Spiritual direction with
Jo Gustafson
Whatever is most on your heart.
An hour a month to pause, to listen for God with someone beside you, and to hear your own voice again.
You’re offline. Booking will open when you’re back.
Most people arrive not knowing what this is. That’s a fine place to start.
Online, from Seattle. Ecumenical. LGBTQIA+ affirming. You’re welcome here if you’re pagan, none, unsure, or hurt by church.
Before anything else, would you take a minute?
Breathe with it. In for four, hold for two, out for six. Nothing else to do.
That is the beginning of it.
Book the free first hourYou can say it here.
Things people have said in this room, in their first hour.
- My church prides itself on being inclusive, yet rejects me for being gay.
- I hate God.
- If I want to stay sober, I need a God that works for me. How do I do that?
- I don’t know where I’m going anymore. Something’s missing.
None of these ended the conversation. All of them began one.
What the hour does.
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You put something down.
You can’t pick anything up until you put something down. You have to make space to receive.
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You hear your own voice.
The work is helping you find your own voice and your own authority, within whatever it is you’re choosing to do.
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You are loved, and you know it.
If nothing else, you leave knowing you are loved unconditionally by God, and by me.
Confidence. Direction. And the more that love grows between you and God, the more real your relationships with everyone else become.
A reed is planted, and it bends. Whatever weather comes, it is still standing in the morning. That is my picture of this work, and of you.
Jo, on the reed at the top of this page
An hour that belongs to you.
We meet once a month, for an hour, and talk about whatever is most on your heart. It is about your life, your journey, and your connection to a God of your own understanding. We’re not trying to fix anything; we’re listening for what’s already there.
What happens in the hour
A minute of quiet. Then you talk. I listen. Sometimes I reflect something back; sometimes I ask one question; sometimes we sit with it. We close when it’s time.
You don’t need to prepare and you don’t need to be articulate. What you bring is enough.
Why not do this alone?
Going into contemplative prayer with another person, I go much deeper than I can by myself.
Pausing and silence bring us connections we didn’t know we had, to God, to each other.
Beyond talking
Some of what you carry isn’t reachable by talking about it. So sometimes we write, read, listen to music, move, paint, color, or work clay. They’re ways to move beyond simply thinking, so the rest of you gets a say.
What you can count on
Nothing is diagnosed and nothing is fixed. Nothing is preached. There is nothing to join.
Whatever you say stays in the room. And the direction comes from God, not from me; my work is to pay attention.
Rev. Jo Gustafson
Ordained minister. Trained at Seattle University, graduating in 2002, and practicing one-to-one spiritual direction for more than twenty years since.
I’m a disciple. I use the word God, and I’ll meet you wherever you are with it.
Much of my work has been with trans people, and what I offer is help to find your own voice and your own authority, within whatever you’re choosing to do.
I sing. I laugh at myself first. A relationship with God breaks open our sense of humor, and I’d hate to lose that.
A little more
I grew up with the idea that this work is a program of attraction: people find you. So there’s nothing here to convince you of.
What one hour should leave you with, if nothing else: that you are loved unconditionally by God, and by me.
Jo, in her own words, 60 seconds
Recording coming.
Begin with a free hour.
Book your free first hour with Jo: one hour on Zoom, one to one, no cost, nothing to prepare. It’s how we find out if we’re a good fit. If it feels right to us both, we set a day and time for the next one.
You’re offline. Booking will open when you’re back.
Jo sees people on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9am to 1pm Pacific.
Booking asks for your name, email and time zone. Nothing else. If you’d like to read first: what happens before we meet and the letter of agreement.
After the first hour
Once a month, an hour. Every hour is the same hour; you choose what you pay for it. Pick a door to book:
You’re offline. Booking will open when you’re back.
Choose the one your life can carry right now. People who can pay more make it possible for people who can’t. Nobody asks, nobody checks, and you can change it any month.
Questions about any of this? Write to Jo: hello@jogustafson.com
If you need to cancel, what you’ve paid carries over to your next hour.