Personal Professional Development
Mar. 24th, 2010 06:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosOne of the challenges I'm finding being a spiritual director outside of one of the major religious traditions is that pretty much all of the books that are considered "classic" and "foundational" were written by Christians. I have no issue with Christianity, and in fact my own theology remains deeply influenced by being raised Christian, but the fact is that I am not a Christian, and many of the assumptions made by these authors simply do not fit my paradigm.
However I've been feeling a need to engage in a more disciplined approach to professional improvement, and my new bus commute is providing two 45 minute chunks of time which need to be filled with meaningful activity -- so yesterday I started reading The Art of Spiritual Direction, by W. Paul Jones, with an attitude of "being in discussion" with it rather than simply accepting/rejecting it as a whole.
The "discussion" started almost immediately, when the author wrote "Of all the religions, Christianity is perhaps the most social." But by allowing myself to write "Disagree!" in the margin and then go on, I was able to get to material that I was able to find personally useful.
One of the useful bits was the author's list of "basic assumptions" about the nature of spiritual direction within a Christian context. I realized that writing my own list would be valuable to me and to my clients. The section I'm in now is about eight different forms of direction -- far more than I'd ever considered -- and that too is valuable. It's certainly going to be useful when talking with clients about what they are seeking, and offering different paradigms for our work together.
The biggest challenge is that the bus rattles a lot at freeway speeds, so journaling my responses is difficult -- but I can still engage in contemplation, and as far as I'm concerned it's hard to do too much of that, especially during a time when otherwise I might simply be "zoning out".
However I've been feeling a need to engage in a more disciplined approach to professional improvement, and my new bus commute is providing two 45 minute chunks of time which need to be filled with meaningful activity -- so yesterday I started reading The Art of Spiritual Direction, by W. Paul Jones, with an attitude of "being in discussion" with it rather than simply accepting/rejecting it as a whole.
The "discussion" started almost immediately, when the author wrote "Of all the religions, Christianity is perhaps the most social." But by allowing myself to write "Disagree!" in the margin and then go on, I was able to get to material that I was able to find personally useful.
One of the useful bits was the author's list of "basic assumptions" about the nature of spiritual direction within a Christian context. I realized that writing my own list would be valuable to me and to my clients. The section I'm in now is about eight different forms of direction -- far more than I'd ever considered -- and that too is valuable. It's certainly going to be useful when talking with clients about what they are seeking, and offering different paradigms for our work together.
The biggest challenge is that the bus rattles a lot at freeway speeds, so journaling my responses is difficult -- but I can still engage in contemplation, and as far as I'm concerned it's hard to do too much of that, especially during a time when otherwise I might simply be "zoning out".
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 03:49 pm (UTC)Can you take short, bullet-pointed notes instead of journaling? I found that useful for bus-on-rough-road commutes because brief notes were easier to keep legible. Especially if I printed them in all caps. *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-25 01:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 05:40 pm (UTC)