For those of you receiving Spritual Direction

[Turtle Turtle]

Hi,

Do you plan out your sessions, like a list of what you want to discuss, or do you fly by the seat of your pants and not have an agenda?

Why or why not. I'm just trying to figure out how to do these session.

[Oneofthewomen]

This is probably not going to help, but both!

I keep a journal, so if something comes up that I feel may be important to bring up in my next direction session, I will highlight it, and may even send an e-mail to my director if it is something especially troubling to me.

Often times, my SD will give me some things to "do"- books/passages to read, different 'exercises' from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, between our sessions, so we often start out talking about how that went.

If you have some kind of "goal" in mind, it might be best to set some sort of agenda, but the best thing is to bring these questions to your SD and see how they would like to proceed.

Peace & prayers!

[Justicia et Pax]

Originally Posted by Turtle Turtle

Hi,

Do you plan out your sessions, like a list of what you want to discuss, or do you fly by the seat of your pants and not have an agenda?

Why or why not. I'm just trying to figure out how to do these session.

Generally, Fr asks me how I am and what's been happening in my life. He then might ask specific questions based on any texts I might have sent him (I tend to text him when hysterical ). After that, we just go with the flow with no particular agenda. Fr leads the session wherever he feels it should go. He does most of the talking tbh

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Some of both.

I usually go in with something on my mind, but then things go in unpredictable ways.

Sometimes I have something that I think will take the entire session and it ends up being resolved in a few minutes. Other times there's something that I think will be quick and it ends up dominating our time. Sometimes there's a passing remark that ends up being very important.

God is full of surprises and so is spiritual direction!

[InLight247]

It takes me a three-hour round trip to see my spiritual director and I only see him a few times a year. I always prepare my session with a note of topics to cover. He usually shares with me what's going on for him then gives me the rest of the session for what I want to discuss. I pray each time for the lead of the Holy Spirit, and the result is always satisfactory. God is great.

[E_7]

If there's some specific topics I want to discuss with my SD, I tend to write it down on paper. If not, I dont bring anything to take note.

We have meditations too, and I see girls bringing a notebook and taking notes of what our SD says. I don't cuz if I do, I will be concentrating on writing rather than paying attention. So what I do is that if there's something I really need to write down, I'll just remember and as soon as it's over, I write it down so I wont forget.

But for Spiritual Direction, the priest usually ask many questions if you don't have anything in particular to ask.

[Turtle Turtle]

Originally Posted by Oneofthewomen

This is probably not going to help, but both!

I keep a journal, so if something comes up that I feel may be important to bring up in my next direction session, I will highlight it, and may even send an e-mail to my director if it is something especially troubling to me.

Often times, my SD will give me some things to "do"- books/passages to read, different 'exercises' from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, between our sessions, so we often start out talking about how that went.

If you have some kind of "goal" in mind, it might be best to set some sort of agenda, but the best thing is to bring these questions to your SD and see how they would like to proceed.

Peace & prayers!

Thank you so much for posting. Okay, so the deal is to be open to both. Spiritual Direction sounds exciting and something that I am looking forward to doing.

[Turtle Turtle]

Originally Posted by Justicia et Pax

Generally, Fr asks me how I am and what's been happening in my life. He then might ask specific questions based on any texts I might have sent him (I tend to text him when hysterical ). After that, we just go with the flow with no particular agenda. Fr leads the session wherever he feels it should go. He does most of the talking tbh

Thanks. I was afraid it might be awkward with long periods of not saying anything. I wanted to plan ahead, but I think I would be much better off in praying to the Holy Spirit to lead us both in our SD Sessions.

[Turtle Turtle]

Originally Posted by E_7

If there's some specific topics I want to discuss with my SD, I tend to write it down on paper. If not, I dont bring anything to take note.

We have meditations too, and I see girls bringing a notebook and taking notes of what our SD says. I don't cuz if I do, I will be concentrating on writing rather than paying attention. So what I do is that if there's something I really need to write down, I'll just remember and as soon as it's over, I write it down so I wont forget.

But for Spiritual Direction, the priest usually ask many questions if you don't have anything in particular to ask.

That's good to know that the priest can keep it going. I'm very shy in life and well was a bit nervous. I have my first spiritual direction next week. So I'm praying like crazy.

[Turtle Turtle]

Originally Posted by SuscipeMeDomine

Some of both.

I usually go in with something on my mind, but then things go in unpredictable ways.

Sometimes I have something that I think will take the entire session and it ends up being resolved in a few minutes. Other times there's something that I think will be quick and it ends up dominating our time. Sometimes there's a passing remark that ends up being very important.

God is full of surprises and so is spiritual direction!

Thanks. I don't want to plan everything to where I'm so closed to the Working of the Spirit. I'm going to let my SD take the lead on this one since I do not know what to do. There are a couple things I would like to discuss with him though. So it's a little planned out, but not all the way.

Originally Posted by InLight247

It takes me a three-hour round trip to see my spiritual director and I only see him a few times a year. I always prepare my session with a note of topics to cover. He usually shares with me what's going on for him then gives me the rest of the session for what I want to discuss. I pray each time for the lead of the Holy Spirit, and the result is always satisfactory. God is great.

I will pray to the Holy Spirit as well. Thank you for reminding me to pray.

[Justicia et Pax]

Originally Posted by Turtle Turtle

Thanks. I was afraid it might be awkward with long periods of not saying anything. I wanted to plan ahead, but I think I would be much better off in praying to the Holy Spirit to lead us both in our SD Sessions.

It's OK to have an idea of what you would like to discuss but since you're going for your first session next week, I'd just see what your priest is like and how he works. Like I have a very talkative priest who is very knowledgeable about mental health, the saints and mysticism (the three things I tend to want to talk about), so I let him lead the way. He's also a very talkative man and says lots of interesting things and anecdotes, so I don't like to interrupt him too much. So even though I get to talk less than I like, I feel this is the way things are perhaps supposed to be for me.

I will pray for you as you approach your first session. May the Holy Spirit descend upon you and your SD

[Turtle Turtle]

Originally Posted by Justicia et Pax

It's OK to have an idea of what you would like to discuss but since you're going for your first session next week, I'd just see what your priest is like and how he works. Like I have a very talkative priest who is very knowledgeable about mental health, the saints and mysticism (the three things I tend to want to talk about), so I let him lead the way. He's also a very talkative man and says lots of interesting things and anecdotes, so I don't like to interrupt him too much. So even though I get to talk less than I like, I feel this is the way things are perhaps supposed to be for me.

I will pray for you as you approach your first session. May the Holy Spirit descend upon you and your SD

Thank you for your prayers. I am looking forward to this week. I'm not as nervous as I was.