Of course, spiritual practice often feels optional, and most people regularly opt out. We say: “It gets boring.” “There’s not enough time.” “I don’t think I’m doing it right.” But beneath our usual excuses, I’ve found two deeper common reasons, from talking with numerous clients, why our spiritual practices so easily fade…

We all have a kind of constant commentary running through our minds. Sometimes this narration is innocuous. “Glad we’re finally getting some rain - we really needed that.” “I wonder what my friend has been up to lately.” But often times the commentary in our heads is laced with judgement…

Your imagination can transform your spiritual life. So why, in conversations about spirituality, does imagination often get a bad rap? It tends to be framed as a kind of make believe or fantasy strain of the mind, a deviation from disciplined spiritual practice. In reality, imagination IS a practice and a discipline. And it’s the doorway to a profound spiritual life…

One of the hardest times to be human is when we feel shame or feel small. We work hard to avoid these moments, but for many of us they erupt too often. But when we’re able to look at human experience through the lens of our soul, it has a way of turning everything on its head…

When I was a campus pastor I inherited a ring packed with keys, like relics from earlier times and places. After some weeks in my new place, there was a closet that I had never opened. I lugged the key ring to the door and one by one I tried the keys...

How often do you fall into the “if only” trap? Here are some of the loops that play in our heads: My life would be so much better if only…

When the channel to our authenticity is open, we feel confident and creative. This is how I like to live, and I’m sure the same is true for you. Why is something we so desire such a tough nut to crack? It’s elusive because...

It’s time to come home! This is the call we received as children, outside at play. It’s time to come home! is also the call of the spiritual life…

The unique shape of the Enneagram symbol uses sacred geometry to encode four spiritual pathways. These pathways move us from overwhelmed and reactive to our true nature and the experience of Presence that is our human-spiritual home…

You are walking outside and it starts to rain. You grumble, hunch your shoulders, and start walking faster. The rain is falling harder. You are losing the battle to stay protected and dry. Now it’s pouring and you are drenched. And then a shift happens…

Lao Tzu says, This is a path of letting go, so there will be room to live. This wisdom operates from the spiritual truth that freedom comes from subtraction more than addition…

Fear and overwhelm muddy our minds and hearts. When pond water gets muddied, eventually the silt settles and the water becomes clear. Similarly, when fear and overwhelm hit, here’s a way for the thoughts to settle, and the heart and mind to become clearer…

FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) has become a buzz word, but it’s all-too-relevant for most of us. The problem is that FOMO transmutes into spinning in too many directions. Pretty soon we find our time, energy, and creativity drained. If you are subject to the FOMO syndrome, check out JOMO: the Joy Of Missing Out…

On one level our souls enter this life to do hard things. To learn from challenges. To grow capacities and awareness through them…

What happens to us beyond this life? What unfolds, or doesn’t unfold, after we die? It may be that the greatest mystery that confronts us human beings…

There are two forms of emptiness. One is psychological emptiness, and this is more of a problem. The other is spiritual emptiness, and this is full of promise…

The personal spirituality of the Enneagram and our world religions can work in tandem, to help us live more vitally and authentically in the world. I have an upcoming 3-part online course that explores the fascinating ways Enneagram types and world religions overlap and point to a shared goal…

There is a simple practice you can use to wake you up from the typical trance that we commonly inhabit…

A spiritual way of knowing steps out of the either-or box. Beyond the dualist default is a spiritual part of the brain, that takes the either-or and transmutes it into a both-and…

My deepest hope for the people I work with in spiritual direction is this:

that they develop a tried-and-true capacity to call upon higher spiritual guidance, whether in difficult or ordinary times.

What does this look like? Let me illustrate by way of example…