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. Noonan2023-05-19 21:50:002023-05-20 21:51:39The merry month of May
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. Noonan2022-07-29 22:57:132022-07-29 23:04:49I observe, I experience
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
During these times of global as well as for many of us local, uncertainty — in both the physical and political realms — it begs the question for each of us to consider:
What does this mean for me emotionally and spiritually? Where in my own life have I been met with uncertainty and challenges that may trigger previous wounds? Have those wounds been healed through my physical and spiritual growth? Am I willing to accept that healing and embrace the current (and future, because there will always be more) uncertainties and challenges from a place of healing and not open wounds? For me, the answer is yes.
Okay, your turn:
What does it mean to you to read words like these? What, if any, emotions arise for you?
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. Noonan2021-02-11 07:56:302021-02-11 17:12:28Wash away
(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
It doesn’t ask whether you have the new state-issued “Real ID”
With the special star symbol on it
COVID-19 doesn’t care how great you were
Or claim to be
Or whether you will be great again
From everything we know so far
It doesn’t attack plants
Or rocks
Or dogs
Or cats
It doesn’t go after
The winged ones
Or the finned ones
Or the creepy crawlers
COVID-19 attacks us as a species
It seeps into us as a human
It takes over our respiration
(Maybe it’s time for a re-SPIR-ration).
It forces each of us to come to terms with the fact
that
we are truly all in this one together.
So, to whom do you turn as your trusted news source?
Yourself
Your mind
Your discernment
Your wise judgment
Your body
Your heart
Your spirit
Your inner knowing
If it sounds like a duck
Walks like a duck
It is well, you know,
A duck
And so it is.
We’re all in this together.
Don’t lose heart
Or common sense
Which seemingly is not so common
Right now
After all
For your consideration:
Despite the challenges, and even because of them, this pandemic provides an opportunity for each of us to take a humility break. Let us be sensitive to what unites us rather than divides us. It’s what first responders do. Take heed. Let’s all be first responders. As humans. Let’s reSPIRate.
During this time of the stay-at-home directive in California, I’ve found myself giving the flowers and plants in my garden a little extra attention and tender loving care. And, the rainbow this morning appearing as a semicircle of rays of light above the roofline during the early mist reminds me that not all things beyond our control are unwelcomed. Even in the most trying of situations, there can be much beauty to behold.
Okay, your turn:
What does the phrase “forced oneness” mean to you? Is it an opportunity, or a curse? Or, is it something else altogether?
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. Noonan2020-03-24 07:41:462020-03-24 16:46:05Forced oneness
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
Stemming from the Latin bonitas, meaning “good,” bounty refers to all the goodness that one harvests. This week is an ideal time to consider the bountiful riches in our lives. Take a moment to reflect on the abundance all around. There’s richness in all the planet provides, naturally. There’s richness in personal connections, and love. There’s richness in faith, spirit, and confidence in the greater good, and in everlasting beauty. Even in those moments when we may feel less than bountiful, consider the pearl that emerges honed, smooth, and polished by enduring the repeated friction against it.
Let us give thanks for all that mother gaia provides us, and all that sustains us. Let us give thanks for our daily practices AND our daily bread. Let us give thanks for each other, and our resolve to see the light shine against every darkness.
And, let us trust that more is yet to come. That’s faith: Faith in the unseen. Faith in the seeds planted below ground that they will reach the surface. Faith in the sun and the moon rising and setting and rising again. Faith in yourself rising, experiencing setbacks, and rising again.
For your consideration:
In what ways have you incorporated thankfulness in your life?
I still send in the mail handwritten Thank You cards, in business and personally. I suppose they stand out even more in this digital age. I hope so. I like envisioning that, even if but for a brief moment, the recipient stops to read the handwritten message and knows that I send along kindness and my gratefulness to them.
So whether it’s this Thursday, or at some other time during the next few weeks, I invite you to:
Say grace
Offer grace
Receive grace
Be grace.
Be heartfelt
Be genuine
Be sincere
Be thankful
Be true.
Count your blessings.
Make them count.
Okay, your turn:
What traditions, if any, resonate most with you during this time of year? Is giving thanks a regular part of your daily life, or do you tend to focus on it only on certain occasions?
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. Noonan2019-11-26 04:47:232019-11-26 04:47:23Thankful for the bounty
Promise me “you’ll always be mine,” they say in unison.
Instead,
Promise me you’ll be you.
Promise me you’ll be true
to you
and to me
And not to whom you think
I desire you to be
Promise me you’ll stay true to what you intend to be true
Promise me you’ll only make promises you sincerely intend to keep
Promise me.
Will you?
I will, too.
I promise.
~~~~
Tomorrow is not promised.
Today is all we’ve got.
And that is everything.
For your consideration:
What about “broken promises”? Are they based on unrealistic expectations, wishful thinking, both, or neither?
I know for me, an unfulfilled promise hurts more than no promise at all.
Like most every child growing up in Southern California, I fantasized about going to visit The Magic Kingdom…Disneyland. We did get to go when I was really little, and I was “too short to ride the rides,” as the signs said in front of the line for all the ‘big kid’ rides that my older brothers got to go on without me.
As I got a little older and a little taller, nearly every year, at some point, I would tug on my dad’s shirt sleeve and pester him with “please Dad, can we go to Disneyland again soon, can we, can we?” I believe my father did desire to make me happy, and sometimes, as I know now, he would say what I wanted to hear, without giving much thought as to whether it was likely to actually happen.
One time in particular, I remember when my dad announced to the family: “Yes, we are going to Disneyland,” and we set the date. I practically squealed with glee and leaped with joy. I counted down the days, imagining all the fun rides we’d ride at the amusement park, and how I’d get to have my picture taken with Pluto and maybe even Goofy, my favorite.
On the morning of the day that we were supposed to jump in the car and head out to Disneyland, I eagerly asked my dad what time we needed to be ready to leave. I was antsy with anticipation.
Engraved in my memory are these words in his reply: “Oh, Lori, we’re not going to Disneyland today.”
He didn’t provide a reason why. He dismissed the promise, and me, as quickly as I had asked the question.
I slumped down into my dejected heart and glumly walked back into my room without a spark of joy left in me.
I didn’t know what to believe.
So:
What if we were to commit to making promises from a place of what’s truly true? What if we made the decision to embody that promising promise now, and to carry it through…for ourselves and for all concerned?
Okay, your turn:
When have you felt the impact of a broken promise? What does it mean for you to make a promise?
I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences 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. Noonan2019-04-04 15:59:332019-04-05 01:02:52Promise me
In social media terms, we describe something — whether it be an article, a photo, a video, a particular hashtag, or meme — as “going viral” when it spreads rapidly and in effect takes on a life of its own. In common parlance, we say something spreads like wild fire. We use phrases such as “circles of influence,” and “ripple effects.”
Is it no surprise then that influence and influenza both stem from the same origins, etymologically? (These are the things I ponder as I prepare to craft a blog article for you all. Grin).
During this time of year, we talk of physical viruses spreading from person to person, and “sick buildings,” and diseases in the form of “contagions.”
What if, instead, however, we chose to focus on ease-ease, instead of dis-ease? Hashtag, ease-ease. Let’s see that go viral. Kidding. Not kidding. Well; sort of.
Not unlike going viral in social media terms, we do also speak of someone having an infectious laugh, and we say things like “we got to giggling so much it hurt.” That’s the kind of world I’d like to replicate and to see catching on with wild abandon. Particularly during these times of seemingly widening rather than narrowing political divides, especially in the United States — and of course increasingly being amplified by way of social media – I’d say we would all benefit from an emotional recess. Maybe we each need to put ourselves, myself included, in a political time-out? Sit in the corner, take deep breaths, and let the high fever simmer down.
Less hate, more love. Less ridicule, more understanding. Less disdain, more compassion. Less anger, more joy. Call me crazy. Crazy good. Crazy human. Going viral. Pass it on. Hand sanitizer not included.
For your consideration:
What is it that you’d like to pass along from one person to the next?
Remember when paying it forward was a thing? When it was an actual cultural phenomenon, not just a movie? The idea was: You go out and positively impact three people, and they positively impact three people, and so on. And so on. That’s what we could focus on as the new, old way of going viral – not for the fame, but for the humanity of it. For you, for me, for us all.
Okay, your turn:
What are you willing to share that brings about comfort, solace, happiness, or pure joy in someone else?
When’s the last time you got together with a friend and laughed so hard it hurt?
I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences 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. Noonan2019-03-05 18:24:402019-03-10 03:26:26Going viral
In what ways have you incorporated thankfulness in your life?
