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Follow Your Glimmer

What is Glimmer?! Glimmer is that image or thought that shimmers into your awareness ‘from out of nowhere’. When it comes it is captivating…if only for a moment. Almost like a little seduction…so good and tantalizing. It bleeds through from a life not lived. It grabs your attention, sparks your imagination, stirs your emotions.

In the beginning it comes for only a second…and then it is gone…just a shimmering twinkle of desire or inspiration. Often this Glimmer comes when ‘least expected’…when we are driving home and spacing out, doing the dishes while staring out the window mindlessly, gardening in the perfect warmth of the sun.

I have come to consider these glimmering visitations as inspired sparks from the Soul… calling us, inviting us to imagine a treasure we have not yet found. Sadly, and all too often, it seems we bring our rational mind to this party and everything shuts down. Our Glimmer is gone. We are left feeling silly or even defeated by our ‘daydream’ and we resignedly step back into the grind of our every day life…and the good feeling is gone.

Get practiced at Going for the Glimmer, hunt for it. Pay attention to it when it shimmers into your consciousness. Play with it, engaging in the fanciful potentials…let your imagination roam wild. With this practice the Glimmer stays a while longer, coming into a little more focus…and then it is gone again. Step by step you practice following this luminous mysterious glimmering desire for something more…and it grows in clarity.

We begin to be able to summon it and imagine into it. If we want it to grow into form in our life, it needs our attention. These glimmering thought forms and energy bodies want to find their way into form and function. Their calling on you is designed to inspire and to engage all the resources, skills and supports you have and some you may need to acquire.

Here are three well founded practices to grow this inspiration:

  • Daydream! Let your creative mind wander with all that is possible with this emerging energy in your life. Have fun with this, check your problem-solving mind ‘at the door’ and enjoy the fanciful potential.
  • Collect images that are resonant with what is emerging, what it looks like, feels like, capture some element of it. If it is the new home you would love to live in (even if you can’t figure out how), capture the images and create a collage/vision board or join Pinterest and give your Glimmer its own board!
  • Make a list of all the discoveries you are making about your Glimmer…what are the qualities, the details, the way you feel when you spend time with your glimmering new reality? Get to know it, spend time with it and make it matter.

All of these practices invite the power of your imagination, calls on everything the research is telling us, and supports us into our own glimmering Luminous Life.

 

 

Dr. Shannon Simonelli is the co-founder of the NeuroImaginal Institute a professional development group linking neuroscience to the arts and experiential healing. She is the brilliant mind, guide and luminary behind CreativeWell Consulting and the Luminous Life Maps™ System, neurologically based creative arts experiences for professional and personal transformation. Shannon has devoted more than 20 years of her professional research, education and practice to designing engaging ways to catalyze change for and with her clients.

You can join the journey online by subscribing to Shannon’s LoveNotes and being part of her online Soulful Self-Care Program: Embodied Creativity: Re-Enchant Your Work Life. View all posts by Dr. Shannon Simonelli / View events at: https://luminouslifemaps.com/products/

 

CATCHING UP WITH MYSELF

 

I have taken the past couple of days to catch up with my life…to catch up with myself. Lately it seems I have been running from one thing to the next. Long lists of tasks…so many things to take care of, details to attend to and check off the list. Some work related, some life related, lots mother related as we manage her life with her slide into dementia.

I have to say, I’ve been pretty good with self care…yoga, dance, walks and playing with my puppy, time with friends and family. And…I have forgotten how much time I need to space out!

I need daydream time. I spend so many hours “on” in my life, so many hours tracking, engaging, attending…bringing mindful awareness and the like – that I want to take a minute to speak up for daydreaming and spacing out! Can I get an “amen”!

 

The way my brain works really requires a few things that I have been reminded of this week.

#1) Unstructured, space out or “do nothing” time – this is so, so important…I would say for all of us. It is relieving for the mind and spirit…like something deep in the brain softens, finds space…relaxes and breathes. You can feel it. It brings insight and clarity. Stress levels go way down and there is an opening to ease and creativity.

#2) Organic task management – for me looks like a list of things I’d like to get to and no specific time or day I’ve anchored or ‘appointment’ to do it. Don’t get me wrong, I coach many clients to anchor their tasks to time and day, it is a valuable skill for effective functioning…especially for us ADD/ADHD folks.

Yet, there is something to be said for the satisfying experience of doing what calls you in the moment. It feels like such a satisfying art form! When I am indulging this way of being I’m moving between 3 or 4 different activities within a chunk of time – all in process – all ‘unfinished’ and all organically progressing to completion. This could be irritating to some.  But somehow I feel it frees the mind and eases my stress – it almost becomes playful. Try it! Floating from one thing to the next, following whatever catches your attention as you move through the house or through work projects on the list.

I’ve come to understand that unstructured, space out time and organic task management dove tail together. I find that allowing for both can be self care, unplug time and a potent way to address many things.  I find it way more kind, creative and productive than trying to pound out a list of tasks when I’m just not in the mood. I have learned the outcomes I produce are better when I’m in the right frame of mind.

Can you give yourself permission to space out, day dream and follow what calls you? This, coupled with organic ‘task management’, could change your life!

 

Dr. Shannon Simonelli is the co-founder of the NeuroImaginal Institute a professional development group linking neuroscience to the arts and experiential healing. She is the brilliant mind, guide and luminary behind CreativeWell Consulting and the Luminous Life Maps™ System, neurologically based creative arts experiences for professional and personal transformation. Shannon has devoted more than 20 years of her professional research, education and practice to designing engaging ways to catalyze change for and with her clients.

You can join the journey online by subscribing to Shannon’s LoveNotes and being part of her online Soulful Self-Care Program: Embodied Creativity: Re-Enchant Your Work Life. View all posts by Dr. Shannon Simonelli / View events at: https://luminouslifemaps.com/products/

 

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is powerful medicine and greatly needed in our culture (62% of Americans feel they need more forgiveness in their lives). When we do not forgive others or even more importantly, our self, we are at greater health risk. People who carry resentments often feeling angry or done wrong by others, disappointed or upset with themselves and can lose their trust in life itself.

These harbored feelings create stress in the body, and switch our nervous system’s fight/flight/freeze system ‘on’ more than is healthy. Medical research shows that this leads to a weakened immune system, increases anxiety & depression, heart rate and risk of heart attack.

The ancient Hawaiian peace making practice of Ho’o pono pono, defined as: To Set Right, to make right, to rectify, to cleanse, to make restitution, is a powerful remedy.

Ho’o pono pono believes that illness comes from anger or unresolved feelings that must be set right in order to heal the health of a person or a dynamic in a family or community.

Growing up in Hawai’i I have a kindred connection with the cosmology that holds Ho’o pono pono. A NeuroImaginal framework hold that energy is everything and everything is energy. This includes feelings, emotions, thoughts and actions we take in the world. When we are out of harmony with our thoughts, feelings, actions/behaviors we can experience disease and experience more distress in life.

The seemingly ‘simple’ practice of saying the four phrases of Ho’o pono pono is really a profound journey of inner work. I like to begin with what is considered the final line:

  • I love you (setting intention for right action with the disturbance)
  • I’m sorry (truly making amends for one’s part in the wrongdoing towards others or towards yourself)
  • Please forgive me (for the ways I have harmed you, or your own spirit)
  • Thank you (to the great spirit for the opportunity to learn through this experience and to have this life rich with experience, growth and healing potential)
  • I love you (to great spirit for these gifts in life, for the opportunity to learn and grow and for life itself)

New stories begin to emerge and energies lighten as Ho’o Pono Pono works its peacemaking magic through the body and imagery. Feel the softening, find new perspective, feel resolution, new insight and calm in the body and psyche. Forgiveness and the process of setting things right becomes Pono: correct, put right, eased.

What might you honor and heal in your work life or your personal life? Find quiet time and let this process hold you and bring new possibilities to your every day experience.

 

Dr. Shannon Simonelli is the co-founder of the NeuroImaginal Institute a professional development group linking neuroscience to the arts and experiential healing. She is the brilliant mind, guide and luminary behind CreativeWell Consulting and the Luminous Life Maps™ System, neurologically based creative arts experiences for professional and personal transformation. Shannon has devoted more than 20 years of her professional research, education and practice to designing engaging ways to catalyze change for and with her clients.

You can join the journey online by subscribing to Shannon’s LoveNotes and being part of her online Soulful Self-Care Program: Embodied Creativity: Re-Enchant Your Work Life. View all posts by Dr. Shannon Simonelli / View events at: https://luminouslifemaps.com/products/

YES and NO

…such powerful words, simple really…straight forward…right?

Ha!

How often do you say ‘YES’ when you really mean ‘NO’? Or perhaps you say ‘NO’ but wish you were saying ‘YES’. It can all be so complicated!

This is precisely why I love exploring yes and no through the body…through movement and through the powerful bioenergetics of each of these words. Try it yourself…say ‘YES’ and see what your body wants to do. Some times it helps to close your eyes and feel into it…then say ‘NO’ and see what your body does.

In a recent group, we got curious about ‘YES’ and found the natural openings in the body. We found arms open and raised was the corresponding body posture…a feeling of openness. We then explored ‘NO’ and found more of an edge, a punctuation, and feeling of tightness was reported by some. We tried adding a hip thrust while saying ‘NO’ and this brought more power and possession of the energy of no…a great discovery and a bioenergetics strategy.

When we were done I witnessed a shift in the room…as if something got unlocked. It was palpable, the range of expression and movement expanded. The YES became fuller and the NO more clear and defined. Timidness melted away and the essential energy of these words were being owned and embodied. Both power and joy entered these moving bodies. I could see and feel the magic we were creating.

As the music and expression began to settle and move towards quiet, as bodies began to rest and find their own stillness, I could feel more space in the room. So interesting. More space…when we practice boundaries, where we start and stop, what we will and will not allow, do or engage with, you might imagine it would be limiting. I experienced the opposite.

With clear boundaries there comes new permission to fill out the YES space with more expansion and energetic possession as if it became more ok to ‘take up space’ or to ‘exist’. Standing for what matters.

When we give ourselves permission to have clear, empowered, embodied boundaries we create more space for what really matters. We clear space for us…for our desires, for what is most important. We invoke safety for our self so we can relax, knowing we will champion our most precious truth. We soften into this and simultaneously find the clarity that creates the container. What a powerful teaching from two ‘simple’ words moving in, through and with the body.

You too can practice your own embodied YES and No…feel it, own it, and let it guide you to more clarity and power.

 

Dr. Shannon Simonelli is the co-founder of the NeuroImaginal Institute a professional development group linking neuroscience to the arts and experiential healing. She is the brilliant mind, guide and luminary behind CreativeWell Consulting and the Luminous Life Maps™ System, neurologically based creative arts experiences for professional and personal transformation. Shannon has devoted more than 20 years of her professional research, education and practice to designing engaging ways to catalyze change for and with her clients.

You can join the journey online by subscribing to Shannon’s LoveNotes and being part of her online Soulful Self-Care Program: Embodied Creativity: Re-Enchant Your Work Life. View all posts by Dr. Shannon Simonelli / View events at: https://luminouslifemaps.com/products/

IMAGINAL CELLS

Consider the transformation of the caterpillar into the butterfly. Butterflies are made from Imaginal Cells, which lie quietly inside the caterpillar, completely unknown within the furry, chubby host. I love that there are such things as ‘Imaginal Cells’ and that they show up in the single most amazing physical transformation of any living being in the animal kingdom that I know of.

Imagine, maybe acknowledge, that you have your own version of Imaginal Cells. They are lying quietly within you, waiting for the right time to call forth something more than you are right now. These Imaginal Cells hold the vibrational frequency and holographic image of every delicate, specific, unique and beautiful aspect of the soon to be revealed you. They know this exactly.

What if…in order for activation of the Imaginal calling to be awakened a surrender or mini-death is required? Death and rebirth…the essence of the season of Spring…coming out of winter, pushing through the darkness and into the light we are each reborn a bit as we begin again in these bodies…perhaps it means getting off the couch and into the garden or on to the trail. Perhaps your rebirth brings a shift in what you eat or crave or dream of. As Spring calls to you, I invite you to notice what is awakening in you…perhaps it is your own Imaginal nature inviting you more and more into the center of your own truest expression and life. What if…without knowing what would happen, without bracing against the call, or avoiding it at all costs, you just allowed?

How silly we humans are… we can spend years stuck, bracing against the pulse of our own unique life longing to meet itself.

Hearing and following the call to our own lit-from-within life is a personal journey and one that is also the Archetypal journey to our Soul. If we look, we discover there are maps to help us along the way on this journey of a lifetime.

I believe this is also a collective journey, one that has an equally strong pull on a Meta scale. That there is a code within us as a people, that holds the holographic image of our winged rebirth. We just have to listen, to surrender to the call to action we feel within us. To respond…and to join with fellow travelers so we are reminded we are not alone.

 

Dr. Shannon Simonelli is the co-founder of the NeuroImaginal Institute a professional development group linking neuroscience to the arts and experiential healing. She is the brilliant mind, guide and luminary behind CreativeWell Consulting and the Luminous Life Maps™ System, neurologically based creative arts experiences for professional and personal transformation. Shannon has devoted more than 20 years of her professional research, education and practice to designing engaging ways to catalyze change for and with her clients.

You can join the journey online by subscribing to Shannon’s LoveNotes and being part of her online Soulful Self-Care Program: Embodied Creativity: Re-Enchant Your Work Life. View all posts by Dr. Shannon Simonelli / View events at: https://luminouslifemaps.com/products/

GET LIT UP

We ‘sell’ change … the basic, stripped away truth is we sell change. This is a hard sell. No one wakes up in the morning and says, “I think I will change today!”

No way. We tend to fight change, put it off, resist it, and do everything possible to keep the familiar in place, even if it isn’t working. We don’t wake up and take on change.

We wake in the middle of the night, spider web thoughts linking one worry to the next, creating a big nest of gripping, unfixable upset. We don’t get energized by this and say ‘I will change today’, NO!  Perhaps we cycle through the 100th round of getting triggered by life and beating ourselves up for not being good enough or smart enough or for being so stupid to have hoped it would be different and putting our tender heart and hopes on the line one more time to have them tromped on. Maybe we just can’t let go of what has been, we can’t see what’s around the next bend in the road of life, and we get scared.

We humans are pretty amazing creatures. We get stuck, we hold ourselves small, we endure pain, we grieve, and we find adaptive ways to get through the day – some healthy, others not so sustainable. We are resilient and resourceful, we find our way with the resources available, some days are better than others. Our nature, as primal, surviving creatures, is to adapt. To learn new things, to make mistakes…to be creative in solving the problems life throws at us. Our survival depends on it, even if our habit has been to trudge through life as it is.

And, eventually, we do change.

Change in unconventional ways...that is what I ‘sell’, what I catalyze in others. I have done it all my life; it is my nature, my ‘medicine’. It is my business. Creating experiences that empower people to make positive life-change lights me up. I love engaging people in creating the life that lights them up.

Creating a life that lights you up…I wish I could tell you that you could do it in “3 easy steps”, but honestly, it is a journey. There is terrain to cover, varied landscapes to navigate, tools that make it easier. This is what I ‘sell’. This is the journey of your own empowerment

  • Notice and assess the initial terrain and experiences
  • Say YES to support, connections and new skills
  • Gather your tools: perhaps unconventional experiential work with dance/movement, art making, guided meditations
  • Lean into the wisdom that awakens in you
  • Gradually create the change you want as you step into more mastery in your work and life

 

Dr. Shannon Simonelli is the co-founder of the NeuroImaginal Institute a professional development group linking neuroscience to the arts and experiential healing. She is the brilliant mind, guide and luminary behind CreativeWell Consulting and the Luminous Life Maps™ System, neurologically based creative arts experiences for professional and personal transformation. Shannon has devoted more than 20 years of her professional research, education and practice to designing engaging ways to catalyze change for and with her clients.

You can join the journey online by subscribing to Shannon’s LoveNotes and being part of her online Soulful Self-Care Program: Embodied Creativity: Re-Enchant Your Work Life. View all posts by Dr. Shannon Simonelli / View events at: https://luminouslifemaps.com/products/

 

 

 

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