Resore

Your Story and a Flashlight is a “Sacred Space to Rest, Reflect, and Restore”

Now the word “Restore” has many different meanings. According to https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/restore there are at least 4 different ways to use the word “Restore.” Of the four definitions there is one that I think really represents what happens through Spiritual Direction:

“to bring back to or put back into a former or original state : RENEW”

David G. Benner in his book, The Gift of Being Yourself, tells us that humanity is the only form of creation that has issues with being who it was created to be. He writes, “In all of creation, identity is a challenge only for humans. A tulip knows exactly what it is. It is never tempted by false ways of being.” In other words, a tulip is happy being a tulip and has no desire to be anything but what it was created to be.” We humans on the other hand create adaptive/false selves that help us deal with the world and are rarely content with who we where created to be.

One of the most memorial lectures I had during my training to be a Spiritual Director was about why people developed a false/adaptive self. The professor talked about how people are created in love and to love. However, good and bad things happened to us as we navigated the world. Therefore, humanity created strategies to stop the bad things from happening and make sure that more good things happened. In other words, people adapted their behavior to control their world. These strategies are so ingrained that we don’t even know we do them. Also, at some point in time these strategies stop working which leaves us feeling lost and confused. It is usually at that point that we seek help.

When this happened to me, I learned and continue to learn valuable lessons about myself. I learned at what point in time I began adapting to the pain in my world. I learned more about myself through the Enneagram (an ancient multi-layer personality test). Most importantly, I learned that no matter what I am loved. Obviously, I learned a lot more than these three lessons and I have many more points of growth to come. The result of these experiences is that I am trying to live a more authentic life. This means that I laugh more, I share my feelings and opinions more, I am more present to others, and I have begun to see God/the Presence in people and creation. In other words, I live a more vulnerable and free life.

All this came about through being involved in counseling and spiritual direction. These two disciplines have been used to put me on the road that will Restore me back to my “original state,” realizing that I was created by love to love. I have a long way to go and I am looking forward to experiencing what will be revealed next.

If you want to learn more about Spiritual Direction I can be contacted via the website: www.yourstoryandaflashlight.com or by email: mark@yourstoryandaflashlight.com