Spiritual direction is an exploration of your spiritual path with a person trained in listening, deep reflection and discernment. Those are all carefully chosen, important words so let’s break it down. We explore with you. We don’t tell you what you need to know, do or have in order to be spiritual. It is essential that you feel the freedom that comes with exploration in spiritual direction. It is your path we are exploring. No one else’s. The time you spend with a spiritual director is supposed to be about you taking the next step along your spiritual path. Not taking a step your director thinks you ought to take. We’ll talk a lot more about this as we progress. The path is spiritual. We are not therapists poking around your psyche. All of life is spiritual—God is found in all our experiences. With that understanding we will explore with you many aspects of your life. But we keep the emphasis on spirituality. We are trained in listening. Yes, training is necessary in order to listen well. In our culture today, listening is a lost art. We are trained in deep reflection. Spiritual directors learn how to interact with you so that as you talk about your life, we can help you spiral deeper into areas where you find the most meaning. We are trained in discernment. Within the Christian tradition lies a lot of wisdom about making faithful choices. A good director is trained in the principles of discernment.
The research team, headed by Kelly, studied 1,726 adults who were participating in a randomized, controlled trial of psychosocial treatments for alcohol use disorder. All the subjects were assessed at the start of the study and at 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 months regarding their attendance at AA meetings, alcohol use, and spiritual/religious practices. The researchers found that attendance at AA meetings was associated with an increase in the participants’ spiritual practices. This increase was especially evident among people who measured low on spirituality at the beginning of the study. Another related finding was that AA attendance was linked to improved alcohol use, and this was partially mediated by increased spirituality. When it comes to rates of success or failure associated with AA, the “Alcoholics Anonymous Recovery Outcome Rates: Contemporary Myth and Misinterpretation” report released January 1, 2008, reported as of their 2007 Survey, 45 percent of AA me...
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