Meet Brian
Thanks for stopping by. I’d like to share with you the story behind Finding Flow, so you can live your best life by also Finding Flow.
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I grew up Roman Catholic, and went to catholic schools. All the intellectual stuff my parents and catechism teachers taught me about God provided a good spiritual foundation, and I’m grateful for them.
But something was always missing. I wanted to experience God. Directly.
I wanted to take what I’d learned intellectually and integrate into a real-life, God-with-skin relationship with the Creator. I wanted to know what God feels like on the inside—in my heart. I wanted to know that God has my back and I’ve got his, and we’re in this thing called life together, like I used to feel when I was a kid.
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When I was studying to become a spiritual director twenty five years ago, our teacher Sister Nancy, gave us the assignment to create a Rule of Life. Today you might call it a Personal Mission Statement. She asked us to develop a summary of guiding principles that would steer our life’s course.
As I pondered, I looked to the spiritual giants we were studying. I noted how each man and woman—Saint Benedict, Saint Francis, Julian of Norwich, Saint Teresa of Avila, Jesus, Mother Teresa, and others—had four common lifestyle practices that shaped their lives.
So, I created my Rule of Life around the ancient wisdom of those spiritual masters. The following became my Rule, the guiding principles through which I seek inner peace, balance, and wholeness:
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Solitude
Taking quiet time each day to connect with myself and God
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Spiritual reading
Delving into the books and writings of others further along on the spiritual journey to discover the wisdom and guidance they offer
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Community
Surrounding myself with people who inspire and nudge me to grow
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Contemplative action
Taking a spiritual gifts inventory to discover my unique talents and gifts and then using them in ways life-giving for myself and others.
I call this Rule of Life, Finding Flow.
I define flow as being one with the Divine Spirit who opens our hearts, allowing us to experience inner peace, balance, and wholeness.
The other thing I discovered was just like going to the gym to work out and strengthen our muscles, to stay in the Flow, we need to integrate spiritual practices into our lives to strengthen and stretch our souls.
Finding Flow offers us a smorgasbord of doable spiritual practices you can integrate into your life. Things like guided meditations, centering prayer, mind-body-spirit exercises, books, and reflections.
These practices I’d like to offer you are ones I’ve been discovering from my own teachers. And I’ve been writing and teaching about them for over twenty years to spiritual direction clients, at workshops I love to do, and through the weekly meditations I write and email out each Monday.
I don’t have any magic answers. I’m not going to give you ten steps to happiness. I just want to offer you some of the ways God’s been teaching me.
I guess you could say I’m a story teller. That’s how I write and teach because all of our stories—yours and mine—are sacred. And when we break them open like a loaf of warm bread, I learn from you, and you learn from me, and we figure out this thing called life.
I believe if we look at our lives through a spiritual lens, we realize all of our stories contain universal truths—ones we can pan for like gold—and we can integrate those nuggets of timeless wisdom into our lives to experience God in our own unique and awesome ways.
As a first step toward your Finding Flow, I’d suggest you take the Spiritual Gifts Inventory that’s available here on my website so you can discover what your unique talents are—what makes you come alive.
When you download the Gifts Inventory, you’ll also get the free weekly reflections I write and email out each Monday. Those reflections contain stories about how the God of unconditional love is molding and shaping our lives.
So pull up a chair, have a sit, and let’s share our stories about the ways God molds and shapes us.
That’s my story…What’s yours? I’d love to hear from you.