Spiritual Direction is a relationship in which both the listener (director) and the person sharing their story, seek to discern where ‘God’ (however the person currently understands that word) is in that story. 

 ​The shared goal is to enable that person …

• to pay attention to God’s personal communication with them
• to respond to this invitation
• to grow in intimacy with this God or whatever is most sacred
• to live out the consequences of this relationship.

Henri Nouwen writes that ‘spiritual direction describes an encounter between two people in which a directee brings to a trained and/or experienced director questions of personal and spiritual meaning.’  
For example:

• How can I become aware of God’s presence in my life?
• How or where is God present and active in my life right now?
• How might I experience a deeper relationship with God?
• How can I have some assurance that my decisions about work, money and personal relationships are made in a spiritual way?
• How do I know that my life is lived in tune with God’s call and not just in response to my own impulses and desires?

In this process of exploration, God is the director; the human director serves as the channel through which the Spirit works to uncover and discover the Divine at work in your everyday experiences. The content of the direction session is simply the ‘canvas of your life’: whatever aspect, story, or experience you feel moved to bring to prayer and reflection. You, the seeker, your director, and the Holy Spirit meet in holy conversation so ‘you may have life and have it more abundantly.’ (John 10:10)

Above all, your spiritual director seeks to listen at depth to what is shared. In so doing they help you to learn to listen more deeply for yourself. You are seeking together to see where God is for you. They help you to be aware, to notice, to ‘wake up’ to the relationship you have with God. Your director may help you with discernment, spiritual practices, methods of prayer, and at times suggest scripture and other reading. They are present as a compassionate, respectful witness to the joys and sorrows of your journey. Together you pray for that ‘closer walk' with God. Prayer can be part of a session, and your director continues to hold you in prayer between sessions.

In recent years, other terms like accompaniment, soul-friend, anam cara, have become popular to describe the work of spiritual direction and so the role is often referred to as guide, companion, or mentor.
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The director is not a ‘guru’, but a seeker themselves who has, as Margorie Thompson says, ‘travelled some distance along the path of the Christian life’ and are themselves receiving spiritual direction.