Ohio, pandemic winter, I am especially vulnerable to the beach scenes
When I was a freshman at university, I felt deep-down that learning itself was a calling. But my ego refused to accept this and pushed me to use learning as a lever to achieve other objectives that were easier to equate with recognition and money. It has taken me this
Editor’s Note – SDI is offering a free Town Hall February 26th called “Caring for the Caregivers – Spiritual Companionship for Health and Hospice Care Workers.” You can register here. In this SDI Story, we are blessed to offer the reflections of a health care worker in Australia who provides
Subscribe to SDI updates to receive a FREE eBook filled with contemplative wisdom!
As a free gift for signing up for SDI’s updates, we are offering you a 59-page eBook filled with contemplative wisdom!
Please use it as you wish:
