Most of us best understand our spiritual selves by the emotions we feel. When we feel loving, happy, calm, peaceful, hopeful… we believe all is well. When we experience lingering feelings of discouragement, anger, disappointment, or sorrow, if we stopped to think about it, we realize that our lives are out of balance.

The fact that human beings are embodied-spirits makes it easy to move through life feeling unbalanced. Some of us tend to live in our minds, others of us indulge our bodies, and, because they are difficult to quantify, a lot of us ignore our spirits. Some people even doubt the existence of the spirit, and yet it is the invisible animating force that is associated with wind (air), and with breathing.

If we again consider our emotions, we begin to understand the importance of attending to our spiritual side. When we are filled with negative thoughts and feelings, our emotions spill out into the world and contaminate it. If we nurture our spirits with love and compassion, then these healing attributes infuse the world with blessing.

Where might one go to nurture and better understand one's spirit? There are mosques and synagogues, temples and churches, and many other sacred spaces – all wonderful places to nurture the spirit. But sometimes a person wants something different. Sometimes we want to know that we are not alone in pondering the deep questions of existence. We wonder about the images of the Divine that we have inherited. We want a safe place to explore our questions. We want to be heard by someone who will love us unconditionally.

I have found this kind of acceptance and compassion at the Ignatian Spirituality Centre of Montreal. People come from all over Greater Montreal to find someone with whom they can share their inmost feelings and thoughts. People of all faiths are welcome to come to the Centre in order to speak with a spiritual director. The director's primary role is to provide loving attention to the “directee”. Those of us who have trained, or are in training, to be spiritual directors trust in the Spirit to guide our time with others. We are humbled by the gracious sharing of another as we serve as witnesses to that person's faith journey. Each director also has his or her own director. And by the conversations we share, we find ourselves growing in understanding, and we find encouragement to help us through difficult times.

The Ignatian Spirituality Centre is located on West Broadway, just north of Sherbrooke. All of the Spiritual Directors are volunteers, many of whom have been trained at the Centre in a rigorous six year program. Our eighty-five active directors have donated over 4,650 hours of service in the last year alone. If you think you might like to find someone to accompany you as you seek to deepen an awareness of your spiritual self, visit the website www.ignatiancentremtl.ca or phone 514 481-1064.

About the Author
A poet and ordained pastor, Jan Jorgensen is a certified prayer companion and in training to serve as a spiritual director. She lives in Montreal with her family and enjoys volunteering at Dix Milles Villages, a Fair Trade boutique.