ORIENTATION
The heart of a human being
is no different than the
soul of heaven and earth.
Your heart is full of fertile seeds
waiting to sprout.
O Sensei, Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969),
Founder of Aikido
The School of Soft-Attention is not an actual school with a physical building. Instead, it is a process -- a venture in Deep Listening and Sacred Dialogue. One client has called this work "map-making for the road ahead." Another person refers to it as "a way of following the inner river." In any case, this work becomes different things for different people.
For some, the School of Soft-Attention is a Way-station in life; a trustworthy place for clear-mirroring and reflection. For others, it is a process for gaining clarity, invoking one's truth, and visioning next steps. From spiritual companioning and life-path exploration, to exploring dreams or obstacles preventing greater creative attunement, this way of being-in-dialogue is a form of attending to the themes stirring within a life.
This is not reparative psychotherapy or mental health counseling but rather a form of spiritual inquiry into the true nature and essence of one's unfurling journey. Each person is communicated with as a Fellow Traveler, not as a "student" or "patient." There are no doctors or gurus here.
Through this exploration, a process of learning and attunement is activated and unfurls toward greater awareness, alignment, integration, and life congruence.
The journey flows at a natural pace, honoring the themes that arise — which may apply as much to matters of creativity, lifestyle, and present-day life choices as it does to spirituality, dreams, the impact of these times of change and strain, or past/present experiences of heart-mind.
The view here is that each person, ultimately, answers to an inner living process of the psyche (soul) that has an ancient, autonomous pattern or intelligence, whose unfolding wisdom is revealed in gradual ways but whose fullness, energy, momentum, and directives are often concealed in the subterranean depths of who we are.
Accessing the wisdom of this living process is an ongoing intuitive practice and often necessitates slowing down and paying attention. I call the practice of attuning to the emerging themes of soul: contemplative soulwork.
I work with people of diverse backgrounds including (but not limited to) caregivers, therapists, ministers, leaders in organizations, chaplains, chaplains-in-training, artists, poets and writers midwifing the spirit of a project, contemplatives and Wayfarers, individuals traversing the landscape of midlife, HSPs (highly sensitive people a.k.a. highly energy-aware people -- what I call HEAPs), people involved in a process of spiritual clarification, discernment, or formation, and those undergoing significant change.
People Who Benefit Most
From Contemplative Soulwork
People involved in life transitions
Individuals assessing (or re-assessing) beliefs (spiritual clarification)
People seeking to develop a deeper relationship with their inner world and dreams
HSPs (highly-sensitive persons) just beginning to learn about their traits (Are you an HSP?)
Individuals who have awakened to the spiritual dimensions of addictive process
Creatives working through creative blocks or trying to move a project forward
Leaders and managers in organizations navigating their own shifts around inner and outer change
Those Fellow Travelers interested in a Nature-oriented spirituality, a contemplative life, a meditation practice, and those Wayfarers who have actively chosen to follow a solitary path of spirituality a.k.a. "hermiteering" (but who still need support on their way-within-the Way)