Stages of Freedom: Reflections on The Wolfpack

Last updated on: November 17, 2015 at 3:14 pm By Teresa Blythe

For one of the most jarring and accurate depictions of the stages of freedom, I recommend spending 89 minutes one day watching the documentary The Wolfpack (streaming now on Netflix). It’s an exploration of the lives of six Angulo brothers—exceptionally bright and creative—who were homeschooled by their mother in their Lower East Side apartment and kept virtually imprisoned there by their father for 14 years. During those years, the family only left the apartment a handful of times. The boys... Read more

Cardinal Lessons in Discernment

Last updated on: November 16, 2015 at 4:37 pm By Teresa Blythe

I have not always been sure of what I wanted to do with my life, but I have an uncanny ability to know deep within what I do not want—especially after what you might call “defining moments” in my life. Lesson #1 – Don’t crawl under the holy robe Like the time I was a low-level public relations assistant for a government transit agency, assigned all the tasks that the director of communications didn’t want. Knowing the Cardinal was in... Read more

Mysticism and Diversity: Lessons from a Van Flat

Last updated on: November 4, 2015 at 2:06 pm By Teresa Blythe

It took an experience of mysticism a few years ago for me to understand pluralism—the peaceful co-existence of different religions, theologies and spiritualities. Once, while walking down a tree-lined street on a sunny, warm day in Marin County, I had that mystical experience of “oneness” with the Holy—the kind of experience you cannot bring upon yourself but can only submit to. It came in the midst of a struggle I was having as a seminarian about competing theologies. I didn’t... Read more

Resting for Others

Last updated on: October 28, 2015 at 4:17 pm By Teresa Blythe

I’m resting for a weary world. Most people I know are overextended. Either because they can’t slow down, won’t or don’t know how. I figure in the grand balance of life, I must have been made to take breaks for them, because they sure aren’t taking them for themselves. Life is exhausting when you hold a full-time job, care for children and sometimes elders, cook healthy meals and do a lot of volunteer work. These days it’s hard to even... Read more

Welcoming Difficult Feelings in Spiritual Direction

Last updated on: October 20, 2015 at 12:56 pm By Teresa Blythe

As soon as we accept how we really feel , healing and restoration can begin. But for the highly sensitive person (HSP), the amount of time it takes to move through difficult emotions can feel ridiculously long. I know because I am one (HSP) and I constantly look for ways to shorten the healing time. I used to try to bypass the difficult feelings and I have learned the hard way that doing that only ends up deceiving yourself and... Read more

7 Spiritual Steps to Finding our Life’s Work

Last updated on: October 13, 2015 at 6:34 am By Teresa Blythe

Finding our way vocationally takes time, patience and prayer. Here are 7 steps spiritual directors suggest to to help you discern your life’s call. Pray daily for the path to be revealed. Cultivate a desire to know what God wants for your life. Ask God to help you be open to however God leads you. Use the prayer practice of the Daily Examen to learn, over time, how God moves in your life. This two-part prayer involves noticing daily where you... Read more

Money Matters in Spiritual Direction

Last updated on: October 6, 2015 at 12:41 pm By Teresa Blythe

Never go to a spiritual director for financial advice. Not only would it be unethical for us to offer it, most of us would be pretty bad at it—it uses a whole different part of the brain. However, it is common for people to come to spiritual direction to discern how God is leading them to use their resources in the world. Here are some discernment principles spiritual directors use to help directees consider money matters in discernment: Steep your whole process... Read more

New Frontiers for Spiritual Direction

Last updated on: May 8, 2017 at 10:43 am By Teresa Blythe

Spiritual direction is widely known today as one person seeking spiritual guidance from a trained and experienced spiritual director. That has been the traditional mode of spiritual direction for centuries. And while one-to-one direction will continue to be popular, the practice of spiritual direction is evolving with creative spiritual directors bringing the skills and gifts of spiritual direction in many ways to many different settings. Retreats, Workshops and Webinars Beyond the private practice, you find many spiritual directors leading retreats,... Read more

Decent Work is a Spiritual Value

Last updated on: September 23, 2015 at 5:41 pm By Teresa Blythe

It hurts to be unemployed, underemployed or working at a job that offers few to no essential benefits like health and dental insurance, paid time off and an employer assisted retirement savings plan. I’ve seen too many people crushed by the fatigue of being unable to locate and obtain decent work, by that I mean one job that pays enough to pull their family out of the poverty level. So in support of The Global Goals for Sustainable Development and... Read more

Five Recommended Books on Vocational Discernment

Last updated on: September 21, 2015 at 3:09 pm By Teresa Blythe

Many people come to spiritual direction with questions about how they are to contribute to the world through their life’s work. How can my particular gifts and skills be used to support myself financially while also contributing to what the world most deeply needs? “Vocational discernment” used to be a term primarily used in Catholic circles to help men and women determine if they were called to religious life. These days the term is used much more broadly. We are... Read more