My name is Sheila Taylor, and I currently live in Bloomington, Indiana. Like many people in the field of spiritual direction, I took a rather meandering path to get here. I started with a more academic approach to religion; I have an MTS in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD in systematic theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. I have always been fascinated by theological questions, and have enjoyed approaching them from an academic angle.

However, over the years I have been increasingly interested in what some people call practical theology, in how theology actually makes a difference in people’s lives. After years of wrestling with such questions, as well as navigating some difficult personal experiences that pushed me to really consider what faith means, I found myself drawn to the study of spiritual direction. This has turned out to be a great fit for me, as it weaves together my interest in religion and spirituality, and my deep enjoyment of hearing about people’s lived experience of faith. I finished spiritual direction certification at Loyola University Chicago this spring, and am close to completing an MA in Christian Spirituality.

In terms of my own faith journey, I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that is where I spent the first four decades of my life. I navigated a complicated and at times quite difficult relationship with LDS church over the years. But I can also say that from my grounding in Mormonism, I gained an appreciation of community, of concrete religious practice, and of what it means to connect with a deeply personal God. About nine years ago, quite to my own surprise, I converted to the Episcopal church, and I have very much thrived in that tradition; I love the liturgy, the inclusiveness, and the space for questions. My spiritual direction training has been in the Ignatian tradition, which has also played a significant role in influencing my perspective; I particularly appreciate the emphasis on finding God in all things, and the focus on exploring your own desires to understand where God is calling you. My perspective on spirituality is shaped by all of those different elements of my experience.

In my academic theological work, I focused on questions of grace, as well as the role of narrative in human life, and how the stories we tell shape our understanding of ourselves and the world, and that continues to be an interest of mine. In addition, going through some very dark times in my life, including some serious periods of depression, has left me with a deep appreciation of the power of listening without trying to fix things, and a suspicion of overly glib statements of faith—but also a profound sense of the reality of a God who can hold all of human experience, and who is not scared away or deterred by anything about us. Ultimately the core beliefs that shape my thinking are that God’s love really is the ground of everything, and that God’s care for each individual is infinite, personal, and unique. Having spent much of my life contemplating theological questions, I can say that as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become less certain about a lot of things, but I’ve also felt more okay about not having everything figured out. I see faith not as something that squashes doubt, but rather as openness to possibility. My hope is to always keep learning.

I love to hike, and spend as much time in the forest as I can. I also love to take pictures as I hike, and have accumulated a ridiculous number of nature photos over the years. (You can see some of them here.) I have two cats named Edgedancer and Andromeda, who get away with way too much because they are so cute. I’m very much a night owl. I have too many books and not enough room for them. I rely a lot on humor to get through hard things (and also not-so-hard things). I aspire to watch highbrow TV shows, but in reality I love soapy shows with absurd plot twists. I also enjoy writing, and have an unfortunate tendency to be long-winded, so I am stopping here! But I’m glad you came by, and if spiritual direction is something you are interested in, I hope to get to know a little about you.

And here are a few photos of me at some favorite hiking places! And, of course, my beautiful (though very mischievous) cats.