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Take it outside!

With this edition of Soul Notes, I invite you to take a soul soother – a soulful sojourn. It’s time to enjoy the wonder of the great outdoors!

Now, before you picture yourself out frolicking in a field of daisies or lavender (oh, wait, that does seem pretty nice, doesn’t it?) – by outdoors, I simply mean, out of the doors – beyond the four walls likely surrounding you at this very moment.

Outside: It does a body (and soul)  good!

“Outside” needn’t mean that you ought to be headed out into the wilderness, with a Swiss army knife, a compass, and a portable stove. And, it needn’t mean that you’re going to be hanging from a rock ledge, suspended mid-air over the Grand Canyon. Okay, yes — it could be that, if that’s your pleasure!

It may just as well be in an urban setting. How about taking a walk along the storefronts? Or, how about sitting on a bench in a nearby courtyard or city park – between and among the office buildings?

The suggestion here is this: Find a way to get OUTSIDE!

Here’s a wild thought – how about going outside WITHOUT your laptop computer or tablet or smartphone? (Okay, well maybe not until you finish reading this edition of Soul Notes. I know, I know, the irony!) I suppose you could bring your electronic devices with you, if you must; although, I dare say that would kind of be “missing the point”! Stay present. Tap into your spirit – hear what your soul has to say! Enjoy all of the landscape! Observe. Be.

What do you notice?

Invoke your senses. What do you see? What do you hear? What does the air feel like? What do you notice about the energy outside – is it vibrant? Intense? Still? Serene?

Change of perspective

It’s helpful to gain a change in perspective. Yes, your literal perspective will often impact your virtual one.   For example, as a member of a Los Angeles area bicycle club, I joined in group rides throughout various Southland neighborhoods.   One weekend, we cycled from West L.A. to the heart of Orange County, traveling along the L.A. river, and at times weaving our way through traffic to the Crystal Cathedral and back.

I’ve also spent three weeks bicycling through the hills and dales of County Cork in Ireland, engulfed by gale force winds, and pouring rain (along with some sparkling sunshine)!

Venturing out on a bicycle provides an entirely different vantage point.

Getting outside, up and out and away from our usual cooped up confines creates spaciousness and a renewed appreciation for what lies beyond the four walls. It tends to get the blood flowing. It often allows you to stretch your body, your mind, and even your eyeballs.

Wide open spaces

The sky is a really big place…especially when you’re in it!

Yes, that’s me skydiving above Southern California. That’s when I realized that the sky truly is a very big place!

If you have ever leapt out the side of an airplane from two-and-a-half miles up, you likely know what I mean. During a tandem skydive, my instructor and I plummeted toward the surface of the planet at 125 miles per hour, pulled the rip cord on the parachute, and floated to safety as we eventually put our feet back on terra firma. Throughout the jump, I distinctly recall feeling wildly free and in awe at just how truly expansive is the world that surrounds each of us. From time to time, we may only need a gentle reminder!

Ceremonies in the Park

If you’re like most modern workers, for a good portion of the week, you’re proverbially tied to a desk, hunched over a computer within a cubicle, or hunkered down in some other type of restrictive office space.   On days on end some workers may even remain inside from dawn until dusk. Or, if they are out and about at some point during the day, they are scurrying from one place to the next, often in a car or on some form of mass transit.

This weekend, I’m holding another one of my Full Moon and Water Meditation ceremonies. By design, I lead these women’s circles at a local park. My circle participants often remark at how much they appreciate being outside. They relish the opportunity to leave their work concerns behind, and head out into open spaces for the chance to commune with others and with Spirit out in nature.   Feelings of disconnection turn to feelings of connection.

During the next few days, I encourage you to release yourself from the usual grind, and rekindle your soul!

Feel the ground beneath your feet. Listen for the crunch of gravel or pine needles. Look for cloud formations, feel the breezes, bask in the sunshine or moonshine casting a glow or shadows on objects in your path, along your way.

This month the full moon is a SUPER one (meaning it’s especially close to the Earth). This  supermoon makes for an even greater gravitational pull. Be cognizant of the extra power of this August full moon.   I say we go outside and experience it.  See you outside!

Okay, your turn:

When is the last time you consciously enjoyed the outdoors? In what ways did it shift your mood?

I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences in the Comments section, below.  Soul-to-soul!

© 2015 Lori A. Noonan. All Rights Reserved.
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It is through compassion, that we understand

Ready for another of Yogi Bhajan’s 5 Sutras?

Yogi Bhajan, a master of kundalini yoga and spiritual teacher for decades to thousands worldwide, taught a set of principles that he coined the Five Sutras of the Aquarian Age.

This edition of Soul Notes continues our 5-part series, with this one devoted to Sutra #4: “Understand through compassion, or you will misunderstand the times.”

“Understand through compassion, or you will misunderstand the times.”

[Sutra 4, Yogi Bhajan]

This sutra is one of pure beauty.

With this sutra, it just seems right to take it word by word, each precious word. Remember dissecting and diagramming sentences in English class? Okay, I won’t go there exactly, but I do feel that this particular sutra packs an especially powerful punch! Let’s explore each word or phrase in turn. Throughout, I invite you to tune in and lean into the feelings each invokes.

Understand

Understand what, or whom? Does it relate to “the times”? Understand the times? If so, it is a reference to understanding the new age, the Aquarian age. Or, rather, does it mean to understand each other? How about remembering to understand ourselves? I’d venture to say that the answer to these questions is “all of the above.”

Through

Notice that the sutra includes the word, “through.” The word chosen was not “by” or “with” compassion. It’s through compassion. Through suggests that it comes from within, and not from without, from outside ourselves. Through suggests motion, flow, fluidity. It is not passive. It’s active. As so shall we be active in invoking this sutra and its intention.

It is through and from the heart, not the mind, that we live compassion – we ARE compassion. No matter how many positive thoughts  we may have, it is through a compassionate heart that we live in and through our truth. It is through and from the heart that we embody our divine essence.

Compassion

The word compassion means “to suffer with.”   Suffer means to carry or to bear. So, we carry that feeling or emotion. Again, it’s active, not passive.

Compassion also suggests a shared feeling, understanding or experience. At its core, it suggests oneness, not separateness. This harkens us back to Sutra #1: Recognize that the other person is you. (For a refresher on Sutra 1, go here.)

Recently I started my “Family to Family” training with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), a mental health organization devoted to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness. As I shared in an earlier post, my brother died by suicide. And, as a child, on more than one occasion I witnessed my mother (who is bipolar) attempting to kill herself. I believe strongly that part of my own spiritual path and calling includes helping others whose families include one or more persons living with a mental illness.

Through the Family to Family course we are learning about brain disorders, including: schizophrenia, bipolar, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and related mental misfirings.

A recent class session was devoted to empathy and compassion – for our loved ones (suffering from these types of brain disorders), and for ourselves. According to the NAMI Family to Family program, empathy is: “The intimate comprehension of another person’s thoughts and feelings, without imposing our own judgment or expectations.”

Many of the behaviors displayed by someone with these disorders seemingly don’t “make sense” to the other family members. Additionally, the behaviors are often erratic and unpredictable, leaving the family members living in a constant state of uneasiness. And, for the person with the disorder, the behaviors often are driven by the need for self-protection and a yearning to feel safe in what truly seems to them to be an unsafe world.

Throughout the empathy learning module, we explored a number of guidelines. Although created to help family members feel compassion toward the person with a brain disorder, I’d venture to say that as with Sutra #4, these are wise words to apply to many a situation in each of our lives. A few of the guidelines are: 1. Don’t criticize; 2. Don’t buy into the stigma all around you; 3. Praise the positive behavior every chance you get; 4. It’s okay to set limits – all persons require rules of conduct and cooperative standards by which to live; 5. Remember, everyone can only try to do their best; and 6. Live from a place of grace (tolerance, endurance and self-restraint), while at the same time extending compassion to ourselves during those times when we may not quite muster up all these graces.

“Let compassion win, and you win.” –Yogi Bhajan.

Or you will misunderstand the times

The times are these.  Right now.  The new age.  The Aquarian age.  These are exciting and exalted times.  Through compassion, may we each rise to meet them.

Okay, your turn:

In what ways has compassion served you and those around you? Is there a time when you wished you had shown more compassion, to yourself or to someone else? What does it feel like, for you, to feel compassion?

I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!

© 2015 Lori A. Noonan. All Rights Reserved.
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It feels so good to be heard

A Talking Circle, a Talking Stick, and the Opportunity to Be Heard

Let’s consider the need to be heard. It’s a basic, fundamental need. We know when it’s being met. (And, we sure do feel it when it isn’t!) It feels wonderful to be seen, to be witnessed, and to be truly heard.

One beautiful way to facilitate the meeting of this need to be heard — is through talking circles and through the use of a talking stick.

Among other traditions, Native Americans use a Talking Circle as a way to solve problems, remove barriers among individuals or groups, and to allow participants to express themselves freely. In modern circles, it has become a way to share thoughts, feelings, and individual stories.

How a Talking Circle Works

Everyone sits in a circle, facilitated by a ceremonialist who calls in the intention for that circle, and asks that each person speak one at a time. Traditionally this is done by going person to person in a clockwise direction. A token, or “talking stick,” is passed along as each person speaks. Everyone is encouraged to speak, although one may choose to pass along the talking stick without speaking.   All those who are not speaking, are asked to give their undivided attention to the person who is speaking, and who is holding the talking stick.

Blending the Old with the New

Earlier this month, I led a talking circle of 14 women. This is a circle of women who have been meeting regularly in the conference room of a wealth management office — to discuss issues such as life transitions, wealth distribution, retirement strategies, and the like.

So, how does a modern day financial planning discussion group and a traditional Native American talking circle end up intersecting?   Allow me to draw the connection, if I may.

I’ve been apprenticing as a Keeper Of The Water, based on Native American traditions of the Northwestern United States. As part of my training, I’ve been called forward to conduct Talking Circles. Through previous meetings, the financial advisor who brought together this group of her clients, has already set the tone for a wonderful circle and discussion group. Recently, however, she had invited me to introduce an element of ceremony into the next meeting.

A key element of a talking circle is to set an intention or focused inquiry. For this group, I asked them to consider, and to claim for themselves: What it is that they desire to invite in, or invite more of, into their life this year?

Full Moon Rising

On this particular evening (coinciding with the full moon), the energy was strong, amplified, and vast. You could just feel it!

This type of inquiry, and the talking circle, moves you from beyond the realm of thought, and directly into your heart space. You don’t “think your way” through a talking circle. By design, it allows room for your SOUL to speak.

As each person held the talking stick, it took on that person’s energy and full intention. In speaking her truth, each woman infused the talking stick with her story, and her experience.

And, as each woman shared her truth, unfiltered, unedited, and from her heart – all the other women witnessed her and what she desired and claimed for herself. Each person, one by one, was truly heard.

It was a soul sharing…from within…without judgment…without consternation…without any advice given or ‘fixing’ going on. Just acknowledgement, with honor, with respect. With love. That’s divine feminine magic.

Again, we all have a need to be heard. Truly heard. In our truth. In our vulnerability. Held and witnessed by kindred spirits. Sister souls. And so it is.

Okay, your turn:

What does it mean for you to be “truly heard?” What are some examples that you recall from your own life, when you felt truly heard? Take a moment and reflect, and then share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!

© 2015 Lori A. Noonan. All Rights Reserved.
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