Alan Hodgetts
My Home Page
'Incline the ear of your heart'
Rule of S. Benedict
Being a Spiritual Director is one of the greatest privileges I have and is the main focus of my ministry. In our one to one sessions, I endeavour to be Present; to Attune to your story; to Resonate with your issues and challenges and create a container of Trust as we navigate the terrain together. Each session is about an hour and we meet in 4 to 8 week intervals. My Spiritual Direction Agreement has all of the information you might need to help you decide if getting in touch is right for you.
During the first session we get a sense of whether it feels right for you and me so there is no fee for our first meeting.
I can also facilitate an Enneagram Typing Interview which takes around an hour. It's not about 'nailing' your type but to assist with your discernment by offering some possible suggestions of what your type could be or not.
My Spiritual Direction ministry is Enneagram Informed and perspective is the same as the great teacher, Suzanne Zuercher OSB, who described the Enneagram as a Spiritual Way. Though its not necessary for my directees to know their Type Pattern the Enneagram helps me to get a sense of the way you might tick. To See Ourselves as Others See Us is a well-known line from Robert Burns’ poem ‘To a Louse’ and it describes well the gift of the Enneagram:
Oh, would some Power the gift give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion
The poem came up once, in a conversation with someone lamenting his plight in prison saying that with this wisdom he might not have offended. Saint Paul has a similar lament:
I do not understand my own actions.
For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (Romans 7:15)
I'm sure we have all committed a blunder or two over the years and had a few foolish notions, so why repeat them? Many prisoners have the same question, and so I taught something called the Enneagram as a tool to help people in prison understand why they did what they did. This was some of the feedback from the three courses I ran at HMP Woodhill:
· Insightful · Informative· Helpful· Beneficial · Good· Educational · Useful · Excellent · Helped me to be more self-aware · It realized the truer me! ·
· I now know how I tick · £*$%# Amazing ·
· It should be part of everyone’s Sentence Plan ·
I loved it when I saw ‘pennies and jaws drop’ especially when someone realised “Oh – so that’s why I do what I do the way I do.” Personally, the Enneagram informs much of what I do nowadays, I can see how, like St. Paul, our actions can cause distress for ourselves and those around us.
The Enneagram reveals nine primary ways of looking at the world with associated blunders and foolish notions. It can also provide a Get Out of Jail Free card from what can feel like the prison of our personality.
Oh, by the way - I lead with Type 4. We have all 9 types within us or we wouldn't be whole, but 4 is my Magnetic North. I have a fuller profile on Linkedin
If you're unfamiliar with the Enneagram and would like to explore your personal growth edges using the Enneagram, I offer a Typing Interview which may give you a sense of where your compass might point.
I look forward to hearing from you. Alan [ alan@itune.one ]
