Emotional and behavioural grooves can become so deep and familiar that they become part of our identity. When we are habituated to a certain emotional response pattern, we often assume that “this is just who I am”. We are no longer running the pattern. The pattern is running us.

Have you noticed that painful emotions tend to be much more “sticky” than positive ones? it is a real gift or our growth when we make a regular practice of giving focused attention to our positive emotional experiences. In doing so we strengthen our inner resources and bring more balance to our inner world.

In Chapter Six of Inner Invitations I describe two contrasting inner energy movements - freedom and compulsion. I’m inviting you now to pause….breathe…..and notice how becoming familiar with the way freedom and compulsion energies operate within you can help you to find more peace this season.

What do I mean when I describe Inner Invitations as a guidebook that draws on universal wisdom? The best way for me to answer that is to tell you a story. In 2010, I attended the Spiritual Directors International (SDI) annual conference in San Francisco. There were 700 spiritual directors present from many countries. This accompanying role is not an instructive one, but one of listening and walking with someone as they discern their own inner wisdom and ask, “where is the Sacred present in my life experience?”

My book, Inner Invitations, wouldn’t exist without two people – Larry O’Toole and Kathryn Overall-Cass. The unlikely partnership of an atheist, a nun and a songwriter, brought a potent energy to the creation of this book. The end result holds the potentially explosive energies of polarisation, transcended into a common bond of mutual respect and unified purpose.

I recently attended the book launch of Inner Invitations by Lucy Tierney with Kathryn Overall-Cass. And this is the book I’ve been waiting for. This book holds great value as a companion volume of practical exercises that ought sit next to the others on our bookshelves.

The words “Dare to go within…an adventure awaits” on the front cover of this book could not paint a truer picture of what was to come from the pages within. With my pencil sharpened to mark any parts that resonated with me, I soon realized that I wanted to underline nearly every line on every page.

As paragraphs and pages passed back and forth between us across the virtual Tasman, I had a full immersion baptism into the originality of Lucy’s mind and the deep wisdom she holds. As we prepare to release this book out into the public square, I’ve been reflecting on the fruits I’ve harvested in this co-writing process and the hopes I hold for you - the reader who is drawn to this book.

I’m an atheist. I do not believe in the existence of a personal god. I don’t believe that my “soul” will survive my body. I believe that when you breathe your last, that’s the end. I am an ordinary Australian bloke. I weigh too much. I wear shorts and thongs (flip-flops/jandals) to BBQs. I work in an office and laugh a lot. I crack poor-taste, politically incorrect jokes. I probably drink too much.