Jean Wise's Blog

Advent begins November 30 and in the rush to get things done for the Christmas season our spirit cries out to slow down and pay attention to what is important and what is the true reason for the season. Don’t forget to savor the sacred moments. Breathe in silence. Sit in silence. Sing carols. Ponder […]

This post Advent Begins was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.

I like the term Lamplighter. I learned this word from wisdom teacher mystic Cynthia Bourgeault who described the spiritual teachers in her life – both ancient and contemporary – as lamplighters, those lighting the way for her path. Isn’t that a cool way of describing people of faith? I love this word and have learned like electric wires […]

This post Walking Year Long with a LampLighter was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.

Courage is my word of the year and yet here I am in November wondering if I am really any more courageous or not. Has this word made a difference in my soul? What have I learned? Have I wasted my time? So today I reread all my posts and quotes from the start of […]

This post Rereading Courage – What Have I Learned? was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.

Are you sitting in the bleachers or in the arena? This image intrigues me. Fellow blogger and friend Lisa wrote a few weeks ago about her recurring dream where she sits in the bleachers watching a game. You can and I hope you do go read her entire post here: Lisa writes, “When I’m a […]

This post Imagining the Bleachers was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.

I sat around their kitchen table as they shared tear-filled stories about their wife/mother. We were gathered to plan her funeral service. The room filled with family, warmed by the afternoon sun and lots of love and wrapped with both sorrow, memories and laughter. A bittersweet meeting.  I asked a few questions but most of […]

This post Deep Listening was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.

Can spaciousness be a spiritual practice? Can you cultivate spaciousness? What is spaciousness, anyway? This word entered my heart after a lovely week of relaxation and delightful weather in Florida. My body and my soul felt different. Healed. Whole. Where before the trip I was tense, depressed, and battered by many internal and external storms, […]

This post The Spiritual Practice of Spaciousness was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.

What was your first real job?  I know my early ones were babysitting and then in college serving food in the cafeteria and working the dorm’s front desk and being an RA. But I have been reminiscing about that very first “real” job – that full paycheck one. I worked 3-11 pm as an ER […]

This post Remembering Your First Real Job was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.

We can talk with God in many ways. I find just plain conversation with the Trinity like friends having coffee or lifting praise and gratitude to be essential methods for me. Written prayers, working to find just the right words to articulate my desires, sorrows, hopes in my journals are prayers. Of course, silence is […]

This post Borrowed Prayers was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.

“What are you enjoying right now?” This was the question posed to us around a table of friends last weekend. We all paused and thought for a few minutes. How would you answer? Most of our immediate responses were family. Friends. Health. Then we sat quietly again. Thinking. What else was bringing us joy? What […]

This post What Are You Enjoying Right Now? was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.

Fall is in the air and I am certainly in the autumn mood. I have decorated the house and getting the warmer sweaters out.  I am ready to cozy up to read by the fireplace and smell a pot of soup bubbling on the stove all day. I do love summer, but each season brings […]

This post Four Somethings – 2025 Fall Edition was written by Jean Wise and first appeared on Healthy Spirituality.