How to…Reflect on a session
Spiritual Directors ReflectionNotes
Spiritual direction is a work of deep attentiveness. After each session, many directors find it helpful to pause, pray, and reflect — not to analyse the directee, but to listen again for the movement of the Spirit within the shared space.
This suggested outline, created for the Encounter Course at the London Centre for Spiritual Direction, offers a simple way to capture what is important while keeping your attention rooted in God’s presence. Think of it less as a form to be completed, and more as a contemplative doorway into the session you have just held.
1.Begin in Prayerful Consideration
Before you write a single word, take a moment to become still. Ask God for wisdom, gentleness, and clarity as you reflect.
Let yourself return to the grace of the conversation:
What stays with me from the session?
Where do I sense the Spirit’s quiet presence?
2.General Impressions
As you sit with the session, notice what lingers. General impressions are often where the Spirit nudges first. Attend to what has “weight.”
What struck you about the directee — their affect, energy, prayer, or longings?
What struck you about yourself — your responses, emotions, or inner movements?
3. Movements and Counter-Movements
One of the gifts of spiritual direction is noticing together where life is stirring.
Movements of the Spirit
Where, in this session, did you glimpse:
freedom or joy
compassion or tenderness
deeper self-understanding before God
courage, truth-telling, or invitation
solidarity in suffering
a sense of God’s nearness or newness?
How did you respond when you noticed these movements?
Which responses seemed to support the directee most?
Counter-Movements
Gently notice any movements away from the Spirit:
diminishing vitality
resistance or unfreedom
a decrease in faith, hope, or love
confusion or heaviness
How did you respond?
What felt helpful, grounding, or compassionate?
4 God Image and Prayer
Directees often reveal their image of God through their language, assumptions, and emotional responses. Naming these patterns over time helps deepen spiritual awareness.
Reflect on:
How did they seem to understand God consciously?
What unconscious God-images may have been present?
What did you notice about their prayer life — what helps, what hinders?
Did this come up explicitly in the session, or implicitly through tone and posture?
5. Director’s Process
This is an essential part of reflective practice. Your inner movements matter; they often illuminate the directee’s journey too.
Did you encounter any internal resistance, discomfort, or stuckness?
Were there areas in which you felt unsure or stretched?
What did you learn about yourself as a director?
Did anything new emerge about how to accompany this particular person?
6. The Relationship
Try to find an image that captures the quality of the relationship in this session. What thoughts or feelings arose as you held space for their relationship with God? This imaginative step often reveals something subtle but important.
Was it:
like walking alongside someone on a quiet path?
sitting at the edge of a deep well?
navigating fog together?
waiting in a spacious clearing?
7. Verbatim (Optional but Fruitful)
If you feel ready, choose a short portion of the session and write a brief verbatim.
On one side, record the dialogue as best you recall it.
On the other, note:
your inner reactions
emotions
images
shifts in attention
nudges or moments of grace
A verbatim doesn’t need to be perfect to be true. Its power lies in slowing the moment down so you can see what was happening beneath the surface.
These reflective questions include material adapted from the Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction, San Francisco Theological Seminary (used with permission).