Tom Stuart - Spiritual Director

Spiritual Direction helps to reorient - life as a means, not and end (image with quote from April 2017, Parabola Magazine)

Going through all 82 of these could take a while!

Some Gurdjieff advice .... No. 1!

Each Sunday I lead a "Worship Reflection Gathering". Today someone mentioned "active hope" and it reminded me of the book, "Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy" by Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone. To quote: "We live at a time when the living body of our Earth is under attack and when the attacker is not an alien force but our own industrial-growth society. At the same time, an extraordinary recovery process is under way, a vital creative response we call the Great Turning. What helps us face the mess we’re in is the knowledge that each of us has something significant to offer, a contribution to make. In rising to the challenge of playing our best role, we discover something precious that both enriches our lives and adds to the healing of our world. An oyster, in response to trauma, grows a pearl. We grow, and offer, our gift of Active Hope."

Information about the book by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone Information about the book by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone

The “Listen into Life” Spiritual Direction training program, of which I am a member of the leaders team, meets 4 times a year at the St Joseph’s Spiritually and Education Centre at Kincumber South. It is a magnificent setting!

A wonderful opportunity to experience how dance moves us from habitual movement and creates an opportunity for genuine mindfulness and invoke the peace to which this dancing aspires.

Please join us for Uniting in Contemplation this Thursday evening at 7.30pm at Garden Suburb as we are introduced to Dances of Universal Peace.

A wonderful opportunity for the contemplative is a new service of worship now taking place on the 2nd and 4th Sunday's of the month at the Whitebridge Wellness Centre on the Corner of Bullsgarden and Dudley Rds, Whitebridge. The service is from 7-8pm. www.wwcentre.org.au or www.chagsuca.org.au for more information.

Left and Right hand journalling can be a powerful tool of contemplation. This article talks about one person's experience of this practice as well as a simple explanation of what to do.

Left and Right Handed Journaling When I was in my early twenties I went to see a psychic. He said I was so full of creative energy that I either needed to start writing books or I was going to start having babies. As a young, u***d woman, I panicked and went straight from his office to the nearest bookstore. I k

The heart of contemplation is transformation. Transformation is realised by way of spiritual practices rather than rational understanding of theory. That we are all unique beings means some practices suit some people better than others. Jesus, as a spiritual master, knew precisely what each of disciple needed to facilitate spiritual growth. In the absence of Jesus or other spiritual masters, the challenge is to know which practices are appropriate to each individual. The Enneagram, among other things, is a tool that can help discern what practices will best help in the journey of transformation. Here is one of the many websites that provide information on the Enneagram (when you go to the website click on the link “Learn”).

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Developing the contemplative is supported by daily practices. We do something with our body, something for the emotions, something for the mind, and something for the soul. I have found Dru Yoga helpful for the body (and emotions). I also now exercise three times a week. The Yoga routine I practice at the moment is EBR 2 (Energy Block Release 2). I learned this in a class from an instructor. But such routines can be found on Youtube.

EBR2 - Energy Block Release Sequence 2 Energy Yoga Sequence

More people seek spiritual direction - but what is it?
"It is a discipline in which, with the help of another, you try to listen to your own heart and to God's. It is about intention and attention: I desire to hear God, so I am going to make space to give God my attention."

Making Space for God What spiritual direction is, and why evangelicals are increasingly attracted to it. An interview with Holy Invitations author Jeannette Bakke