Comments on: Where noise and sidewalks end http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/ uncovering life's layers, exploring truth's terrain... Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:07:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Dixy-bp http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-23348 Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:47:02 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-23348 <a></a>

]]> by: Sandra-av http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-22977 Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:04:30 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-22977 <a></a>

]]> by: Alexypu http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-21602 Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:18:44 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-21602 <a></a>

]]> by: Alexrih http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-21601 Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:17:58 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-21601 <a></a>

]]> by: atticus http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3562 Wed, 09 May 2007 05:22:47 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3562 it is 2 weeks later...2 weeks i have been mulling on this entry off and on, and when the crisis came in our fairly new church we have been attending...that quiet reservation came upon me. i remembered your words and had more peace thru this ordeal of ending. it feels ok. i understood it better. timing felt right. quiet endings. thank you, again. sometimes your words are so profound i think i have to have more time to "get it"...but that's just me. i keep coming back for more. it is 2 weeks later…2 weeks i have been mulling on this entry off and on, and when the crisis came in our fairly new church we have been attending…that quiet reservation came upon me. i remembered your words and had more peace thru this ordeal of ending. it feels ok. i understood it better. timing felt right. quiet endings. thank you, again. sometimes your words are so profound i think i have to have more time to “get it”…but that’s just me. i keep coming back for more.

]]> by: Kristin http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3183 Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:49:59 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3183 Thank you, Fran. I love that line: "Finally you just give up, go through the motions, listen, and then the new paradigm begins to design itself." That's exactly what my experience has been too. Thanks for putting it into words. Thank you, Fran. I love that line: “Finally you just give up, go through the motions, listen, and then the new paradigm begins to design itself.” That’s exactly what my experience has been too. Thanks for putting it into words.

]]> by: Fran aka Redondowriter http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3051 Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:15:43 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3051 I've been there at least three times, Kristin, in my 69 years. And I've come close to returning a few times, but not in my later years. Part of it is hormonal, I swear. It got better for me in later life. In 12 step work we call what you describe as "bottoming out." Finally you just give up, go through the motions, listen, and then the new paradigm begins to design itself. Thinking of you. I’ve been there at least three times, Kristin, in my 69 years. And I’ve come close to returning a few times, but not in my later years. Part of it is hormonal, I swear. It got better for me in later life. In 12 step work we call what you describe as “bottoming out.” Finally you just give up, go through the motions, listen, and then the new paradigm begins to design itself. Thinking of you.

]]> by: Kristin http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3028 Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:37:57 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3028 Julianne, thank you. I think your advice is sound. Peaceful and odd are the perfect words to assign this place, too, I think. Sarah, your place sounds so terribly familiar. Yes! I actually held onto the burning-issues-to-resolve stage of my early 20s longer than the path itself may have warranted for some of the very reasons you name. That stage had also come to define me so much that I felt like if I let it go, there would be nothing left. My old worldview felt like it was gone, so the only solid thing I felt I could hang onto was being in angst about that. I'm not sure that I ever had a dramatic "conversion" experience out of that stage, but taken as a whole, my many moves toward letting go of it felt a lot like when you're terrified that letting go will surely mean falling to your death, but then you let go and realize the ground is only inches from your feet. Sort of makes you want to laugh or something. At least from one angle. :) I'm sending all my empathy your way, and a wish for buoys of peace you can rest on even in this tumultuous time. Gail...man oh man, from your reading list alone I can so see how you, too, could be in a noisy place. I wish I was in a place to talk and talk away about all of it. Those books, and the kinds of thoughts and questions and feelings that they stir up, truly call for conversation. I'm sending all my best wishes for a wonderful, even if unlikely, group of folks you can talk to about it all. I'm a big believer in things like that happening - people showing up that you never knew, or that you never knew would be ones that would be so great to talk with. In the meantime, though...as you say...I guess the inner highways speed on. Thank you for your blessing to me, too. I'll take it gladly. Julianne, thank you. I think your advice is sound. Peaceful and odd are the perfect words to assign this place, too, I think.

Sarah, your place sounds so terribly familiar. Yes! I actually held onto the burning-issues-to-resolve stage of my early 20s longer than the path itself may have warranted for some of the very reasons you name. That stage had also come to define me so much that I felt like if I let it go, there would be nothing left. My old worldview felt like it was gone, so the only solid thing I felt I could hang onto was being in angst about that. I’m not sure that I ever had a dramatic “conversion” experience out of that stage, but taken as a whole, my many moves toward letting go of it felt a lot like when you’re terrified that letting go will surely mean falling to your death, but then you let go and realize the ground is only inches from your feet. Sort of makes you want to laugh or something. At least from one angle. :) I’m sending all my empathy your way, and a wish for buoys of peace you can rest on even in this tumultuous time.

Gail…man oh man, from your reading list alone I can so see how you, too, could be in a noisy place. I wish I was in a place to talk and talk away about all of it. Those books, and the kinds of thoughts and questions and feelings that they stir up, truly call for conversation. I’m sending all my best wishes for a wonderful, even if unlikely, group of folks you can talk to about it all. I’m a big believer in things like that happening - people showing up that you never knew, or that you never knew would be ones that would be so great to talk with. In the meantime, though…as you say…I guess the inner highways speed on. Thank you for your blessing to me, too. I’ll take it gladly.

]]> by: GailNHB http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3015 Mon, 16 Apr 2007 01:01:36 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-3015 I echo what Sarah wrote - about being in the noisy place right now, all the crying and raging and journaling and reading and wondering and wandering and longing for more conversation than I can drum up at the moment. I read The Dance of the Dissident Daughter and The Mermaid Chair in the past ten days, and today I began Rob Bell's book entitled Sex God- and am in quite a tizzy at the moment. Plus, plus, plus... there is so much else going on in my head and heart these days. You know that stage of internal buzzing and waking up and falling asleep and driving to the supermarket with a million questions and thoughts racing up and down the highways of your mind. I miss the quietness in my head that I felt two months or so ago. In those moments of quietness, as you so accurately describe them, there can be peace, restfulness, contentment, and rest. Perhaps these quiet times are for refuelling before the next journey of the mind and soul. Perhaps they are rest stops along this long road trip of life. You are right, Kristin, when you say that they are not times of depression or apathy or despair. They are simply quiet. Quietly simple. To be enjoyed, embraced, lived as fully as the busy, noisy, soul-stirring upheavals we have passed through. I'm not sure we could live well or survive if our lives consistently only of one or the other. It's finding the balance, accepting the fullness of both, and living them both fully that gives life so much of its wonderful flavor. May quietness and peace be your strength. I echo what Sarah wrote - about being in the noisy place right now, all the crying and raging and journaling and reading and wondering and wandering and longing for more conversation than I can drum up at the moment. I read The Dance of the Dissident Daughter and The Mermaid Chair in the past ten days, and today I began Rob Bell’s book entitled Sex God- and am in quite a tizzy at the moment. Plus, plus, plus… there is so much else going on in my head and heart these days. You know that stage of internal buzzing and waking up and falling asleep and driving to the supermarket with a million questions and thoughts racing up and down the highways of your mind.

I miss the quietness in my head that I felt two months or so ago. In those moments of quietness, as you so accurately describe them, there can be peace, restfulness, contentment, and rest. Perhaps these quiet times are for refuelling before the next journey of the mind and soul. Perhaps they are rest stops along this long road trip of life.

You are right, Kristin, when you say that they are not times of depression or apathy or despair. They are simply quiet. Quietly simple. To be enjoyed, embraced, lived as fully as the busy, noisy, soul-stirring upheavals we have passed through. I’m not sure we could live well or survive if our lives consistently only of one or the other. It’s finding the balance, accepting the fullness of both, and living them both fully that gives life so much of its wonderful flavor.

May quietness and peace be your strength.

]]> by: Sarah http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-2994 Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:43:34 +0000 http://www.kristinnoelle.com/2007/04/12/where-noise-and-sidewalks-end/#comment-2994 I haven't been to this silent place yet... am still in the midst of the raging/questioning/making-sense-of-it-all part. And from here, the petering-out-path sounds like a relief, a release, and freedom. But it also sounds eerily still, and that frightens me a bit. If there are no burning issues, no quest to be attained, no far off, enchanting goal, what are you supposed to *do*? [ in me that's another manifestation of fear -- I'm afraid of doing nothing, afraid of being found lazy/wanting, afraid of not living up to my potential.] I'm learning, though, in the midst of my raging/fearing path, that fear only works so much, only goes so far. Fear may keep me from certain places/ideas/people, but it doesn't generate anything. Love will motivate and draw greater actions from me -- and lend greater meaning to those actions. I'm (very slowly and with many starts and stumbles) learning how to act out of love rather than fear. I guess, in the place where the sidewalks end, we are free: to be still, to laugh, to run, jump, dance, cry, sleep, whatever. There is freedom to accept our needs as needs and to ask (and even fight) for them to be filled. That sounds like a great thing to me. Wow, this is longer than I intended -- thanks for thinking out loud, and making space for me to do the same :) I haven’t been to this silent place yet… am still in the midst of the raging/questioning/making-sense-of-it-all part. And from here, the petering-out-path sounds like a relief, a release, and freedom. But it also sounds eerily still, and that frightens me a bit. If there are no burning issues, no quest to be attained, no far off, enchanting goal, what are you supposed to *do*? [ in me that’s another manifestation of fear — I’m afraid of doing nothing, afraid of being found lazy/wanting, afraid of not living up to my potential.] I’m learning, though, in the midst of my raging/fearing path, that fear only works so much, only goes so far. Fear may keep me from certain places/ideas/people, but it doesn’t generate anything. Love will motivate and draw greater actions from me — and lend greater meaning to those actions. I’m (very slowly and with many starts and stumbles) learning how to act out of love rather than fear.

I guess, in the place where the sidewalks end, we are free: to be still, to laugh, to run, jump, dance, cry, sleep, whatever. There is freedom to accept our needs as needs and to ask (and even fight) for them to be filled. That sounds like a great thing to me.

Wow, this is longer than I intended — thanks for thinking out loud, and making space for me to do the same :)

]]>