Tammie: What impact has creation spirituality had in your life?

K.j.: There came a time in my spiritual growth when I could no longer deny a deep connection I felt to the Master Teacher Jesus, the Christ. I previously avoided any association with Christianity because of the negative connotations it evoked for me: Judgmental, compassionless, and using the name of Jesus to proselytize and criticize people and their way of life.

Creation Spirituality was a door opening, inviting me to see the good in the Bible and the beautiful message Jesus taught. It provided an avenue for me to discover the gift of so many role models I had previously been unaware of: Women Christian Mystics, such as Mechthild of Magdeburg, who lived her life dedicated to her spiritual Awakening and ministering to others who weren’t necessarily "religious" or accepted by the formal Church. Her poetry fills my heart with gladness and gratitude for the Great Mystery. She knew how to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through her, and had a gloriously intimate relationship with It. Creation Spirituality says we are all worthy of this movement through us, we are all worthy of this relationship.

Tammie: Do you believe that pain can be a teacher and if so, what are some of the lessons your own pain has taught you.

K.j.: I believe anything can be a good teacher - it all depends on how willing we are as students.

We can go through life seeing everything as either a blessing or a curse - or as it just "Is". I have experienced plenty of pain in my lifetime, physical and emotional. What I’ve received from pain is the amazing confirmation that no matter how dark and black and hopeless life may seem, there is always light and joy on the other side of it. In Truth there is no difference between the depths of pain and the heights of joy. Each exists at the deepest part of our soul, each can build our faith, and each can bring us closer to God if we allow them. What "Is" remains motionless and untouched by our sways of emotion. From this center spot we can observe the depths and the heights and remain unattached.

Tammie: How would you describe counseling for the spirit? What does it offer that traditional psychotherapy doesn't?

K.j.: The way I see it, Spiritual Counseling approaches healing the mind, body, and soul. In the past, conventional psychotherapy and psychiatry have tended to neglect a very integral and significant part of our wholeness . . . our spirit. To look at healing the whole self, we must address this essential part of our being. In truth, it is not part of our being, it is our being. Our minds and our bodies reside within our spiritual body.

In Spiritual Counseling we not only discover what the mental cause is behind our current situation, we look at how we can create our current situation differently if we so desire. We look at Universal Laws that have been in operation since time began, and learn how to use those Laws consciously and in a way that supports our manifesting the life we desire.

Tammie: If your life was to be your message, then what message do you see your life being?

K.j.: Wow…what a great question! I think everyone should ask themselves this question on a regular basis.

My message would hopefully be:

• See and find the good in all things, situations and people.

• Be Love, see Love, give Love, receive Love.

• Be willing to continue looking at how we create our worlds, and since we create our worlds, we may as well create them to be magical, mystical, and fun!

• Always move towards a Conscious Awareness of Peace.

• Appreciate and be grateful, for even, and especially, the simplest things are joy-filled!

• Forgive, yourself and others - daily.

• Don’t allow your past to define you.

• Don’t allow your looks to define you.

• Don’t allow your job to define you.

• Don’t allow your culture to define you.

• Don’t allow your politics or opinions to define you.

• Be Who You Are and nobody else!

• Laugh! Cry! Wake up!

• Go For It!"

next: Interviews: Cliff Bostock on 'Soulwork'