Habits of Freedom: 5 Ignatian Tools for Clearing Your Mind and Resting Daily in the Lord

Do you feel exhausted, anxious, or distracted? Do you want to free your mind from mental clutter?

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Popular retreat leader and spiritual director Fr. Christopher Collins, SJ, says that if you turn your heart to God you will find clarity and spiritual peace. In Habits of Freedom, Collins offers you five practical tools to help you develop a habit of daily discernment that will lead to inner calm.

Drawing on the wisdom of St. Ignatius Loyola and his renowned Spiritual Exercises, Collins offers practical spiritual exercises for incorporating five tools into your daily life to help you de-stress, organize your thoughts, and experience the calming presence of Jesus. These are:

• allowing God to show you the signs of oncoming anxiety and mental breakdown;
• developing the ancient practice of spiritual discernment to help analyze your moods and perceptions;
• interpreting life events with an eye toward personal growth and resiliency;
• practicing detachment from negative influences; and
• engaging in interior sensitivity to how God works to bring you peace.

Habits of Freedom is an excellent resource for spiritual directors and individuals, as well as for use in prayer and parish groups seeking practical material that can speak broadly to members from a variety of backgrounds and seasons of life. The book can be easily adapted for small groups and retreat use. A free small-group guide is available at AveMariaPress.com.

Fr. Christopher Collins, SJ, is the vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. His research and teaching have been in the areas of systematic theology and spirituality.

Collins is the author of Three Moments of the Day and The Word Made Love. He regularly gives retreats around the country based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.