Spiritual Counseling: Do You Need A Spiritual Advisor?
When life leads you to a crossroads, and you feel like you don’t know where to turn for guidance, spiritual counseling can offer you support in finding more clarity. Whether you’re looking for ways to address the challenges you are experiencing or want to explore your life purpose more deeply, spiritual counseling will holistically guide you toward who you truly are.
In this blog, we’ll discover:
What spiritual counseling is
The difference between spirituality and religion
How working with a spiritual advisor can help you to live more in alignment with who you are.
What is spiritual counseling?
Spiritual health is an essential and often overlooked part of our well-being. Spiritual counseling is similar to traditional counseling but focuses on the wholeness and integration of a person’s spiritual beliefs and values to balance the various aspects of their life. Spiritual counseling is an important healing modality that guides you toward finding a connection to something greater than yourself.
Spiritual counselors tend to focus on strengthening a person’s connection with their soul. Whereas spiritual direction is slightly different and is usually centered more on a person’s relationship with God. A spiritual director will facilitate a spiritual direction session consisting of more general guidance, allowing space for higher wisdom to prevail.
What happens in a spiritual counseling session?
The work of a spiritual guidance counselor encompasses a commitment to the spiritual journey in their own life so that they can support you on your unique path. Your spiritual advisor will hold space for you to build your own unique relationship with spirituality, while offering spiritual guidance.
Spiritual advisors can support you with
Exploring your relationship with God
Exploring any spiritual or religious beliefs that you hold
Helping you to build greater awareness of a higher power
Whether your current viewpoint is centered around religions or spiritual beliefs, the holistic nature of the sessions means that each one is tailored to your own specific needs, with space for you to explore anything that feels true for you.
Spirituality vs. religion
A common misconception is that to be spiritual, you must hold religious beliefs. Though religion and spirituality work differently, they both operate with the purpose of deep introspection and guiding a person toward discovering their truth.
Religion generally refers to a set of ingrained beliefs people follow to discover their truth. It does interchange with spirituality, but they are different concepts. Spirituality is a much more open concept, focusing on developing a person’s awareness of life and its meaning. The spiritual person’s purpose is to ‘be’ and discover what life means for them by finding an inner connection with their deepest self.
If you specifically want to integrate religion, pastoral counseling may be an option to look for when you seek a spiritual advisor. This type of counseling provides a very similar service to spiritual counseling work, but pastoral counselors are often linked with specific religions and have undertaken accredited training.
Benefits of spiritual counseling
During your journey of awakening, you may experience all kinds of emotions, from bliss to chaos to whole-hearted joy. Those who seek spiritual counseling will discover a multitude of benefits, including:
Discovery of your values and purpose
Deeper insight and clarity when it comes to your life
Improved mental health
A higher ability to cope with stress
Increased trust in ourselves and the world around us
Relief from any suffering you are experiencing
How can spiritual counseling help me?
Spiritual counseling is a wonderful way for people from all walks of life to find a more profound sense of connection and develop their own spiritual practice. If you feel detached from who you truly are, this type of counseling will help guide you back toward who you have always been.
Spiritual counseling will help you to be honest with yourself and find answers to the questions you have been asking. It is also a great modality to support you if you are experiencing life challenges, stress, anxiety, grief, and even to provide relief from medical conditions. You can expect to feel a fundamental shift within yourself as you embrace a more spiritual life.
Supporting you with your spirituality
If you are drawn towards discovering a deeper sense of meaning but are unsure where to start, spiritual counseling could be the guidance you need to begin your journey home. This safe space will allow you to connect with aspects of yourself that have been buried for a long time and explore just what spirituality looks like in your life. Get in touch today to book your free 30-minute consultation, and learn about our range of spiritual coaching services.