In Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Peter Scazzero encourages readers to embrace ourselves as whole people. This includes our emotional, spiritual, physical, intellectual and social components. Recently on the podcast, I shared 5 timeless leadership axioms - portable and powerful phrases that have become adopted by emotionally healthy leaders all around the world. Emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature." Centering prayer is an unbiblical

Peter Scazzero learned the hard way: you can’t be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. Even though he was pastor of a growing church, he did what most people do:Pete outlines his journey and offers a road map for a discipleship with Jesus that is powerfully trans formative. Topics include how to identify emotionally unhealthy spirituality, how to grow your soul through grief and loss, and how to develop into an emotionally mature adult.

In fact, the spirituality of most current discipleship models often only adds an additional protective layer against people growing up emotionally. (15) In this group, you can share your struggles and receive guidance from others who have gone through similar experiences. Hey Valerie- Good to hear your review of the book! I read it myself, but prior to reading this edition, I read the book “Emotionally Healthy Church” by the same author which is in the same vein as “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality” but the content, in my opinion, is more enriching and is less bogged down by some of the monks, etc. mentioned in EHS. Even though I enjoy church history, it felt to me like some of the practices from the monks and their teachings were a little more of a concentrated focus than the Bible, God, and what our main focus should be. Anyways, I definitely agree with your thoughts that the book thankfully dissuades from the idea that all feelings lead us astray. Some churches tend to demonize emotions when feelings themselves are not evil but actually a gift from God. The issue only comes when we prioritize our emotions over the leading of the Spirit. Thanks again for your thoughts! Reply Well said Sarah! I heard that Emotionally Healthy Church was good before reading this too. I had a hard time pin-pointing why exactly this book was a bit hard to read and your comment expressed it well about it being a little too in depth about the spiritual practices of the monks rather than a more concentrated focus on the Bible. I think there is a healthy balance that comes in valuing our feelings as healthy indicators given to us by God rather than relying too much on them and as you said prioritizing them over the leading of the Holy Sprit. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I was happy to read your thoughts on the book! ReplyPeter Scazzero learned the hard way: you can't be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. Even though he was the pastor of a growing church, he did what most people do: It can also be a sign that you need to take steps to protect yourself or make changes in your life. The combination of emotional health and contemplative spirituality,” he says, “unleashes the Holy Spirit inside us so that we might experientially know the power of an authentic life in Christ.”