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. Noonan2023-04-19 05:59:002023-04-20 06:02:00The sun gives light
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. Noonan2022-10-26 05:25:002022-10-27 05:48:06Movement of the melody
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
Here we are, smack dab in the middle of a triple header. At the time of this writing, we’re entering into a new moon cycle and are leaving behind Mercury in retrograde. Oh, and there’s the first harvest (known in the Celtic tradition as Lammas).
It’s also a super moon, meaning the moon is at the point in its orbit that is nearest to the Earth; that means the high tides are higher, and the low tides are lower right now.
As our bodies are nearly two-thirds water, the motion and greater intensity of the moon’s impact on the tides means we are subject to that much more gravitational “pull.” It’s not your imagination – it’s science. So, if you’ve been feeling especially off balance and maybe a little more wobbly than usual, allow yourself to lean into rather than resist all the movement. Welcome in less topsy turvyiness, and more easeful floating. It’s a time to focus on anything or anyone in your life that is stable right now.
In this edition of Soul Notes, as the planet Mercury seemingly (although not actually) reverses its course, let’s explore what it means to be “mercurial.” Mercurial is defined as fickle, volatile, ever-changing, and unpredictable. It can leave each of us and those around us feeling a little, or a lot, anxious.
Mercury, the chemical, is named after the fastest moving planet in our solar system, and if ingested can cause among other things damage to our nervous system. It is no coincidence that many believe that Mercury in retrograde can be rather disruptive. It happens at those three or so times a year when the planet Mercury is moving slower than is the Earth, creating the illusion that it’s moving backward. That can be disconcerting indeed.
Our medicine cabinet in the kids’ bathroom when I was growing up always had in it a small bottle of something called Mercurochrome. Containing a trace amount of mercury and not having been subject to FDA scrutiny or approval, it has since been taken off store shelves in the United States.
Whenever I ran back into the house after having fallen and scraped one or both my knees, mom would pull out the bottle of Mercurochrome, take a stopper full of the liquid silver and sploosh a mighty squirt of the stuff right onto my skin. I winced and felt the burn and nearly held my breath as I would watch a brownish reddish amber amoeba stain of goo form on my skin. Fully awakened by the new pain out-paining the original one, I nonetheless scampered back out again to play, and probably fall again, and likely later to have to pull out a few nettles and foxtails from my socks and hair.
While “at play,” what I like best is that my mind gets to take a rest. Gemini is my sun sign, and according to astrology, Mercury is my ‘ruling planet.’ Mercury is said to rule communication and the mind. So during Mercury’s retrograde periods, I get to enjoy a double-uptick in challenges. I get to practice calming down my already otherwise nervous, highly mutable energy. I get to be so extra…you know, mercurial!
For your consideration
How about for you? Are you coming off a super-charged few days or weeks of intensity in your life? If so, consider seeking out ways to stabilize and ground yourself. Yes, ground yourself, as in hold a stone in your hand, sit on a rock, or put your bare feet on the actual ground. Take a slow, long, calming look out at a mountain peak or at a set of large trees in your area, if you can. And, if you’re at all like me, even standing in mountain pose in your living room, and breathing deeply and slowly for 8-11 breaths will likely do you wonders.
Okay, your turn:
In what ways are you coming out of an especially wobbly week or two, and in what ways are you transitioning along with the natural world into a more stabilized phase?
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. Noonan2019-07-31 17:54:562019-08-01 06:47:25Why so mercurial?
In this edition of Soul Notes, let’s talk about change. I’m not talking about change for change’s sake. I’m referring to those anticipated or even avoided changes that gnaw at us, and keep us at best distracted or at worst completely stuck, immobile, and hunkering down and ducking from opportunities that may expand us, help us and others, and even allow us fully to flourish.
Rather than resisting or avoiding change, perhaps it’s worth flipping it on its head:
What if instead it was a matter of welcoming and embracing change, in spite of, or even especially when, the outcome is uncertain? It need not be reckless nor done with wanton abandon.
With, in many instances, hotly contested races in the midterm elections held in the United States this week, many voters heartily embraced a change in the ruling political party and a rebalancing of power among the three branches of government. Not everyone held on for dear life to the status quo.
Some changes are certain. They are taken as a given, without resistance: The ebbing and flowing of the tides. The waxing and waning of the moon. The rising and setting of the sun.
Stages and seasons of growth in nature: those are accepted as certain, or nearly always so. Nature takes a certain trajectory, follows a certain course, pattern, cycle, movement, and rhythm. Of all the species, it is humankind that is perhaps the most not-so-kind to the natural world. We are the species that most interferes with the grand design of this world.
It is we who inject and impose contorted calendars and appointment schedules into what is an otherwise orderly order. We invoke what are for the most part arbitrary time changes such as “daylight saving time.” It is this imposing of our will over divine will that I would venture to say brings us strife and grief, and long-term suffering at the hands of fleeting, or even altogether unmaterialized, gains.
Maybe it really does come down to the invocations expressed in the Serenity Prayer: Accept the things we cannot change, change the things we can, and invite in the wisdom to know the difference. For those circumstances we cannot change, we can still indeed change our response. (See TheMeaningfulness of Meaninghere, referencing the work of Viktor Frankl.)
We are in control. We get to decide how we respond. We get to take inspired action. We get to adapt, move forward, expand, and grow. And why not? To stay stuck is tiring, uninspiring, and altogether dull.
For your consideration:
Is change something to be avoided at all costs? Why or why not? Does it depend on the situation?
Okay, your turn
Where has embracing change, even when initially it seemed scary, brought about improved outcomes for you? On the other hand, when would you have benefited from accepting a situation exactly as-is, and had fully appreciated it in that moment?
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. Noonan2018-11-08 19:42:442018-11-09 06:00:01Why do we resist change? (Or, do we?)
February, the month of love. Oh, how we love (and sometimes don’t) love thee, February!
This new moon’s edition of Soul Notes is dedicated to love. May love find you and you find love in all the divinely inspired ways possible…this month, and always.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dear Love,
Thank you for sunsets
and sunrises
Thank you for moonrises
and moonsets
Thank you for rainbows
and moonbows
and mountain tops
and mountain bottoms
And landscapes
and horizons far and near
and seas to cross
and seas to see
and salty wind sprays
off the ocean
And unswept beaches
with crawly sand crabs
and scurrying sandpipers
Thank you for the crunch of gravel
and the scent of pine needles
and the shape of pine cones
and the sweetness of pineapples
Thank you for fireflies
and hummingbirds
and macaws
and geckos
and the clippity clop
of Clydesdales
and the sounds of drumming heard from the drum circle
down in the valley
Thank you for heart beats
and heart swells
and heart warmings
Thank you for goodbyes
and hellos
Thank you for touch
and taste
and ecstasy
and bliss
Thank you for stretches
and stretching
and growing
and restoring
and
Thank you for the
remembering
Thank you for new levels
and old reliables
Thank you for healing
and healing space…s
Thank you for being there
even when I don’t seem to notice
Thank you for seeing me
Thank you for hearing me
Thank you for listening
Thank you for knowing all the things
The secret secrets
and the not so secret
Thank you for the holding
and the mystery
and the understanding
and the hope
and the reassurance
Thank you for the reason
and the unreason
of it all
I am with you
We are with you
I am you
We are you
And it is…
divine
Okay, your turn:
What does this poem bring up for you? What is love?
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. Noonan2018-02-15 21:32:002018-02-16 05:19:36An Ode to Love (aka, 'not your usual' love letter)
Where there’s heat there’s power: Right from the core
During this week of the new moon and the equinox, it’s a powerful time to feel into where you may be out of balance in your life, and to consider ways to bring yourself into a state of equilibrium.
From the core: the seat of equilibrium
“Have you ever noticed that the stronger your core, the easier it is to maintain your equilibrium?”
I used to think that I had fairly good balance. Tree pose in yoga? Although not perfect, at least decent, I would tell myself. Once I steadied my mind, my body for the most part followed suit. My first time on one of those “balance boards” in the gym, though? Woah, I felt as if I had suddenly lost all sense of balance. One of the trainers had introduced a balance board to me, and she ‘spotted me’ a bit to help me step onto the board. Within moments, I was wobbly. She had the wise forethought to set me up near an interior wall, and recommended that I reach out to gently touch the wall if I needed a little extra support to regain my balance. That did the trick. That got me to the point of balancing. Retaining my balance? I immediately discovered that took core strength. And focus. And commitment. Anything less would result in an abrupt dismount at best, or a turbulent tumble at worst.
It got me to contemplating about how much a strong core serves us overall in life as well. There will always be external, and sometimes internal, factors that threaten to throw us off balance. The stronger we develop and maintain our central strength, the greater the opportunity to live our lives from a place of equilibrium. It’s not passive. It’s active.
A strong core:
It helps you get into balance – into a state of equilibrium. It also helps you to maintain and sustain that equilibrium for longer periods of time, with less effort and little to no strain. Additionally, the next time you step on the balance board, it is easier to get into balance and into a state of equilibrium. It’s important to notice that nimble, subtle movements and adjustments render large differences, impact and consequences. May this serve as a reminder that small shifts made repeatedly and consistently make for lasting transformations. Remember: Ultimately, adjustments can only truly be made once you’re on the board! You still need to step up and onto the board! You need to get into the game. You cannot make positive changes from sitting on the sidelines. Commitment to a daily practice helps bring this concept into physical reality. (For a refresher on the importance of a daily practice and a list of examples, go here.)
From the core: the seat of power
A primary energetic center in our bodies, the navel center is considered in kundalini yoga to be the heat center, or fire center. As such, it’s also considered to be the seat of our personal power. Physically, the navel center is three fingers’ widths below your belly button and is situated between this point on the front of your body and your spine.
Distinct from yet akin to the navel center, is our third chakra. It is considered to be the energetic center of the kundalini energy or “fire energy.” It is the energetic source of self-empowerment.
By tapping into and strengthening our navel center and the third chakra, we are able to fuel how we show up in the world – as strong leaders in our own lives, and in service to others.
It all comes full circle. By cultivating a physically strong core, we generate our spiritually strong fire and heat – from a place of solidity, groundedness, centeredness – from a place of equilibrium! It’s stable, not wobbly. We each hold this potential within us. It’s simply up to each of us to take notice, take heed, and take action. It is what is especially needed now, during these turbulent times.
For your consideration:
Into your daily practice, bring a consciousness around the specific actions you can take to counterbalance any resistances you may be having to living your best life. Be curious about what it is that may be throwing you off-balance; next, list out and take one, two, or three simple actions designed to bring you back into a state of equilibrium. Remember, these are not large, sweeping gestures; these are subtle adjustments.
Still feeling wobbly? Then seek out support! Like I did in the gym that day, reach out to a nearby wall, so to speak. A quick gentle hand out to the wall may be all you need to steady yourself, and then you take it from there.
Okay, your turn:
When have you felt the greatest sense of equilibrium? When have you felt most off-center? What, if anything, has helped bring you into a state of balance or equilibrium?
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. Noonan2017-09-21 13:45:062019-04-30 05:10:13From the core: the power and promise of equilibrium
It’s a particularly energetically charged time in the United States, as evidenced by recent politically volatile and even at times highly venomous and violence-infused protests, and counterprotests, resulting in understandable public outcries and feelings of despair and disbelief.
Perhaps then not-so-coincidentally, with this rare total solar eclipse, in the U.S. we are also witnesses to:
The sun’s shadow being cast upon the Earth, traversing along in a large swath forming an arc from West to East, across the United States, from Oregon to South Carolina.
In this edition of Soul Notes, we explore the need to rise above the fracas of duality and instead embrace a renewed commitment to bringing forth a new dawn – one of universality. We truly are all in this together. Our survival as a society and as a nation may depend on it.
Lessons from the dark side
“We have an opportunity to rebuild, from a strengthened foundation, together, rather than as separate and apart.”
Perhaps one of the most well-known among Pink Floyd’s albums, The Dark Side of the Moon contains a song with that phrase within the lyrics of the album’s final song entitled “Eclipse.”
That song describes a descent into madness. While symbolic and figurative, the song is also based in part on what actually does happen in the natural world. Due to tidal locking, the moon rotates on its axis in nearly exact correlation with its revolving around the Earth. (This is known in the science world as synchronous rotation.) Accordingly, from Earth we always see only the same, one side of the moon. The opposite side remains dark to us, hidden from view.
So, too, is the case with our own sensibilities, upbringings, cultural orientations, and pre-judgments of ourselves and others. What is our part to play in all this? As citizens? As voters? As participants in our political system and in our legal system?
Unless we challenge the “usual orbit” of love and hate, we will always be seeing only the one side or viewpoint – as it’s the only one we’re willing to see. What if could do an “about-face” and take a long not so easy look at the dark side of our own beliefs? What if we were to shed light on the shady undertones of our prejudices? I dare say that’s the golden opportunity afforded to each of us as we experience these seemingly insurmountable (perceived) differences among us.
If each of us chooses to be driven by love and not by fear, and not by unbridled anxiety and distrust, then we can take conscious action and effectuate positive change. We can choose to evolve rather than devolve. As a society, we have an opportunity to rebuild, from a strengthened foundation, together, rather than as separate and apart.
Scientifically, we know that the universe is expanding. This time of tumult affords us all the opportunity to expand with it, rather than contract or constrict.
It’s Time to Invoke Our Collective Imagination Over Mind
As with a solar eclipse, when the light appears blocked out, we can then better feel into what’s been lying in wait — what’s been hidden in the shadows.
As the divine feminine reemerges, and ethnic equity and gender equity gain more ground, the apparent threat to the outdated patriarchy becomes all the more real. Are we reaching a cosmic collision point? As a nation, are we going to come out the other side of this stronger, more unified? Or, will we end up even further divided? Are we moving forward, or regressing?
The conditions are ripe for creative, imaginative solutions to emerge. Not unlike the financial downfall of the Great Depression serving as a great catalyst and driver for an unprecedented influx of innovation -–the time is now for the collective imagination to become the order of the day.
What if duality were no longer how we positioned things? What if we were to approach these political divides from a place of universality, instead? As humans, after all: We share the same air, bleed the same blood, shed the same tears.
Dualities keep us in a power struggle. It’s as if we’re each sitting on opposite ends of a teeter totter, competing with each other to fling the other one up and down off the same, single fulcrum. What if both sides were to step off the teeter totter altogether, and join together on common ground?
Polarities, Dualities and the Opportunity for Growth: “A Justice of Wholeness”
As Celtic mystic John O’Donohue suggests: As humans, having a mind “means we’re always confronted by dualities.”
During an interview with Krista Tippett, he went on to say:
“And, I think this is where the beauty of the imagination works. I think the imagination is committed to what I’d call a ‘justice of wholeness’ and bringing these [polarizing sides] together.”
“The mind separates. And when the mind separates and draws barriers in the heart of these dualities, and the barrier becomes a real barrier as there are [sic] no longer space for breathing, then you have dualism.”
Prophetically, O’Donohue concluded:
“And then you have things cut off that should belong together. And that’s the heart of all fundamentalisms and fascisms.”
His solution? He offered this:
“I think that keeping one’s imagination alive always keeps you in vital conversation with the ‘othernesses’ that you tend to avoid or neglect.” (Emphasis added.)
Vital Conversations
Now is the time to reflect on how we treat each other — not only face to face, but on social media as well. As we covered in last moon’s edition of Soul Notes, Dr. Emoto’s water experiments demonstrated that water’s exposure to written words such as “Thank You” resulted in dramatically different results than when exposed to the word, “Fool.”
So, what is it that we’d like to amplify? The hatred or the love? How far apart we are, or how closely we can come together?
It’s time for us to have those vital conversations. Try having the first one or two with someone who is more likely to lean into the conversation with you from a place of respect and willingness to listen, rather than the urge to berate or cajole. It’s time to be consciously selective, and with the intention of healing hearts.
It’s going to take all of us: Meaning all of me; all of you. Are you in?
For your consideration:
We need to adjust our eyesight to examine what we have been conveniently avoiding, or simply keeping in the dark altogether. And, from that place, we can take compassionate action. This is the true power of love.
Okay, your turn:
In what ways have recent events brought out into the light for you new insights? Are you ready to have a vital conversation or two?
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. Noonan2017-08-21 17:07:082017-12-27 03:18:50Total Solar Eclipse Edition: Lessons from the Dark Side
In this edition of Soul Notes we explore what it means to capture those special moments in time.
Sitting in front of my casita, from atop the cliffs high above the smooth sea, along the central coastline of Mexico: I am joined by two other caring souls as we look out at the nearly black night sky snuggling the horizon and the calm ocean waters a few hundred feet below. Directly centered in front of us, along with a canopy of stars above, we see the moon slowly setting over the water.
As the moon descends, its reflection of sunlight forming a crescent shape, it turns with solemn power from a bright white to a warm and welcoming golden hue. After several magnificent minutes, without even a whisper, the moon’s silhouette slips behind the horizon line and out of view.
We gaze out at the ocean in awe as we humbly appreciate the beauty and magnitude of this moment. We are reverent witnesses to nature and the cosmos, and to all that is.
Okay, so I may wax poetically like this from time to time. How can I not? Moments such as these beg for quiet reflection and invited rapture.
As posed by the French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
To be human is to live with a certain level of consciousness, awareness and appreciation for all that our senses, well…sense. Our human experience is indeed a sensual one.
In the film “City of Angels” starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, there is a scene in which Seth (Cage’s character, who comes to Earth as an angel), yearns to know the taste of a pear. He asks Maggie (Ryan’s character) to describe it for him. A bit perplexed by the question, Maggie takes a minute to find the words to convey how the pear tastes to her. Seth later in the movie experiences for the first time, the bodily sensations of hot water hitting his skin while taking a shower.
Simple moments perhaps. Things we often take for granted. And, yet they can be profoundly beautiful as well. This is when our hearts and bodies serve our minds, and not the other way around.
“Where words fall short, experiences stand tall.” –Lori A. Noonan
As a writer, I’m quite fond of words. Heck, right now you’re reading a blog article, I do realize (grin).
With words, we do our best to capture what our senses innately feel. We have sensory-based phrases such as:
“In my mind’s eye”
“Touching moments”
“Hot blooded”
“Cold hearted”
“I hear you”
“I see you”
“I feel you”
“Tastes like freedom”
The senses – sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch, and even a “sixth sense” of intuition and innate knowing -– all provide us an opportunity, in so many ways, to experience life in all its richness and supreme depth. It’s up to us to tune in and be all that it means to be human.
Our lives are a string of special moments in time. Let’s be aware of what makes them special; and: feel them, cherish them, and share them with others. That is my wish for you today, and always.
Okay, your turn:
What examples come to mind or heart when you remember a beautiful moment in time? Where were you? What made it beautiful? Did you take any pictures? In what other ways did you memorialize that moment?
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. Noonan2017-04-27 14:12:232019-07-11 23:15:25Special moments in time