Nonjudgmental and Compassionate Awareness Does the Healing We have been studying the 12 PTCI spiritual energy principles this year.  At our most recent, May 3rd, Meditation Gathering, I spoke about our sixth spiritual energy principle:  Nonjudgmental and Compassionate Awareness Does the Healing. And, as I shared then, the sixth spiritual energy principle rests upon the previous five principles and deepens the message of each one as well. Here are the previous five spiritual energy … [Read more...]

An Invitation Have you ever felt the distance between who you are right now and who you know yourself to be at your deepest and best? That gap — and the longing to close it — is exactly where Vision and Courage begins. This is PTCI’s signature program, the one that started everything when we first offered it in 2000. Over the past 26 years, working with hundreds of people, we have witnessed again and again what becomes possible when someone aligns their everyday choices with their deepest … [Read more...]

“If you really want to see what is out there, you first need to understand what is inside — and how it defines your outer reality.” — Mary Elizabeth Since the beginning of 2026, we have been revisiting PTCI’s Twelve Spiritual Energy Principles — guides for understanding how spiritual energy moves in our lives. These are principles we have gathered over twenty-six years of studying, reflecting, and teaching through the Personal Transformation and Courage Institute. Today I want to provide a … [Read more...]

Whether you were raised in the Catholic faith as I was, or not, there is something we can all learn from these forty days leading up to Easter. Forty days — drawn from the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness— set apart for the work of the interior life. Into what do these forty days invite us? What quality of attention does Lent actually call us toward? It is clear that something is required of us — some turning, some reckoning, some genuine meeting with ourselves before the Divine. … [Read more...]

I hope you are successfully navigating the winter storms and cold weather.  And for those of you who are on the West Coast or in milder climates, make sure you really enjoy the sunshine and warm weather for all of us! For this calendar year, we are considering the twelve PTCI Spiritual Energy Principles. In January, I introduced the first Principle, Doing follows Being.  I hope you had some time to take this Principle into your Heart and Mind and reflect upon its meaning for you. This … [Read more...]

Mark and I hope you had a relaxing and rejuvenating holiday season and wish you a very Happy New Year. I am back from my 6-week solitary retreat and reunited with my treasured communities of friends, colleagues, and fellow seekers. During my retreat, I was blessed with periodic phone calls with my meditation guide, who reminded me that such an intense retreat experience benefited not only me, but all beings. As I reflected on this statement throughout the 6 weeks, I came to see the universal … [Read more...]

On Sunday, June 7th, Mark and I went to Washington, D.C. to bear witness to the newly inaugurated Black Lives Matter Plaza. The Plaza is immediately adjacent to Layfette Square and spans and renames almost three blocks of 16th St., within sight of the White House. It was here, two weeks ago, that peaceful protesters were forcibly dispersed by police who used tear gas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets to disrupt the peaceful demonstration. The protesters were exercising their rights … [Read more...]

Non-Judgmental Awareness Itself Does the Healing Doing the work of spiritual transformation – what we might call “making the unconscious conscious” – includes connecting deeply with our wisdom, gifts and talents.  It also requires us to embrace the wounded parts of ourselves and welcome them into our awareness.  This process takes a lot of courage, but it also takes equal parts of self-compassion. Part of the reason we draw back from investigating the many layers of our personal … [Read more...]

We are responsible for our unconscious as well as conscious thoughts, emotions and actions. This Spiritual Energy Principle can be a challenging one!  For most of us, it makes sense that we are responsible for our thoughts, emotions, and actions of which we are aware.  But, how is it that we are also responsible for all mental, emotional and behavioral patterns that reside in our unconscious mind and which are outside the field of our awareness? Ancient wisdom traditions have long taught … [Read more...]

Each successive Spiritual Energy Principle builds on the previous ones.  Just to review a bit, we saw in the first Spiritual Energy Principle – Doing Follows Being – the importance of clarifying and applying spiritual values and gifts – our Spiritual Ideal – that inspires and guides our lives.   The second Spiritual Energy Principle – Energy Follows Attention – teaches that we can develop the innate mental capacity to both focus our attention on our spiritual values and open our attentive … [Read more...]