Nourishing Soil for the Soul
Life Coaching and Spiritual Direction
What is the difference between Life Coaching and Spiritual Direction?
Life Coaching is the more goal-oriented of the two. Coach and client develop a plan of small, manageable steps, taking into account the client's lifestyle and values.
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Spiritual direction is for those seeking a closer relationship with God, the Sacred. The Spiritual Director prayerfully listens and offers spiritual practices, prayer and insights that help the directee become more attuned to the Spirit in his/her everyday life.
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How often do I meet with a Life Coach or Spiritual Director?
Typically a Life Coach session is once a week for about 45 - 60 minutes.
A Spiritual Direction session is usually monthly for 45-60 minutes.
These meeting arrangements are not fixed. If a client needs to meet at a different frequency, that can be arranged.
What are some examples of issues people bring to Life Coaching and Spiritual Direction, and can Life Coaching and Spiritual Direction be blended?
People come to me for Life Coaching in the areas: Career Fulfillment, Health and Vitality, Deep and Meaningful Relationships, Financial Clarity and Abundance, and Cultivating Connection with "Something Greater". At least one of these aspects of life is a preoccupation that is puzzling and frustrating the client. Why does he/she seem to be stuck... especially when he/she knows what to do? Information alone has not managed to improve that area of for him/her. He/she hasn't found a sustainable way of integrating the knowledge. For example, some of my clients have tried to loose weight many times.. and for years, when they come to me. They have information, they don't have a comprehensive plan that looks at other areas of their life and what may be interfering with progress. I also work with individuals who feel lost as to what career to pursue. It is largely through my questions that my clients are able to identify what is holding them back, and the necessary changes they need to make. With my support and a plan that fits them, they take charge of their life.
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Spiritual directees come to me about any of the five areas described above, although they come to me because they want someone they can speak to about the spiritual in their everyday life. Some want support through a trying time. They seek comfort and want somewhere to safely express their doubts. Others want to explore how to feel closer to God and want to have a relationship in which they can "hear" God's voice to receive guidance -- it may be as immediate as whether it is time to move, or as prolonged as what their life's calling is. Regardless, it is questions, prayer, and practices that open their hearts to the guidance within them.
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Both life coaching and spiritual direction are presence and process oriented. Both foster self-awareness, reflection, values clarification, trust and action on the part of the client. In each, the life coach/spiritual director provides support and perspective as a second person that is trained to listen to the stirrings of the heart. The two are very compatible. The spiritual world merges with and inhabits the physical world, if we have the eyes to see. Both approaches can be blended -- with one leading-- at any point in the client's journey.
As a life coach and/or spiritual director, I am honored and delighted to be here for you!