It cannot be hurried. It rarely makes sense. However much we might want to, we know that as spiritual directors, our task is not to rescue or to fix. But we can offer ourselves as prayerful companions in the waiting. It should be safe to speak of anything, to be open about doubts and ambiguity.
Spiritual direction is the place for free and unedited discourse.
The director can encourage attentiveness by asking the right questions, questions that open doors, that shed light, that invite risk. The careful interpretations of the spiritual director are not labels, nor are they reductionist eradications of the mysterious. The holy often comes to us in darkness and in silence and melts away in glaring, shadowless light. The director knows what works against attentiveness and the patient waiting of attending. Comfort with silence is part of attentive attending.