Taking a moment to step off the merry-go-round, what do you observe about yourself, your life, your growth? Any recurring patterns worth saving? Any worth discarding?
We do get to choose. It is all in the noticing.
Okay, your turn:
What areas of your life are evolving? In what way? When something ‘comes around again,’ do you reflect on what you can do differently?
I invite you to share your observations, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2022-11-23 09:50:002022-11-24 00:52:37Gratitude
When I was the Features editor for my school newspaper, I took great care in selecting from among the many photographs submitted by the photographers, paring down to the very few that most captured the emotions of the moment. The Sports editor, not surprisingly, focused on selecting the most dynamic action shots. It was with intention and a devotion to the story.
The same process can be applied to the new year. As you review all that was (and wasn’t) 2021, what are you bringing with you into 2022, and what are you leaving behind?
I encourage you to give yourself the opportunity to put a frame around the new year. As you would with a painting or a photograph, what are you choosing to put within the frame? What are you bringing into clear focus by framing it as such? And, by design, what are you thereby leaving outside the frame?
Put another way, we speak of the “framers of the Constitution.” The founding fathers — alas no founding mothers at least not officially — deliberately and with intention decided what would be included in, and excluded from, the nation’s foundational charter. (For more on that, follow this link to a previous edition of Soul Notes here.)
It makes a difference where you place the frame.
Okay, your turn:
What is it about the turning of the calendar from one year to the next that excites you? Anything about it that actually instead drives you a bit batty?
Do you approach each year with intention? If not, will you do so this year? Are you willing to give it a try?
I invite you to share your observations, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2022-01-02 04:24:472022-01-02 04:30:25Give it a frame
When we say someone has passed on, have they really left us, truly?
This time of year, with the observance of Samhain, All Hallows’ Eve, All Souls Day, Day of the Dead, all converging upon early November, the connection with the spirit world is stronger than ever. I feel it. I lean into it. I blend with it. With each subsequent year, I emerge more and more connected, more and more at peace, with all that was – and all that – is.
Okay, your turn:
Have you lost loved ones, and if so, did the love leave with them?
I invite you to share your observations, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2021-11-06 19:43:062021-11-06 19:43:08Across the veils
“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”
“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”
This phrase, popularized during the 1960s and ’70s has a nice ring to it, indeed. A catchy phrase, so to say. It’s a way of reminding us that we can start fresh, start over, each day brings a new dawn. It’s the latter part of the phrase, though, that can be confounding. The “rest” of your life, as in the remainder of your life, what is that, exactly? It’s unknown. It’s the grand mystery. The remainder could be years, months, or an instant.
Today IS your life, yes?
Sure, there’s the unfolding. There’s the becoming. There’s the planting, the cultivating, the growing, the expanding, followed by the harvesting and the fruits of our labor. There can be beauty, grace, lessons, and meaning in all of these. Heck, many a Soul Notes article has been devoted to these topics. In my own life, and in others’ lives, I advocate for the process of envisioning, and easing into the flow, and merging with the natural cycles.
There’s wisdom in setting sail and course-correcting with awareness and intention. It’s not an either, or. It’s an all-in. All-in this moment. All-in with all senses engaged. All-in awareness. Now. And again. And again.
For your consideration:
Here’s another popular phrase: “We have time to kill.” If we’re simply treading water waiting for the ‘real’ event to happen, then what happens in the meantime? It’s ALL in the meantime!
As the signs say along the tracks of the London Underground: Mind the Gap.
Living with awareness brings the present moment into focus. Living without awareness is a life, erm, not really lived — a life suspended, like a tolling of a statute of limitations. Don’t be that person. Be you. All of you. All the time.
Okay, your turn:
Rephrasing the ‘the first day of the rest of your life’ into: Today IS your life — When you read this, what comes up for you?
I invite you to share your observations, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2021-09-05 18:02:092021-09-06 04:42:56Today is your life
“It’s become so automatic, I don’t even think about it when I’m doing it.”
“It is so ‘second nature,’ I could do it in my sleep.”
What if we put our second nature first? What if our second nature became our first nature?
When we say something becomes second nature, we mean that it’s not something we’re consciously aware of when we’re doing it. For example, once you learn how to drive a car, you’re not consciously aware of all the movements you’re making to drive the car, and to navigate from point A to point B.
It could also be something that we say we do by instinct — again, without really thinking about it.
“I don’t know how I reached out and kept that child from falling over the railing, it was just a knee-jerk reflex.”
In other words, it’s living from your subconscious. I wouldn’t say it is unconscious — it’s anything but that. Rather, it’s consciously living from what is there all along. Instead of relying on thinking to make it happen — we let the thinking take a back seat, and elevate the subconscious up to the surface.
We can invite it up and out to play all the time! Radical idea? Maybe. Worth it? Absolutely.
Is thinking overrated?
“I never gave it another thought.”
“I just did it without thinking.”
We say things like the above statements as if thinking is the central benchmark, the kingpin, the main yardstick by which to gauge our actions and experiences. Why have we given thinking such an elevated status?
Of course, in any given moment your brain never truly shuts off. It doesn’t completely disengage from your bodily functions any more than your lungs keep from expanding and contracting, or your heart stops beating.
It’s merely a part of you, and yet it’s not all of you. When your second nature kicks in — during any emergency for example — you bring your awareness into keen focus. You are bringing a blending in of all of you into and to that moment. You are one with the situation, each person in that moment, and truly one with all of creation. There are no boundaries real or perceived. I know this may seem trippy, and I assure you this is not a drug-induced blog post, if that’s what you’re thinking. What you’re thinking, see what I mean? We are a thinking-obsessed so called modern society.
For your consideration:
What if we allowed our thinking to fade into the mix of our lived experiences, almost as if we swirled our thinking into a can of paint, using a wooden dowel, and letting the thinking disappear into the whole of the paint? Would we miss it ? Or, would we simply allow it to swirl into the mixture that becomes the fully blended vibrant paint color? Did the prior paint in the can cease to exist, or did the new paint that was added in — did that no longer exist, once we mixed it all in together? Nope. It stayed. It melded. It only seemed to disappear.
We can step out of our thinking brain and experience all of creation in a 360-degree (up down, all-around) way. We can live life in a way that I would deem to be spherical.
I contend that our lives would take on a, pardon the pun, whole new dimension. I’ve been living this way the past few weeks, and it’s been wild as heck and soooo nice to give my brain a rest. I’ve been putting my brain on an ongoing moment-by-moment ‘time out,’ and it’s been wondrous. And, in living this way you’re never alone, because you are living from a place of being one with everyone and everything.
Okay, your turn:
Does this idea of living from what I am calling a place of spherical awareness — living wholly and completely from outside the thinking mind — does that appeal to you? Are you willing to give it a go?
I invite you to share your feelings and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2021-07-10 23:54:002021-07-12 00:20:53Making second nature first
(did you know Thanksgiving used to be observed during early October and not late November as it is now in the United States?)
Yes, thankful even this year
2020
and its
harvest
of
stillness
reflection
eye opening
tears inducing
heart opening
heart closing
heart wrenching
heart healing
Awareness
and the time and space
to embrace
thoughtfulness
consideration
discerning
what’s
true
and real
and real(ly) important
For your consideration:
Notice, without jumping to quick conclusions, what this unusually strange and often unsettling year has brought up for you. What are you harvesting? Not from the surface-social-media-finger-pointing-mud-slinging level, but at the level of deep rootedness…feeling into what your heart knows to be true?
For me, among other things, I find myself doing an ongoing life review of sorts. I’m viewing my earlier experiences in a new (dare I say “novel” as in a novel virus) way. This time affords me an opportunity to be not only reflective but more inventive, more innovative, more imaginative, more creative.
Maybe Plato* was on to something!
(*Reference to his dialogue, the Republic and the idea that from necessity comes invention. More on that perhaps in a future blog post!)
Okay, your turn:
What’s been coming up for you during these turbulent times? Are you feeling less rooted? Are you nervous that you’ll be blown over by the winds of change? Will you join me in my pledge to stay rooted throughout it all?
I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2020-09-19 19:23:522020-09-19 19:27:57All things being equal
(not to be confused with ‘currentness,’ which is something different, altogether)…
Love as currency
Caring as currency
Compassion
Respect
Understanding
Empathy
Oneness
Wholeness
The sustainability of each of us
And the planet
Depends on it
On us.
What matters to you?
Does it matter?
Yes.
It matters
No matter
what.
For your consideration:
Set a countdown clock on your phone or computer, for a quick 11 seconds. Without thinking, blurt out (and write down on a piece of paper), the first three things that matter to you. They can be lofty or grounded, simple or complex. No editing allowed. No filtering. No worrying about what others’ opinions may be. This exercise is for your eyes and heart only.
Repeat this process as many times as your heart desires. By the end of the day, take the entire list or sets of lists (remember, no editing), and put the paper under your pillow and sleep on it. Dream on it.
The next morning (again without thinking, without editing), jot down anything that arose for you since the previous day. Anything new that you discovered really matters to you? Anything that really doesn’t matter to you, after all?
On each new moon, if you so desire, revisit your list and see what still matters.
Okay, your turn:
Have you really felt into what matters to you? If not, why not? If so, what has been revealed? Anything surprising? Anything unusual? Anything you’d like to reprioritize?
I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2020-07-20 18:50:322020-07-20 19:30:36It is a matter of what matters
Now, before you start thinking I’m about to list out several more adages you may likely find embroidered on a pillow, let me say that these two sayings often resonate because they’re true.
The past few months I’ve been traveling out of state and noticing how much I love to travel to other places, and yet how much I also cherish returning home. The common denominator of course is me. My spirit, my body, my heart. This is the same for all of us, right?
As I have visited with friends at their homes, I have felt deeply nourished not only by our human connection, but also by the beauty of receiving a deeper glimpse into who they are by and through what they bring to their environs. There’s a deep sense of place, and of making it your own.
Celtic history abounds with lyrical devotion to the concept of place. This heritage reveals itself in modern day, too. When I traveled by bicycle for several weeks throughout County Cork (where the Noonans are from) awhile back, I was struck by how truly welcoming the Irish were to me and to all of us traveling through their towns. Several Irish locals told me that they love helping Irish Americans find out more about their ancestry. Many took out time in earnest to help me learn that the Noonans come from the nearby town of Fermoy. Their desire to help me find my roots was loving and strong.
When we were there, each of the townships was vying for the coveted “Tidy Town Award.” We smiled big smiles whenever we’d see a local shop owner delicately sprucing up a flower box, or hand polishing a brass railing, or sweeping up with pride the sidewalk in front of their shop.
When traveling a lot on business years ago, I used to always travel with a particular candle in a small travel container. I liked the idea of making an unfamiliar place feel and be more familiar. I found the warm glow and the inviting scent wafting throughout the space to be calming and grounding. Now that I am traveling again, perhaps I will bring something new with me this next time.
For me, it’s returning to a view of sunsets along the Pacific ocean that tells me I’m home. Although, it’s not as if I have ever truly left. Home is where my heart is. And it’s all okay. Very much okay.
For your consideration:
Meditate on the word “home.”
Make “home” your mantra for this moon cycle.
Allow all the possibilities, all the meanings, to come to the surface. Allow yourself to be surprised!
Jot down the words, the phrases, the messages. Draw or paint the incoming images.
Notice what’s around you when you open your eyes.
Be inspired and take action on what is revealed.
Okay, your turn:
What part of home do you take with you everywhere you go? What’s your favorite part about coming back home? What makes it so?
I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2020-01-25 14:51:492020-01-26 00:06:59Home and a sense of place
With this season of holy nights and holy lights illuminating the darkness and lighting our path, we await each new dawn. We emerge into the day’s light, having risen from our moments of respite and retreat. I write this symbolically and yet from the physical realm, too. The deeper the well, the deeper the water; the deeper the reach down fully into the source.
At this, the final new moon of 2019 and among the few remaining nights and days of the 2010s, we are each about to step across a threshold from one decade into the next. It’s a time of high energy and high holiness.
All are sacred
All are holy
Are we wholly holy?
Yes
Does our wholly holiness show up wholly?
Not always
We focus on the season
We can focus on a lifetime
Well spent
Well enjoyed
Well served
Well shared
Deep from within
our own well
Our whole selves…
Sacred
Sacral
Sacrificial
Sacrum
Consecrated
Chamber
Heart
Night
Day
and
Light
again
For your consideration:
As we leave behind 2019 and cross into 2020, I wonder this: What’s on the horizon?
What is it that you hold most high? Most holy? Will you express it? Wholly?
I invite you to set a timer for 11 minutes, take three long deep breaths, close your eyes and allow an image, a word, a phrase, a feeling of what the next decade will represent for you and how you will move through this new decade as we approach that door, our front foot resting serenely and confidently upon the threshold.
Okay, your turn:
When you hear, read, or contemplate the word “holy,” what comes up for you? Is it tied to a particular holy-day, or a certain season? It is something to which you aspire? Do you bring it into your interactions at work or other communities, with your family, with your friends?
I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2019-12-25 16:53:152019-12-26 01:53:49Wholly holy night and day, into the light
In this new moon’s edition of Soul Notes, as we approach the thinning of the veils and autumn turns more and more toward winter, it’s a good time to go into our inner world, reflect upon the year so far, and survey what is ready to bring in from our fields, both physically and spiritually.
An ongoing cycle
Taking care of the insides tends to take care of the outsides. Conversely, of course, neglecting the insides can mean adversely affecting what materializes on the outside.
It’s an ongoing cycle of bringing in, nourishing, replenishing, renewing, and out and back again.
This is true in nature and even with person-made machines like bicycles, automobiles, and lawnmowers, for example. The list could go on; you get the picture.
It’s about taking care, having an awareness, and taking stock so to speak, so as to ensure everything is running smoothly. I was thinking about this when I took my car in for an oil change. The mechanic and I discussed synthetic oils, nonsynthetic oils, and synthetic blends. We discussed the longevity of the vehicle (mine is 24 years young, and still going!), and what we put in it helps the engine run at peak performance and what’s best for the short term versus the longterm.
I like to take care of things. I like things to last. In case you’re wondering, I know, too, when it’s time to let go. This is true of people, and animals, too. I don’t keep things just to keep them, and prolong the suffering, so to speak, just so I can live with it a little longer.
That is, as long as I remember to pay attention. And, I do. Mostly (smile). Meditation helps. It’s in those quiet moments that I hear what I need to hear. It’s in those quiet moments that I hear what my chatterbox mind has been drowning out. Sometimes it’s what my inner knowing is intending to tell me. Sometimes I hear what the ancestors, and loved ones who have passed on from this lifetime, have to say.
The end of October into early November is an ideal time to access that clear channel with those who have passed onto the other side. It’s a great time of year to watch (or for me, re-watch as I’ve seen it several times), the movie City of Angels. For you film purists out there, yes, it’s a Hollywood stylized and more mainstream remake of the 1980s black and white film Wings of Desire. I like both versions of the movie, and Wings of Desire is a hauntingly beautiful film. The Meg Ryan/Nicolas Cage version is more relatable to me personally because it takes place in California and the Meg Ryan over-achiever character is relatable to me as well. I hope you enjoy either version of the film you decide to watch, and be on the look-out for the spiritual themes.
For your consideration:
The next few days, like nature, go inward. Take careful stock of what you’re “putting into” things you care about: like your relationships, your body, your creativity, your work, your schedule. What you put in the inside makes a difference on the outside.
Okay, your turn:
Where in your life have you been taking care of what you’ve been putting into it? Where could you make improvements? What are you committed to doing differently, and why?
I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences by leaving a Reply in the Comments section, below. Soul-to-soul!
https://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.png00Lori A. Noonanhttps://lanoonan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Logo-transparent-300x72.pngLori A. Noonan2019-10-27 16:25:342019-10-28 00:42:37Inner, outer, and back again
When we were there, each of the townships was vying for the coveted “Tidy Town Award.” We smiled big smiles whenever we’d see a local shop owner delicately sprucing up a flower box, or hand polishing a brass railing, or sweeping up with pride the sidewalk in front of their shop.
Inner, outer, and back again
