Search Results for: Sacred Garden

Our Future Collective Vision

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
 The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

Those of us who are aware of our ability to create a collective vision must do the work. We must plant the seeds for the New Year opening before us.

Let’s begin with what we want for the collective whole. 

Inclusiveness

I started to write peace and changed that to inclusiveness because if we experience inclusiveness, it will in fact bring peace to the entire world. Simply viewing all people as equal, which we are, helps us see ourselves in the lives and hearts of others wherever they are on the planet. The most important thing we can do is to eliminate any feeling of separateness and to cultivate an awareness of vast inclusiveness. Not only will that make us feel less alone, it will help us experience empathy for everyone else on the planet. Inclusiveness is an outstanding place to begin to change our future.

Self-Responsibility

We are responsible for everything that we experience. We create with our thoughts. And its limitations come from what we believe we deserve and what we believe is possible. When we change our thinking, we change our entire life. Do the work.

Monitor your thoughts. Monitor your beliefs. And guide them in the direction of your choosing. You can create your own life by managing your beliefs and thoughts and intentions. 

Collective Power

We must use our collective power to change the world for the better. That means seeing the good in all. That means always choosing for the highest good. And it means believing in a future of collective oneness – a oneness of serenity, inner peace, and the well-being of everything on the planet.

That seems like a difficult vision to hold but we must do the work. Use your imagination to see a healed planet in place, to see people living in cooperation and collective support. Picture your role and how you can expand it and increase your place of service. 

Our future begins with each of us right here and now and the choices we make, and the actions we take. 

Choose a particular place of service for the coming year. It may be one you have been working on or it may be a new one. Make some plans on how you want to participate in the coming year. 

Add an element to your spiritual practice that sends a blessing to the planet. I have a bell I ring. If you want it to be focused on something specific like the environment do that. If you want to be in a group of people do that. Send positive, loving, supportive, healing energy to the planet every single day.

We are interconnected. Each strand in this web of life carries our thoughts and actions and affects the whole. Our future responds to the here now –  with what we think and say and do. Let’s create a powerful new inclusive future with our thoughts, our deeds, and our imagination. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I take responsibility for helping to heal our planet through my thoughts, words, and deeds. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

• Pick an area of concern that you have for our planet, or our circumstances and begin to focus your energy and support on that.
• Choose one or two areas you want to actively contribute to in the coming year and  do that. 
• Do the work!

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Inner Work For The Future

There are so many opportunities to contribute to the future that I hardly know where to begin.

What is affecting us now has to do with the rising Divine Feminine and how her increasing power is affecting the Divine Masculine. It is a power struggle. The Divine Feminine is persistently and gradually assuming the power the Divine Masculine once held. 

I wonder what kind of world we will create. I know the feminine qualities of inclusiveness and caring and compassion will be part of it. Our leadership form is more nurturing, more supportive, more encouraging and more inclusive. Guiding our governing towards the highest good for all will certainly play havoc with special interest groups. I think saving the planet will be at the top of the list because we must have a place to live. I’m sure giant efforts will be made to stop emissions and create space for the planet to heal. 

How do you envision our future and what role will you take?

What Do You Keep Putting Off and Why?

Is there something you should be doing but you’re not doing because you keep putting it off? Do you know why you keep putting it off? 

It could be that what you want to do is hard or challenging. It could be that it’s not really what you’re supposed to do. It could be someplace in between. But when you are stuck trying to figure out why you were stuck, you have an opportunity to work past it or through it or around it. Check for beliefs that are no longer yours. Or beliefs that lead to ideas and concepts that may no longer be true. Examine and organize and  gradually eliminate experiences that  keep you from a shift in awareness and perception. 

It could be you are not aware of the possibilities and potential of a particular choice. I certainly had no idea of the opportunities I would have with this move to long-term care – physical therapy being one of them. It’s hard to imagine a new “next” if you have no idea what is possible. So exploration and self education is one way to explore new possibilities.

What is calling in your life? What do you want to replace in your life that is not working? Stop putting that off. 

Know Your Value

I am gaining a whole new view of myself and my place of service and my value. It is totally wrapped in moving out of isolation.  We need to experience responses to our words and our actions to know our value.  We need to see change or results in order to experience our impact. 

What proof do you have of your value? What signs of the actions you are taking are showing up?

As I move into my new life, I am watching how I feel, how people are responding to me and if possible, how my life changes. I will stay aware of new opportunities, new friends and new results that stem from my actions and choices. 

When you change, the world around you changes. Be aware of what you are creating by your beliefs and actions.

The Dream We Hold

There is so much not working in the world that I don’t know where to begin my dream. I actually happen to be one of the light workers. Those of us who are holding High Watch for the world continue to raise our sites and our actions in order to heal and whole our planet.

We have to look beyond what is showing up in our world to see what is possible. In order to do that we really have to trust the power of the universe to guide us. 

We have to trust that certain things are happening in order for those of us who are observing the power of the changing universe, can get the message about the steps we are to take next. And how we are to take them.

We Have Access To Enterprising, Industrious Energy

The Universe is ready to support us but there is an unfolding progress and we have to do our part. 

Nature shows us a pattern of rest and rapid growth.  That is the pattern we are to follow – stillness, expanding inner awareness and growth.  

We have to do our part.  We have to do the work. 

What kind of work do we do to prepare for growth?

In nature gardeners help plants grow by cleaning away other plants that are crowding them.

As a person, are you overworked with non-nourishing companions? Are you someone who does not believe in yourself, have a weak spiritual practice, and do not take care of your body? All of those need correcting.

Nature works in cycles of unfolding and we must learn to be both aware and patient. What are the signals, the nudges we are getting and are we paying attention to them?

Be aware of the cycles of the universe regarding rest and action and allow space for the power of life to unfold. 

Take Time To Reflect

How are you doing? Are you going in the direction you want?  Are you accomplishing what you intended? What new doors are opening for you?

Choose a time for monthly reflection. You might pick the time of a New Moon as the beginning of a new cycle.  Perhaps set new goals, or change directions, or make a simple course correction.  You might find a time at the end of each day to look back over your day and the small gifts and nudges you received and offer gratitude. When will you  

take time to reflect?

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Calming Breath

Your breath is an instant doorway to calming yourself down and refocusing with clarity. When you find yourself in a stressful situation take a deep breath and then another.  And another  – until you feel centered.

When you find yourself unable to make a decision pause and begin to breathe slowly and deeply until you feel centered again and can make a clear decision.

The breath is a simple and powerful tool that you can use anytime anywhere in any circumstance. Begin to use your breath for centering and moving forward. 

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

Do Something Thoughtful For Another Today 

As an old person on a walker, the idea of doing something thoughtful for someone today is an interesting opportunity. It can be as simple as a compliment or a suggestion that helps to solve a problem or simply engaging in a warm smile and exchange. I have had interesting conversations around the Qigong book “Head-To- Toe Healing”  by Master Chunyi Lin as I share an acupressure point treatment for a lot of physical problems. I have had a conversation with a 17-year-old nurse’s assistant about her future career and as I engage more deeply into conversation, my circle of friends is growing.  

Doing something thoughtful for another person takes many forms. It could be that you open the door professionally for someone. It could be as simple as encouragement or a compliment to let someone know they are doing a good job. Become aware of how what you do and say impacts others and perform a thoughtful act of kindness for someone today. 

When Was The Last Time You Laughed Out Loud?

I can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs. I do know that my entire experience of positive exchange with others has increased tremendously since I moved as in going from 0 to 100 by simply moving across the street. My heart has opened and my spirits have lifted. How about you? What is currently lifting your spirits?

Begin by noticing the things that make you smile inside. What warms your heart? Where can you find more situations like that? Put on your happy face and go exploring. 

How Is Your Relationship with Your Parents?

My mother was my Girl Scout Leader and she passed me on my horsemanship badge.  I had read Margaret Campbell Self’s Encyclopedia of Horses three times.  I knew my stuff.  The gift she gave me was to listen and let me share with her my love of horses and all I knew. She listened and gave me room to share.

She saw to it that I got one year at Hollins in Virginia where I got to meet other smart girls from all over the country. My father was a shy man and a steady conscientious provider. 

What memories do you have of your parents loving you and helping you grow up?

Parents are people who have a calling of their own to answer.   I answered my own calling when my girls were raised and my two boys were in high school by having them go live with their remarried father after I had raised  them alone for three years.  I went to New York City and began my calling as a holistic healer. Thee years after I got to New York I stepped in to raise my granddaughter.  I was in my 50s living alone in New York City. Give some thought to your parents as people living their lives rather than just as your parents.  Like you, they had their own calling and relationships and mere humanness to manage and they did the best they could.

If you are still angry with a parent, try to heal that wound by having a conversation and try to see what was going on in their lives at that time.

What is your relationship with your parents and have you thanked them recently for choosing to bring you into the world?  

Alone Time

What is the quality of your alone time? Do you collapse with fatigue or move into nurturing meditation? Do you spend time worrying or simply living your best life?

Notice the choice you make and move toward nurturing, healing, alone time.

Lay Down Your Burdens

When life gets too tough, pause and go within to that place of serene security and inner wisdom and turn your problems over to the Universe.

Trust what you find there. Trust the reassurance. Trust the wisdom. Trust the answers.

In shaman journeying we use our imagination to go to our Sacred Garden.  In every object and image there is a message meant only for you to interpret. Ask for help.  Ask for guidance and interpret whatever images show up. I have three or four guides that show up regularly. Here are two of my podcasts 

Foundation For The Journey Within – Create Your Sacred Garden and Unleash the power of your Sacred Garden 

If your burden seems heavy, ask for help in carrying it. 

One of my favorite recorded journeys is The Backpack Journey in which you truly are asked to lay down your burdens.

Go within and ask for guidance and trust the answers that you are given. 

You are not alone in your journey. Your inner wisdom is there to guide you. Ask for help to lay down your burden and be aware of how much assistance shows up – and in what form.

What am I curious about?

What Do You Want To Learn This Coming Year?

I love to learn but I am full up with Qigong and flute classes and drum  classes and I have no idea what new paths of learning will come to me this coming year. 

I look at learning as a form of exploring. I love attending the free summits that are offered by The Shift Network and others. I learned about Shamanism that way and more about Qigong that way. Also that is how I found my teachers.

But I honestly don’t know what I want to learn in 2023. It may be more in the form of what I learned from interaction with the loving staff here than any class. I know that relationships are going to expand my awareness of the depth of the capacity in others. 

When something resonates go explore it. Find out enough about it to know if it’s something you want to do. Be prepared for surprises. Something may show up that never crossed your mind before. Then go do it. Learn it. Take a class or two. And see what resonates with you.

Notice what classes your friends are taking, what they are studying, where are they are learning it and do some exploring and see if something calls to you. I’m not through learning by a long shot but I just don’t know what I want to learn next. It will show up and I will recognize it. And maybe my next lesson is not in the form of a class but in the form of an ongoing interaction with another person. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for that one. 

What do you want to learn in the coming year? Do that.

Reorganize For The New Year

I had a hard time finding things on my desktop because I was putting them by year not by category. And then I never knew what year something happened and so I can never find it. My awareness of this less-than-stellar filing system started when I was looking for some poems I had written but they were kind of all over the place. The end of the year is a really good time to rethink the organization of your life including your desktop. My suggestion is to keep things by category and leave the dates out of it in case that’s your tendency to do. I have a group of poems I identify by where I was when I wrote them – like New York City. I do have the newsletters in one folder. I do have all the emails to my friends in one folder but each friend has his/her own document. I do have my journeys and journaling in one folder. See how this works. Perhaps you take time to go over your organizational systems in whatever part seems to be the most frustrating to you and keep the reorganization simple.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

Center and Adjust

My spiritual practice has changed recently for two reasons – my arthritic fingers and the fact that I have a suite-mate. My fingers now bend to the side so when closing a flute hole, my finger doesn’t cover it completely so it is not in tune. If I were playing better, I would not mind the open door to the hall.  I still drum and sing but softly because of the other person in the room, and it is my intimate spiritual practice. I have a very quiet and private spiritual practice now that I am not living alone.

I do meditate each morning and could do it longer but it gets pretty busy rather fast around here. And I want to get better at my Qigong practice. 

What kind of changes do  you want to make to your meditation practice in the coming year?

===DEEPER SONG DISCOVERIES===

Insights and Resources to Explore

Listening

 “Anyone can listen. All you have to do is stop talking. But to be a good listener, you have to stop talking and be interested.

Genuine curiosity is the precursor to understanding, and a good listener helps the other person feel understood.”

James Clear

===GUIDANCE FROM OUR COSMIC COUNSELORS ===

Listen Beyond the Voice Within 

My Journey to The Cosmic Counselors: Please give us guidance for the New Year.

I go to my Sacred Garden and to the meadow which is surrounded by large trees. Wee folk dance and sing and are joined by a lot of squirrels who seem to be my frequent guides.

The message I got is of one great industry and anticipation and moving forward to get a great deal done. I see a beautiful golden path laid out before me. I know it is the work I am already going to do here at Evergreen. In the center of the large green is a rock altar around which are the Cosmic Counselors and a majority of my guides holding hands and singing a song to the well-being of the planet. Get the job done. I turn and the path opens before me. It is beckoning me to my particular role in the unfolding of the coming year. I skip along the path. 90-year-old me on my walker skips down the path. I am joyously exploring new possibilities and a rich and deep and wide path is opening before me. I have a great deal to learn, and a great deal to share. I am a translator and explorer and an adventurer. There are shape-shifting clouds in the sky and I see several interesting scenarios play out that are part of our potential upcoming year. The message is for us to stay open and be inquisitive.

End of journey.

===BROADEN YOUR HORIZON – EXPAND YOUR VIEW===

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

Passive Income

Passive income is money that comes in when you are doing something else like sleeping.  It is a product on your web site that appeals to your target audience that you charge for.  I don’t have one on my web site because income will mess with my social security. But give some thought to what you might offer. People sell recordings of a course they gave.   It might be a series of podcasts with a specific result that you sell. It could be your artwork applied to a bag or sweatshirt. Become aware of the many forms of passive income and see how you can create some of your own. 

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

Goodbye 2022

Has it been a good year? What did you learn? How did you change? What new pathways opened for you?  How did your place of service change?  What skills did you acquire? Or sharpen?

I feel like I was blasted out of a cannon of isolation and increasing depression. Those insidiously creep up on you and are hard to recognize because of their stealth. 

My new path has begun to unfold in the last two months of this year and it has propelled me into a whole new future. Sometimes change happens slowly and sometimes it just shows up and bops you on the head. 

I have no idea how to learn to recognize diminished capacity because it is often slow and subtle and insidious. Sometimes it’s only one change that is a trigger that lets you know how stuck you really were. 

In my new environment, I watch new ideas appear, new opportunities to serve unfold and new friends with whom to deepen my relationship.

How did you change this past year? What did you release this past year? What did you learn this past year? What new paths are you considering? 

Be aware of your many choices as the new year unfolds before you.

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===

Expanding Awareness

Does Your Path Have a Heart?

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Googleand the
Deeper Song Website

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

What Are Your New Year Visions?

What do you envision for 2023? Not a resolution but a vision.  What do you want to create? What do you want to experience?

I want a positive outcome for the two hip replacements I will have this year. I want to expand my contribution to the Evergreen Community and deepen my friendships.  And I’d like to be surprised. 

What are your hopes had dreams for the coming year?

===CARA’S CORNER===

Expectations

We should periodically do a reality check on what we believe we deserve and what we believe is possible. This week I asked my physical therapist if I would ever get off the walker even with hip surgery and she said I shouldn’t count on that. I didn’t know that. But now I can make my plans around that. It means I must learn to walk further and stand up straighter. And walk the halls to practice. 

That knowledge helps me keep a realistic expectation of what hip replacement surgery will make possible. And I can always be the exception.

What kind of goals do you set for yourself? What do expect can happen?

Walking the halls is an interesting goal. There’s a fish tank in one hall, a turtle in the community room and a bird down my hall. Not exactly exciting goals but they are measurable.

I want to establish and anchor my Qigong practice in my life. I could meditate more, I am getting braver about playing my flute when I know it can be heard down the hall. I still sing my morning chants but softly because I have a suite-mate. I have begun to play new rhythms on my big drum in my meditation and that is inviting new songs 

Make room for yourself. Make room to expand. Make room to grow. 

Make room to explore.

Raise your expectations for the coming year.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Expectations

I want to expect enough of myself but not too much that I can’t achieve it.

I want to expect enough of myself but not too much that I can’t achieve it. I want to challenge myself to try harder and reach higher and achieve more.

I want to expect enough of myself but not too much that I can’t achieve it. I want to challenge myself to try harder and reach higher and achieve more. I raise my sights and move into a new year.

– Cara Lumen, December, 2022

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.  Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song  

I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.

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How Has Your Path Widened With Opportunity?

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
 The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

You know the saying “When one door shuts another one opens.” So how has your path widened with opportunity lately and have you even noticed?

Slowly and gradually give yourself more space to move in and you may also discover all sorts of interesting off shoots that invite you to go exploring. You always have a choice. But first you have to notice what changes have presented themselves and what you want to do about them.

I’m a writer and I have dry macular degeneration which means I am gradually losing my eyesight. There is no known cure.  I’m working on it metaphysically but I also know I have to work on my own belief system of what is possible and what I deserve.

There is a reason that I have been given this opportunity (I’m not going to call it a challenge) because I have some serious work to do and my calling is to share what I learn with you. And I have begun to find ways to adjust to this new opportunity.   

When we hit a bump in the road one of the first things we ask is “why me?” And if you think about it you will ask “What is my lesson here?” 

If I were to make a guess about my own situation it would be that this is a really strong challenge that I must move through and share my process with you in order to encourage you, perhaps give you ideas for your own solutions, and maybe even alleviate some fear as I hopefully and successfully move through this process.

So my first largest lesson is to trust that I have the strength to work through it. I know I do. I’m a very creative person and I will find creative new ways to work around or with this “opportunity” as I choose to call it.

Because so many people have written me in response to my series of shares on downsizing and moving into long-term care facilities, I know that sharing this process around my eyes will offer some solutions and encouragement to others. 

What new opportunities presented themselves to you in the form of what could be viewed as a challenge? And how do you plan to move through it? How has your path widened with opportunity? Where is it leading you?

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I look closely at the doors that open and the opportunities that unfold before me. I go exploring.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

• Sit down and make a list of the opportunities that have presented themselves in the past year.  
• Choose one or two that really resonate and go exploring. 

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Follow The Nudges

I was never much of a dreamer. My opportunities seemed to open up spontaneously as I enthusiastically and perhaps impulsively took a lot of different classes in   New York City.That impulsive, in-the- moment pattern has continued most of my life with seemingly impulsive but on-target choices.

I’m not as much of a dreamer as I am an impulsive responder. And I think I’m an easy mark because I love to learn. 

So I’ve really never had a grand plan or an unfulfilled dream. I resonate strongly in the moment of choice and follow my inner calling. I guess that makes me more of an adventurer than a planner.  

I never had a dream. And I’ve been handed a great many positive things in my life. College was simply an expectation. For that matter, so was getting married and having children. But then I hit the 80s as a single woman in New York City and began adventuring. That’s when I became a metaphysician.

And even now I trust my life to simply unfold. I follow my nudges and hunches and go adventuring. 

Do I have a dream or a plan? Not at 90 I don’t but I do recognize the path is opening and I have a strong calling to follow it. And I didn’t expect that to happen at my age. But here I go exploring – again. 

What Do Pagans Believe In?

“Pagans believe that nature is sacred and that the natural cycles of birth, growth and death observed in the world around us carry profoundly spiritual meanings. Human beings are seen as part of nature, along with other animals, trees, stones, plants and everything else that is of this earth.”

I am a pagan.

“Pagans have been broadly defined as anyone involved in any religious act, practice, or ceremony which is not Christian. Jews and Muslims also use the term to refer to anyone outside their religion.”

That still makes me a pagan, a follower of nature and a caretaker of our planet.

Are you a pagan?

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Set Up Protection

I now live in a long-term care facility. That means there is a lot of unbalanced energy coming from the residents. I set up protection around me and strengthen it even day. Each morning, I clear out any negative energy that was released during the night through my dreams and sleep. I set up a transformative sphere that keeps negative energy out and transforms my own energy to keep them positive.

I can use the Transformative Sphere in any situation – from being alone to being in a group of people. The Transformative Sphere is there in an instant to transform any negative thoughts or energy you come across.

Offer gratitude for the protection and proceed along your path.

Be aware of the times you need protection. You can put it up in a second.

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

What Do You Need To Release?

The Winter Solstice December 21 was the beginning of a time of release that extends to March 21st. This is a time of release, to let go of the old self, and to prepare for new beginnings—the new growth of spring.

What beliefs do you need to examine and which ones do you need to release?

Since I’m no longer living alone and now have this great group of support people around me, I need to  change my beliefs and intentions around how I want to participate in the world now. This is a perfect time to let go of the old and to bring in the new.

What do you want to bring into your life? What choices and habits do you need to change for that to happen?

I need to be less anti-social. I have recently begun to sit in my wheelchair in my doorway and speak to anyone who goes by. It makes me feel a tad social and helps me to know who is here too. 

What do you need to question? What do you need to release? Do that.

What Is Missing From Your Life And What Steps Will You Take To Correct It?

Sometimes you don’t know you’re missing something in your life until it shows up again. I thought I had an abundance of friends with whom I talked on Zoom on a regular basis until I moved and suddenly had a great deal of in-person interaction with vibrant younger people in deep service on the staff here. It was this dramatic change that made me realize what I had been missing in my life. It has brought out a different aspect of me that I haven’t shown for quite a while, as in I’m kind of wise-cracking funny sometimes.

Fixing something is not as hard as figuring out what is missing in the first place because things just gradually disappear or are replaced in your life and you don’t notice they’re gone.

I had several things I should leave out – like watching too many reruns of Diagnosis Murder and Murder She Wrote and playing Spider Solitaire. I have not done any of those in my eight weeks over here. And I’ve been a lot more productive online writing on my computer. And I’ve had more in-person conversations than I’ve had in the past 13 years.

I think the hard part is that whatever is left gradually changes and you’ve made subtle adjustments all the time as it just snuck away. If something left abruptly, you would probably notice it. 

I can truthfully say that physical activity was pretty much missing from my previous life but now that I have access to the recumbent bike in physical therapy. That’s a three day a week bit of exercise that I get to do. And I’m counting sitting in my wheelchair Pearl and exercising my legs to rock back and forth but I want to increase my daily practice – by quite a bit. I am the only guy that can make that happen.

You get busy and don’t take time to see your friends. Or you make a new friend and leave some of your old friends behind because you don’t have time for all of it.

Life is like a river flowing. It moves around and over but progress is up to you because you always have choice in your life and the things that are important to you. Do that.

What is missing from your life and what steps will you take to correct it?

How Do You Offer Comfort?

I actually have no business writing this because I don’t think I’m particularly good at offering comfort to anyone. I walked this world alone for far too much to know how to accept comfort let alone give it. That’s because I know that my response to my feelings are totally up to me. So I guess my version of comfort would be to help people find their own inner strength to keep going. Not to say “I’m sorry” but more to say “How can I help you regain your balance?”

That’s an interesting idea actually because people are given a problem and are looking to regain their balance so they can continue on with their life. What steps would I take to help someone regain their balance? 

I don’t have a clue. Because on one hand the person has to have time to grieve what she’s gone through. To help someone in grief is to help them regain their balance and tread a new path without whatever has gone away. So I suggest that in a very gentle fashion you help someone look to the path ahead and make some choices around how they want to continue.

I haven’t been in that situation many times in my life. How would you like to the comforted?  Do that for someone else.

Mindful Eating

I don’t eat mindfully but I wish I would. There was a scene in The Wedding Planner where Jennifer Lopez who obviously lived alone, very mindfully brought her TV tray to the couch, and carefully laid her napkin in her lap and set about to eat alone. She was a wedding planner making people happy but she was also taking care of herself even in her aloneness. She was treating herself with love and dignity.

On the other hand, I continue to watch the alarming and depressing news as I eat. I have a better choice and I need to make it. I will turn and look out of my very large windows to see what changes I can observe in nature I can see. That’s pretty simple – actually turn my view in a new direction. Will you join me? 

The People We Serve

I recently had the most fascinating conversation with a nurse from the agency who works for the jail in Jackson County, Missouri which is a tough neighborhood in Kansas City. She has worked there for five years and is the most no-nonsense woman I have met in my life. She is young and seasoned and likes working there because the doctors give her a fair amount of autonomy.

It was interesting to hear her talk about people repeating their offenses simply because they were mean. That’s an interesting take on it.  I don’t know anyone who is mean and I’m glad I don’t. I guess the opposite of mean is kind. I started to write that I’m too self-focused to turn and be kind but I have certainly been open to meaningful conversations with many of the staff here and in filling my own openers and curiosity I am undoubtedly filling a need of theirs.

Are you aware of how you serve others? It may be as simple as your presence with your upbeat view of life and your motivating work ethic. Know that your mere presence has an effect on others. Be a light in the world.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice is a major turning point. The explanation I needed to hear and pass along was in Nick Polizzi’s newsletter. (Founder of The Sacred Science)

“Ancient cultures like the Egyptians, the Maori, the Maya, the Celts, the Druids, the Inca and so many others – all celebrated Solstice. 

In the Chinese Taoist tradition, winter solstice is considered the most yin (dark / feminine / damp) day of the calendar. Energy comes to a momentary point of pause, before it gives birth to yang (light / masculine / heat).

Yin and yang form the basis of Chinese medicine and according to this school of wisdom, one cannot exist without the other. These two seemingly opposite forces are intimately connected and complementary.”

Winter Solstice is a time of deep change. What do you want to create in the coming year? How are you looking to expand your place of service in the unfolding new year? What changes will you make at this energetic point in time?

My current path is new and unfolding. The person who gave me a shower today is James and he came over from Africa at the age of 18. He likes to listen to African music and I showed him my Kalimba (thumb piano) and Djembe (drum) and made a new friend.

My path widens. And deepens.

===DEEPER SONG DISCOVERIES===

Insights and Resources to Explore

The Top 10 Guided Meditations of 2022 from Mindful Magazine

===GUIDANCE FROM OUR COSMIC COUNSELORS ===

Listen Beyond the Voice Within 

How Can We Deepen Our Place of Service?

My Journey to The Cosmic Counselors:

I find myself in the misty circle in the center of the forest. I stand in a circle of light workers.  We are there to be placed in service. There is a humming noise. It is the sound of the gentle flapping of the wings of a lot of butterflies. They fly around us. We understand that we are to take flight and go beyond the familiar to seek our place of service. We are to climb the nearby mountain and view the entire valley. We are to contemplate on our choices and select one or two to explore to see where we most resonate and how we might serve. We make our decision based on what we observe, what we feel, and what our inner guidance tells us.

It may be an entirely new place of service or it may be a deeper expression of what you were doing now. Explore the possibilities before you make your choice. We, as butterflies in service, understand and fly off to find our next adventure.

I find myself back in my Sacred Garden. The Directors sit by my side. “What did you discover,” he asks. “That I have found my next place of service – the staff here at Evergreen. And that form is unfolding. I am to follow my inner guidance and go exploring to find the most impactful place and way that I can serve.” My journey ends. 

===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEARERS===

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Participate

We had a Christmas party for the residents here. Many people had a staff member bring them. Maggie brought me. I met more staff – the manager of the website to whom I immediately offered to write a couple of articles and the CEO who asked if his daughter, who is into crystals, could come visit me. I guess I’m getting known for my different ways. 

My lessons are two-fold.  Do you own thing and reach out in service where you feel called.

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

In Honor of Winter

In the depth of winter, 
I finally learned 
that within me there lay 
an invincible summer.

― Albert Camus

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===

Expanding Awareness

The Backpack Journey

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Googleand the
Deeper Song Website

===CARA’S CORNER===

My New Helper

My newest helper is a wheelchair. She is sleek and black and tells me her name is Pearl. She was measured to fit me and she has a bag on the back to carry the foot holders. And she is going to be a great new place for me to sit during the day. She’s very comfortable. And she will take me on adventures too. I mentioned to a nurse named Stephanie that I wanted to have some flowers for her and she said “We have lots of flowers around, let me go look for some.”  She soon came back with a perfect purple fake flower and promptly put it on the front of Pearl’s arm.  It is a jaunty effect. 

So now I have another friend and helper to get me where I need to go.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

The Helper

Help comes in all forms. We just have to learn to recognize it and accept it. 

Help comes in all forms. We just have to learn to recognize it and accept it. It may be an idea or something physical that helps us move forward.

Help comes in all forms. We just have to learn to recognize it and accept it. It may be an idea or something physical that helps us move forward. Stay open to the pathways that the Universe opens and go exploring.

-Cara Lumen, December 2022

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.  Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song  

I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.

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