Spiritual Development - An Overview
No matter your beliefs, or desire to explore mediumship or even to become a medium or not, Your Spiritual Development is one of the most significant aspects of your psychological, personal, interpersonal, relational, and spiritual being. Counterintuitively, it is Spiritual Development that healthily grounds the individual in this corporal existence. And it is Spiritual Development that lends purpose and meaning to existence beyond the facile, perfunctory, obligatory, absurd, egoistic, and transitory. However, all too often people are led astray, lost within nihilism, atheism, hedonism, materialism and delusion.
Over the years, Suzanne has cast a wide net of study, genuinely engaging with the teachings of a huge number of truly dedicated Spiritual Leaders and teachers, Mystics, and Saints and as best she can, God. Including, the spiritual teachings through trance mediums of White Feather, Ramadahn, Silver Burch, as well as a huge number of autobiographies of prominent mediums. Plus, Buddhism, and Buddha,(Siddhartha Gautama), and the Yogic traditions. And wonderful Christian traditions, particularly the monastic and mystic; St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Paul, St. Ignatius of Loyola, Thomas Aquanus and Jesus and modern teachers, Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Thomas Dubay, Richard Rohr to name but a few. Suzanne has a veracious almost insatiable appetite for all such genuine teachers and utilises them to develop and form part of her overall personal Spiritual understanding and connection with God. And ultimately to develop her Spiritual Development Mentoring and Teaching.
Your Spiritual Development
Spiritual development is real and achievable; however, it is not based on the number of candles or angel figurines you own. Joking aside, there is great confusion over what constitutes a developmental process and the type of courses one should attend, and the people one should seek assistance from.
So, let us quickly go through what Spiritual Development is not and what is unhelpful.
Spiritual Development is not a ‘hippy-dippy’ notion of niceness, being kind to everyone, avoiding conflicts, or trying to be good. Nor is it to be liked by everyone and hoping that everyone thinks that you are a kind and peaceful person. Generally, these things are neither Spiritual nor developmental. More often than not, they are unbounded social compliance that generally comes out of anxiety, a fear of rejection, and a need to please others and keep them on-side. Spiritual development will never be found in any type of “people pleasing”, because, in order to achieve it, you must either become a chameleon and constantly adapt to the prevailing wind, as set by the people around you. Or extinguish any distinguishing characteristics to render you bland and inoffensive.
If you are going to undertake Spiritual Development, the Spirit that you are going to develop is yours. Regardless of your faults and foibles, you must be whole, in your entirety, committed, and present within the process. Hiding or suppressing your true nature or any part of your nature, through fear or for whatever reason, will only serve to stunt your process and progress. Acceptance or approval from others must never be the goal of Spiritual Development. It is better that your shadow be present in the room and given the opportunity to be processed than for it to be suppressed and hidden from view. This, of course, is a difficult thing to do without becoming defensive or self-deprecating and requires courage and persistence. But in the end, it is worth the effort.
Another form of Non-Spiritual Development is that which is derived from, based on and driven by Ego. The desire for fame or fortune, to feel significant or special or self-important. Again, in such cases, there can be little development because Spiritual Development is not the goal. Instead, Spiritual Development is a means to an end and is only significant for the sake of appearance or gain. This type of spiritual misguidance sadly is more common than we would like and has existed within all religions and spiritual practices since their dawn. We are all frail and foolish and it is easy to lose one’s way. Do not judge yourself or others harshly, just recognise that it is motivationally misguided, and for yourself, do your best to improve. While we live on the material plane and money is important, there is a need to recognise a higher need, that of service to spirit, God and others. In service, we are uplifted and our needs will be met.
Simply, on the path of Spiritual Development, Motivation is everything.
What is your Motivation?
Always be aware of your motivation. Whether known or unknown to you, if your Motivation is solely in service of yourself, then you will encounter problems and possibly come to a grinding halt at a developmental dead-end.
Here, there is no criticism or judgement being levelled at anyone. Nor is there a desire to represent Suzanne as a monolith of virtue or raise her up as if she is in some way immune to such things and better than others. NO. That would help no one and would merely be an expression of delusion based in Ego. Obviously, we are all people, foolish, frail and fallible. And we carry the wounds of our lives and mostly, try to do our best.
Most people’s Spiritual Development is a combination of several motivational forces and desires and amongst them, the helpful and the unhelpful. Here, without criticism or judgement, is an attempt to highlight a couple of common pitfalls and through that help, you may become aware of the unhelpful so that you may expose it and work on it. After all, how can you work on an issue if you are unaware of it? These two issues may not significantly apply to you, but self-reflection may help you discover the blockages and misdirection you have.
As best we can, we need to ‘cleanse’ our Spiritual Development Processes of unhelpful and unhealthy intentions or motivations. Thereby, we may increase the depth of our spiritual development which may otherwise remain shallow and unfulfilling and within the realm of self-aggrandisement.
Pitfals, Dead-Ends & Distractions
No great journey is easily undertaken, and no meaningful achievement is easily won. Life requires effort and dedication and so does Spiritual Development. The path to genuine Spiritual growth and wisdom is a worthy endeavour, and it is neither compensatory nor superficial. At times it demands a deeply reflective process that can be extremely challenging and at other times, merely a quiet space. Spiritual Development should not be undertaken as compensation for or avoidance of, personal or relational issues, nor as an alternative to developing other significant aspects of yourself. All aspects of your being need to be holistically engaged with and all issues faced, less they negatively impact on your development. You also need to be mindful of, and as best you can, guard against its inherent susceptibility to the influences of your personal and the collective unconscious and your personal motivational forces, psychology, and interpersonal needs, all of which can misdirect you down unhealthy and unhelpful paths. Unaware of these influences and issues, people often invest significant time and effort, only to yield minimal movement and it is unsurprising that people become stuck or lost, or even disheartened whilst working on their Spiritual journey.
In this busy world, time and effort are limited and precious commodities and whatever you invest in your journey, it is important that it is time and effort well spent. As such, there is more to helping people with their spiritual development than merely offering courses and support that consists of seemingly good ideas cobbled together in the hope that something will have an effect. Courses and especially one-to-one support must be more than the sum of its parts, more than disparate ideas and processes strung together. Instead, they need to be well-designed and thoughtfully put together. All materials, processes, beliefs and values need to be compatible with each other and form a single cohesive approach that flows naturally and is effective and truly worthwhile to those that invest in them. Furthermore, it is also important and behoves you to be discerning and to choose carefully your courses and those that you permit to render support.
Suzanne, both as a Spiritual Mentor and Course designer and provider, understands this and applies these principles to both her support work and course provision, investing time and effort into being useful and effective.
To undertake a Spiritual Development journey, you will need a strong foundation and effective Spiritual practice. A strong foundation is both dynamic and supportive and will develop and grow as you do. It is constructed from a cohesive group of beliefs that are congruent with you and your developmental needs and motivational direction that is free of both historic and current psychological, emotional and relational ‘baggage’. Such a foundation will not only provide direction, meaning and purpose but also solace that will carry you through difficulty.
An effective Spiritual Practice is a practice that you engage with on a regular basis that forms the integrated structure of your approach to your Spiritual development. Without regular practice, discrete courses and other occasional investments, while at the time, may seem fruitful, their long-term impact is diminished by a lack of regular practice to integrate and utilise their insights within. Furthermore, ‘old habits die hard’. Healthy regular Spiritual Practice is a means by which you will create and reinforce new habits, new ways of being and experiencing to replace negative habits.
Without these two key aspects, progress will be difficult. Suzanne is well-practised in helping people discover, develop and maintain their foundations and practices.
Spiritual Materialism
If one applies a material value to Spiritual Development, this is known as Spiritual Materialism. It is an extremely common issue that people face during their journeys and they are often unaware of it. Fundamentally, it speaks to an individual’s motivation, motivations that can be either conscious or unconscious or both. If the motivation behind your Spiritual Development is material in nature, i.e. based in a need for status, fame or fortune, to be liked or valued by others, to gain approval, to compensate for low self-worth, or to avoid or distract from personal or relational issues, then one’s Spiritual Development has been coopted by Spiritual Materialism. The issue with Spiritual Materialism is that an individual’s development is no longer directed by a need for healthy growth, but instead, it is directed by the needs and desires of others or a marketplace or a need to feel better.
Given that much that motivates us is unconscious, i.e. it acts in the background beyond immediate awareness, it is difficult to discern if one has fallen foul of Spiritual Materialism without experienced help. One thing people are really good at is self-deceit. We want to believe that our motivations a pure and healthy and it is challenging to accept otherwise.
Self-Sacrifice
People commonly believe that self-sacrifice is part of spiritual development, however, this idea is commonly misunderstood. Often, self-sacrifice is synonymous with a lack of self-worth or people-pleasing. Neither of these two things are healthy, the first being rationalised into having some value when it has none and the second merely being a means of manipulating others. Such deceptions engender a sense of martyrdom often followed by righteous indignation or resentment when others do not reciprocate in kind or show appropriate appreciation.
Rather than thinking of sacrificing, it is more productive to think in terms of healthy contributions to others without interference or motivation from one’s Ego. Self-Sacrifice is the abandonment of unhealthy Ego and Ego motivation to be replaced with a more adult and connected approach.
Spiritual Development Mentoring
Spiritual Mentoring Experience:
- 14 years, (since 2008), as a Spiritual Mentor and Psychotherapist, (private practice, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire).
- 4 years of Spiritual Counselling at the SAGB, (Spiritualist Association of Great Britain, London).
- Designs and Provides Spiritual Development workshops. (UK and mainland Europe)
- SNU Minister providing Spiritual and Psychological support within the community.
Spiritual Mentor Qualifications & Awards:
- MA Psychotherapy
- SNU Minister
- Accredited Healing Medium (SNU Accreditation)
- Meditation Teacher (Meditation Centre Associate Teacher, Dent)
Mediumship Experience
Service Area:
Suzanne provides one-to-one Spiritual Mentoring in person in her offices at:
Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, and
Newport Pagnell, near Milton Keynes.
And worldwide online using Zoom, Skype, or Facetime.
- Her own Spiritual, Psychological and Relational development, so that she may be of healthy service to others,
- The acquisition of Qualifications, Skills and Experience, so that she may be of effective and useful service to others, and
- The promotion of Spiritual and Self-awareness in service to all.
In choosing Suzanne as your Spiritual Mentor, you will gain the assistance of a truly remarkable and useful individual. She will be able to help you with all aspects of your existence so that your Spiritual Development will increase unfettered by Psychological and Relational issues.
