About
Cynthia V Mitchell, is a national spiritual guide and teacher. As the “Time Gifter” she exhorts others to embrace the idea that we “Live Our Legacy” when we are mindful of each moment, and live in the presence of the Beloved in our everyday life.
She helps others who want to learn how to express their true spiritual nature to regain a sense that “we only take the love we make”.
Her two recent publications, Time for What Matters and The Time Gifter’s Journal, are expressions of her desire to influence others like herself to shape their lives around what really matters.
Cynthia established holistic counseling centers in 1984, founded an Institute of Healing and Wholeness in 1986, and throughout these 30 years, she directed healing services, group retreats, and silent retreats to those on a quest for understanding the mystical nature of one’s inner being.
Always a champion of the integration of body mind and spirit, Cynthia was moved during a keynote presentation for women with cancer, as she saw in her mind’s eye a message “Cynthia, life is not a dress rehearsal”. In her work as a spiritual director for these patients, she observed a common theme, namely that if there was one thing these women could do differently it would be to “make more time for what matters”.
Later as she applied this wisdom, Cynthia took a two year semi sabbatical to be available, working from home, as she helped to care for her dad who was challenged by Alzheimer’s disease. It was then that Cynthia knew first hand, “that it’s a gift we give ourselves when we make time for who and what we love”.
Cynthia’s webinars and retreats best serve people on an inward facing path to wholeness and well-being. They are for those looking to care for themselves enough to “Be-come still and know God”
My Spiritual Development
Being born into a first generation Italian family, I experienced “religion” as the center of our family life. I learned early on the value of quiet prayer and devotion to prayer practices. Back then my grandmother Virginia had her own altar complete with replicas of saints, and of course a sanctuary lamp.
My grandmother, inspired the development my faith, as did my parents. I remember as a child walking to church. I went from holding my grandmother’s hand as we walked to church, to realizing mine were the hands that would soon offer a blessing of inner healing.
I was always in touch with the spiritual side of life, I just never knew that term. Religion is quite different from spirituality and differentiating that has made all the difference in my life.
As a teenager, I challenged my pastor with a question. “When can I give a sermon or homily?” He looked at me somewhat in credulously and offered me the option of being a member of the altar guild that oversaw vestments for the altar. That response left a lasting impression on my heart, but it did not deter my desire to serve people, wherever and whenever I was “called” to do so.
My first teacher in the art of inner healing was Barbara Shlemon, an internationally acclaimed and much- in-demand healer, the founder of a retreat house in Florida and author of many books on inner healing. It is with her that I learned the healing power of prayer. I was fortunate enough to even participate by her side as a co-leader of healing services. It was then I felt called to guide healing retreats. And for many years, I worked in the healing ministry, both as a retreat guide and as the owner of counseling centers that respected the integration of body, mind and spirit. I was blessed to be co-founder of an Institute for Healing and Wholeness, a certificate program offered by our counseling centers well before the word “holistic” became popular.
Ten years later, my faith walk took me from a more traditional expression of faith to a more nontraditional one when I sought the guidance of a well-respected spiritual director who had created houses of prayer and retreat centers. Her name was Sister Kieran Flynn. Mine was the privilege of training as a spiritual director in a program offered at a retreat center she founded, Our Lady of Peace Spiritual Life Center. At one point, I even took a sabbatical to complete what for me was a seven year process in training to become a spiritual director. She inspired my life then, as she continues to do now, with her mystical sense of wisdom. I will always be so very grateful to her and her staff.
The highlight of my training at Our Lady of Peace was a 30 day silent retreat, where I came face-to-face with the Presence of God in my life. The experience was life changing. While on retreat , I found that I loved the silence and the quiet more and more each day, and since then have this yearning for both which guides me each day.
I eventually guided others on their silent retreats. It is such a privilege to do so. I loved the inward journey and navigated the inner world easily as it was, after all, my favorite world.
It seemed natural with all my training as a therapist and years of training as a spiritual guide that I would yearn to go deeper into that still quiet place within. It was then I was guided to the path of mystical studies and took to a school of spiritual studies that taught me more than I ever imagined about embodying and expressing the Belovedness of God. I have stayed on that path now for more than 30 years. Throughout those years, I attended many private and group retreats and especially appreciated my alone time in what some call “huts” or hermitages… again. In the silence with only a visit from a spiritual guide once a day.
My spiritual story would not be complete without my mentioning the blessing of the Unity Church as well as all the above, for Unity has taught me how to live in tune with the promises of God.
The desire of my spiritual heart now is to be a Presence of Belovedness and inspire others to “be” the same.
I look forward to sharing what I have learned here at www.cynthiavmitchell.com. Time for What Matters, my first book and The Time Gifter’s Journal, my second publication, are tools to inspire people who also want to live a Legacy of Belovedness now. I welcome you to join our movement. Remember, ”We only take the love we make”, so the time for what matters is now!