By Kate Noonan
In this world we are tethered to our physical selves. What makes it even more taxing is in our tangible form we are bombarded with messages both internal and external, many telling us we are not enough. The world is happy to say there is a cure for what ails you, which can fix your deficiencies or shortcomings. The deluge of messages is exhausting and they consume too much of our time.
When we give ourselves the grace to step away from the barrage of information constantly coming towards us we give ourselves the grace to be. Shifting towards a soul infused life allows us to become more than the manager of our own self improvement department. We can reunite with the self which is somewhere beyond, behind and deeper than the thinking mind. We can reconvene with our spiritual self.
In February I began a monthly Saturday morning series for women at Second Congregational Church entitled: A Pilgrimage to Our Spiritual Selves. A huge shout out to Jenny Bxybee, the Minister for Care and Concern at Second Congregational Church, for making this possible. Our retreats attracted an eclectic group of women of different ages and career paths. The goal of our gatherings was to come home to yourself, the self that we seem to forget: the spiritual self. As different as the women were, they were all seekers. When we came together as seekers in community we let down our guard. A community began forming with the goal of proactive spiritual care. We pray together, we meditate, we listen to poetry and scripture, we have fruitful discussions, in short we tend to our spiritual selves.
At our gatherings we use tools to remind us that we are spiritual beings looking for a soul infused life. Our first discussion revolved around addressing our roles. We listed as many of our roles as we could name. We discussed how these roles, while often both worthy and necessary, could keep us stuck. We began seeing that our roles could mask our authentic selves. When we over identify with our role we focus on our accomplishments or our tasks, forgetting our mere existence is the miracle. At the end of our first morning retreat the women of our group placed some of their roles in the God Box. This overt action allowed our participants to turn their roles over to God.
On another Saturday morning spent time discussing how often we ‘should’ ourselves. We broke into small groups with the goal of discussing how often we shame and guilt ourselves with the undue pressure of should. Removing our shoulds brought us closer to our authentic selves. This session ended once again with the women leaving their shoulds in the God Box, allowing each retreat goer the gift of ease and self forgiveness.
My hope is that each of you begin practices which help you tap into your spiritual self. As the lazy days of summer beckon the long hours of daylight hold both promise and freedom. Give yourself the gift of convening with your deepest self. I leave your soul with an inspirational blessing from John O’Donohue’s book: To Bless the Space Between Us:
To Come Home To Yourself
May all that unforgiven in you,
Be released.
May your fears yield
Their deepest tranquilities.
May all that is unlived in you
Blossom into a future
Graced with love
If you are interested in learning more about our mini-retreats please reach out to Jenny Bxybee: Jenny@2cc.org. We would love for you to join us at our final gathering on Saturday June 3rd for Spiritual Saturday Under the Tent from 9-11:30 am.
Kate Noonan
Pastoral Associate St. Ignatius Loyola, NYC
Retreat master
Spiritual life coach
MAR Yale Divinity School
