Hello, I'm Dianne Edleman, a spiritual director based in Raleigh, North Carolina. I welcome seekers of all backgrounds, but mostly work with adults over 50 who identify as spiritually progressive, spiritual but not religious, or spiritually independent.
What is a spiritual progressive?
If you are spiritually progressive, you believe that spirituality is something that evolves over time. You embrace continuous learning and self-reflection. You are open to spiritual insights and practices from diverse traditions. You value personal experience, intuition, and direct connection with the Divine. You resonate with perennial wisdom over dogma.
Learn more here.
Freedoms and challenges.
Living a spiritually progressive life can be freeing, but also challenging. Freeing, in that you are forging a unique spiritual path that reflects your evolving personal theology. Challenging, in the sense that you may be travelling that path without community support while facing difficult life situations, perhaps related to identity, aging, health, and relationships.
Support for your spiritual journey.
As a spiritual director, I take some of the aloneness out of the equation. I accompany you on your journey, honoring your right to seek a meaningful relationship with the Divine in your own way, while giving you the opportunity to think and talk about what’s going on in your life within the context of your beliefs and values.
In practice...
• I listen to you deeply, lovingly, and sometimes intuitively, in confidence and without judgment.
• I occasionally ask you questions that may stimulate new thinking and valuable insights.
• I make suggestions, if and when you welcome them, that may be helpful to your spiritual growth.
• I affirm your insights and breakthroughs.
I also serve as empathic presence for you. I’ve been a hospital chaplain, a hospice worker, and a disaster spiritual care volunteer. By way of my own experience or that of those I’ve cared for, I’m intimately familiar with many of the challenges that can affect one’s spirituality. These include institutional (religious) conditioning, illness, LGBTQ issues, unwanted professional changes, caretaker (compassion) fatigue, and the loss of loved ones, among others.
Want to know more?
Here's my Bio. Here's more about my Spiritual Direction practice. If you're new to this work, read What Is Spiritual Direction? Click here for Testimonials from current and past directees and life coaching clients.
My qualifications:
I earned my doctoral degree, which focused primarily on human potential development, at the Union Institute in Cincinnati, OH.
I trained as a Spiritual Director/Supervisor at the Urban Spirituality Center in Portland, OR.
In my years as a chaplain at Duke Raleigh Hospital and UNC Rex Healthcare, I provided over 4,000 individuals—patients, family members, and staff—with emotional and spiritual support during the height of the Covid 19 pandemic.
I have been a Red Cross Disaster Spiritual Care team member and a hospice volunteer for many years.
My personal theology is influenced by aspects of Christianity, Buddhism, Spiritualism, New Thought, the Human Potential Development movement, mysticism, and the insights of Near-Death Experiencers.
I am a member of Spiritual Directors International.
I’ve authored several books on practical spirituality.
I meet with clients both in-person and virtually. Please contact me to schedule an introductory phone consultation. There’s no obligation.
Thank you for visiting. I look forward to hearing from you.
Copyright © 2023 by Dianne Edleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
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