Flourishing Souls
For inner wholeness and deepening spirituality
Contemplative Prayer, Spiritual Direction, Enneagram exploration.
Contemplative prayer practices open us up to God and create a union, an intimate closeness...
- for groups, individuals, or churches
Spiritual Direction is to partner with you on your spiritual path
The Enneagram is to explore your personality strengths and frustrations, habits and motivations. To awaken to everything already within you. Knowing this allows you to see what holds you back from being fully present to others (and ourselves)!
Imagine loving God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength!
"To live fully awake to life is never to have regrets"
-Russ Hudson
The Enneagram brings us awareness of our habits, motivations, blind spots, and much more. It has deep spiritual aspects that free our hearts and minds to be present to ourselves and others: ALL of life.
Pairing this inner knowledge with Contemplative practices gives meaning and purpose to who we are, not just what we do.
And reveals whom God made us to be.
It affects our everyday, real life.
Are you ready to explore your true self? It is a journey, but remember Jesus said, "Perfect love casts out fear."
Knowing one self while using these open-hearted prayer practices with Love Itself is a beautiful way to live.
Photo Credit: C. Benson
Ready for New Experiences in 2024?
Want a Prayer Practice That Goes Deep?
*A New Group 2x month if forming*
Welcome, All… Come and experience distinctive, contemplative prayers twice a month for three months. See if one or many resonate with your soul.
Contemplative Prayers are various prayer forms that enable us to listen, feel, and receive the Divine Presence around and in us each moment. These are ancient/new forms of connecting to God while being present to our humanity.
6 Zoom sessions, Jan - March (2nd & 4th Thursdays, 7pm EST)
January 11 & 25
February 8 & 22
March 14 & 28
These are the prayer forms we will discuss and practice:
Centering Prayer/Lectio Divina/Welcoming Prayer/Visio Divina/
Ignatian Examen/Prayer with Enneagram Wisdom
Email me from this website or flourishingsoulsnc@gmail.com, and I will send you the Zoom link and session guidelines.
A freewill offering is appreciated as this is my livelihood. A suggested cost for all 6 weeks is $30. Less or nothing is fine, and more is always appreciated.
FLOURISHING SOULS
There are many approaches to the Enneagram. Flourishing Souls delves into the spiritual dimensions of this map of human consciousness. It illuminates why we do what we do and why we find change so difficult.
"Rather than putting us into a box, the Enneagram
shows us how small or limited we have made our
own box - and invites us to be our free, authentic self."
- R. Hudson
Are you being drawn to look deeper, open wider, and invite your soul to flourish in new and exciting ways?
Jill Schneider Smith
WHY I'M DOING WHAT I DO...
I have been a pastor in the United Methodist Church since 2000. I started Flourishing Souls in 2020 because I was seeking new ways to connect people to God in deeper and life-changing ways. A transformation of our spiritual walk that affirms God's great love for us and has a real effect on our lives in intuitive ways: body, mind, and soul.
I discovered the healing aspects of Contemplative Prayer forms while I was just beginning to explore the Enneagram (which teaches how to be emotionally healthy and present). I've learned it is a deeply spiritual system for self-awareness). Both Contemplative Prayer and the Enneagram brought me to an understanding of who God created me to be and how I am completely loved. Completely. It has also shown me what it meant to love myself so I can love my neighbor. No sermon series ever did that!
This awareness also brought the wisdom of connecting my heart, body, and mind together. A human being. We are complex and amazing creatures. It is possible to shut off our hearts, take our bodies for granted, and/or overuse our minds - every day of our lives. Until we see it. And then we can not look away. Life becomes vibrant, full of meaning and richer in every way.
My personality kept me a safe distance from God and myself, all while looking very spiritual to the outside world. There comes a time in life when this facade must be faced, stripped away, and our essence made known. Our true self. This is always a journey. It's called 'inner work.' The fruit of this is growth, depth, and expansive connection to the Divine Spirit. I am convinced more and more people are looking for union with God without the 'churchianity' that limits God to look too much like us.
I bring the practices of Contemplative Prayer with the Enneagram to you, to groups, and to the kingdom of God on earth. For together, they bring awareness, wholeness, and well-being of the soul that makes a difference in the world. Some call this Wholeheartedness. Some call it the next step of consciousness.
* The Enneagram helps each of us see the unique gifts God has placed within us and avenues to release the habits of personality that keep us locked into behaviors that prevent us from following our dreams.
* Contemplative Prayer forms connect us to God in deep personal ways differently than corporate or petitionary prayer. Centering Prayer works with the wisdom of the Enneagram when it becomes a regular practice. It does this by creating new neuropathways in our brains even as it connects our hearts to the open, loving space where God waits for us to be present.
.... I find both incredibly helpful because you can't love God with your whole heart if you don't know your true, authentic self.
CONTACT
Jill Schneider Smith, MDiv. DMin.
@flourishingsoulsnc