Cara Lumen | Sing a Deeper Song

Sing a Deeper Song

Come Sing a Deeper Song

What Do You Want To Learn Next?

By

What Do You Want To Learn Next?

Living Our Deeper Song

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

I’m beginning to think about the year ahead. What do I want to learn next? 

There are some physical things I want to accomplish. I will have both hips replaced and that will certainly affect my mobility which I then need to cultivate and improve upon. I am now on restorative physical therapy and get to ride a recumbent bike three times a week and do some stretching exercises at a counter. I love it and it is making many encouraging differences. What circumstance is improving for you that will open new doorways of opportunity?

I have to get creative about working around the dry macular degeneration which is affecting my eyes. That means cultivating the use of more podcasts as a major learning tool for one. What doorway seems to be closing for you that you have to seek out new avenues of opportunity to explore?

What new in-service goals are you setting for yourself? I have this entire population of very kind supportive staff that I wish to support in return. The form that will take seems to be unfolding over time. My sense is that it will be in one-on-one interactions. Even as I write that I know it is so much more than that. I am already setting a new tone, a new expectation for myself. My role is unfolding and making itself known.

What do I want to learn? I want to keep practicing Qigong. As my body improves, I want to establish that as a thoughtfully done daily practice standing up the way it should be done. The hip surgery will make that possible. 

I’m not sure what my spiritual goals are yet but I want to both expand and deepen them. I have choosen to leave the door to the hall open during the day and there is a lot of traffic going in and out between vitamins and temperature and other things so I’m still working on how I am to be in service. I’m really working out learning everyone’s name and have certainly established some friendships already. I have not met any other residents except my suite mate. 

It’s not like it was when I was alone in my own living room. But I do get to sit by a big window and observe the seasons and the movement of the morning sun. That’s a good place to begin one’s spiritual practice each day.

What changes will you make in your spiritual life? You might consider a new form of meditation or ceremony or move your spiritual practice to a different time of the day. Perhaps you experiment for a month to see what resonates. 

Spend some time looking closely for what needs have emerged and how you can creatively meet them. Explore and experiment and make some creative plans to meet your needs in the coming year.  

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I am willing and ready to make the changes that will deepen my daily life experience.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Identify the areas of your life that need improvement.
  • Look at the areas of your life that are working and see what elements make them successful. 
  • Look for any new needs. Examine what you are doing now, explore different ways to explore new avenues and create a new plan for the coming year. 

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

What Is Missing From Your Life?

Ask yourself, “What is missing from my life and what step will I take to correct that.”

Now that I have spent nearly six weeks here in long-term care I can look more closely at the rhythm of my life and identify what is missing, what I want to add, and how I will do that.

One thing I have learned is that I had grown more and more isolated before I moved and having this much daily interaction with really kind people is making a huge difference in my emotional well-being. Notice how your life changes when you redirect your attention. 

I already have plans for after my hip replacements to walk in the garden here and sit out in the gazebo in the sunshine. I also know that the staff is going to be a source of personal growth and mental stimulation for me. It will not come from other residents. That helps me plan and focus my attention and my activities. 

I love to learn and I’m going to explore more podcasts as one of my resources. And I have yet to try audiobooks.

What new venues will you explore in order to expand your life experience? Do you need to join a group that shares your interests? Are there some causes that you care about? Do you need a friend who shares your interests? Are there classes that you want to take, a new activity to undertake? It’s good to always keep learning. At least I find that to be so.

Notice how you spend your time and be more selective. For instance, I was watching way too many television reruns and playing way too much Spider Solitaire. With this new environment and these new friends, I have stopped that and there’s a very large space left to rethink how I want to experience those hours, not simply make them pass by. So far it’s taken the form of a gradual increase in my writing. 

Rethink your choices, go exploring, and expand your experiences. Life will be more fun that way. 

Celebrate Your Uniqueness

There is only one you and that’s a good thing. One you to be in the world, only one you to be a friend to your friends, and only one you to do the work you do. There are certain things only you can do so do them with love and pleasure and skill. Celebrate your uniqueness every moment of your life. Be the best “you” you can be. It will make the world a better place.  

How will you be a better you today? 

How Do You View Change?

I’ve been in my new home in long-term care for six weeks and I realized that the experience of change stems directly from how you view the opportunities that open up because of that change. 

For instance, there are a whole lot of physical things I no longer have to be concerned about. I am well fed. I am well cared for. I am well nursed. My laundry is done and my vitamins are brought to me. And I have nursing available 24/7.  I have new opportunities and access to things like physical therapy that I did not have before. I have a whole lot of new friends among the staff, for that is the group that I identify with. They are the movers and shakers here and I am still a mover and shaker.  

If you focus in the wrong direction, you can make yourself pretty miserable. Instead of the smallness of my space I focus on the feeling of being tucked in. I sit in the morning sun by my nearly floor-to-ceiling windows to watch the birds at the feeder start their day. And I am safe. 

I really do celebrate this return to socialization with people who are interesting to know. I was spending huge amounts of time alone at Ridgeview and relied only on my wonderful friends online who are all in the vicinity of age 60 and are actively pursuing the next unfolding phase of their lives. I had very few in-person interactions. Now I have daily interactions with caring people and that has lifted my spirits tremendously.

When you find yourself in a new situation, don’t mourn what you left, celebrate what you are in the process of discovering. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Degrees of Discomfort

The nursing aides will give me a Tylenol when I ask but they always ask what degree of pain it is. I’ve been having some discomfort after I do the recumbent bike. So I have created a new level of so-called pain. A whimpering one. A cranky one. And a whiny one. Got to find your chuckles where you will. 

What Is Missing From Your Life and What Steps Will You Take To Correct That?

Several times a year it is really important to pause to see what is missing from your life and what steps you are willing to take to correct that. Maybe one big correction is staring you in the face or maybe you see a series of more subtle changes that need to be made. It’s a good idea to contemplate what changes you want to make and create plans around how to do that.

The hip replacements are going to change things for me for the better so that is a major focus for my year. This new environment has offered me a new service project and I have to figure out other ways to enrich my time. Each one of those is a really big project and the physical change will show me the most apparent steps to take. 

My new place of service has been identified and has a lot of unfolding to do. 

I don’t know where my love of learning will take me. I will just let that one unfold. I don’t have money for online classes anymore but there are many free ways to learn online. 

Leave room for the unexpected and be willing to go exploring.  What is missing from your life and what steps will you take to create that? 

Take Time For Self-Healing and Regeneration

Everything we are experiencing outside of ourselves is a reflection of our inner state. How are you doing? How is your life unfolding? You are the one who gets to make the changes. You are the one who will cause the shift. As within, so without. Do the work.

We are like a tree. We are in one place, this planet, with everything we need. 

Trees can’t receive help from outside sources for healing since they stand in one place. So they have everything within they need to heal while they are standing. A plant can grow a stem longer reaching for the sun or send its roots deeper into the earth. All kinds of inner movements are done to survive and thrive. We have all we need within us. We just have to do the work. 

As this world goes through such traumatic changes this will be a good time to spend some time in solitude and go within for answers. We need silence and inner work to do this. It is time to go within to repair and replace and strengthen on all levels.

What steps will you take to renew yourself? On the physical plane, the emotional plane, the mental plane and the spiritual plane? Or is it an interesting eclectic mix?

Work with the powerful vibration of colors and see where it leads you. Imagining feeling the space around you changing slowly and see how it affects your inner experience.

How will you set about meeting your current needs? 

Do the inner work, keep it simple it and pay attention to the guidance you are given both within and without.

===OUTER WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

How We Interpret Things

We make decisions in many moments in our lives based or how we interpret what has shown up. We may interpret based on a mood we are in. We may interpret from partial information. We may interpret from incorrect information. We may interpret from our feelings and needs in that particular moment. And all of those places and interpretations will change from day to day and even from moment to moment. So when you make a decision also look at where you’re coming from in order to make that decision. What beliefs? What information? What limitations and who is involved in the project itself? And be aware of those as influencing factors in your choice. Your mood will change, your circumstances will change, the opportunities to be flexible will change as you make decisions and move through your life. Be aware of the basis for the interpretations you make and adjust accordingly. 

In Pursuit of Peace

“Power is influence over external events.

Peace is influence over internal events.”

–James Clear

Cultivating inner peace is one of the most important and impactful things we can learn to do. We do it through introspection and we do it through listening to the multitude of messages from the universe. You attain peace by cultivating an awareness of the impact of your choices and the results that you are having and adjust accordingly. From that inner perspective comes great power over the external aspects of your life.

Actively cultivate inner peace through your meditation and spiritual practice. Live your life with an ever-deepening awareness of your inner resources. 

The View From The Other Person’s Side

Why is the other person responding the way she/he is? What is going on with their lives and their beliefs that creates that particular response? This is a particularly helpful awareness when someone is doing something that is totally opposite from what you choose to do. It doesn’t mean that you have to agree with them but if you can extend your awareness and even your empathy to the person with whom you are in conflict, it helps you understand them from a different viewpoint. Take time to understand where the other person is coming from and begin to build your relationship from there.

Keep Doing The Work

Use it or lose it, particularly as you get older and a little less agile. This no-doing on any plane sneaks up on you. 

There is so much encouragement and so much help in this long-term care facility and I have to be certain to do the work.

No one is going to do the work except you. No one is going to challenge you but yourself. No one is going to create the change accept you. 

Yes, there is lots of help here. All I have to do is follow their advice. That’s my role. That’s my responsibility. Do the work.

I had given up while living alone in my apartment. If it was hard, I stopped doing it. My life really changed as my walking capacity diminished. I couldn’t take out my trash. I couldn’t walk to do my laundry and I did not like walking the halls for exercise because it hurt my body and was not particularly fun to do. I had no encouragement or support. I was on my own to provide my motivation and I was not doing a very good job of it.

So what changed? I got access to help. I now have a restorative physical therapy person who comes to get me three times a week. I have access to a recumbent bike that I love to use as well as loving the results I am getting. And I have encouragement.

If you are stuck in a downward spiral, whether it’s physical or emotional, get some support to move through that and change directions so that you are motivated to help yourself again. It can be professional help, it can be help from a friend, it can be a change to a whole new venue. Perhaps you can be the friend offering encouragement and support to another. 

Here’s another thing I noticed. The more help I got in my independent living apartment, the less I began to do for myself. And that may be the trap that we all need to look out for. It became easier and easier to leave things for my homemaker to do.  And I kept doing less and less.  

My spirits have lifted by being around these incredibly loving and supportive people who encourage me at every turn and help me with the things that are no longer possible for me to do. 

So what is the difference here? I had help in my apartment and I did less.  I have a lot more help here and I’m doing more and want to keep doing more. What shifted within to make me want to do the work to get myself back on track?

I think the answer is hope. The recumbent bike helped me turn the corner. I love doing it, I can do it and it’s making a tangible difference. The prospect of the hip replacements opens up a whole new world of possibilities for change for me – and hope.  So is part of this shift about hope? The whole idea that I may be able to walk in the garden again is a very stimulating prospect and goal. We can plant things in a garden here but my goal is to simply walk in it.

I have gone from subconsciously giving up, to actively pursuing change with great positive expectations. In one sense I had given up because I didn’t know how to create the change for myself. I needed the insights and encouragement and skill that I have found here.

My hopes were raised with access to physical therapy and they have skyrocketed with a prospect of hip replacement.

What kind of spiral are you in regarding the circumstance in which you find yourself? Look for answers and find the ones that simulate and motivate you into action. And do that. 

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

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

How Well Does Your Spiritual Practice Nurture You?

Is your spiritual practice designed in the best possible way to deeply nurture you in body, mind and spirit? Perhaps you would like to rearrange some of the elements you have placed in your spiritual practice and add new ones.

Your spiritual practice is meant to nurture you in all aspects of your life. It should be a source of serenity and comfort, a source of well-being and ever-expanding spiritual awareness. 

Our spiritual practice should nurture our body.  Physical practices like Qigong and Yoga have a spiritual base as they nurture and strengthen your body temple, but all exercise when done mindfully is spiritual.

A balanced spiritual practice both strengthens and calms your mind so that you move through your life with clarity of purpose and awareness of the nudges and insights the universe is constantly offering you.

And of course, a spiritual practice is designed to deepen your awareness of your oneness with all – your far-reaching interconnectedness in the Web of Life. It teaches you to listen to the voice within. It teaches you to become aware of the support and insights the universe constantly provides. It feeds your soul so that all you can be always comes from that place of oneness. 

Perhaps take time to examine the gifts your spiritual practice gives and see how you would like to alter it. Perhaps strengthen the physical element you pursue in order to quiet your mind and body to prepare to move into the deeper levels. Perhaps add drumming or singing to honor nature, the directions and the unfolding day. There might be some words of wisdom that you choose to contemplate. I have a box full of quotes that I like and I can pull one out each day to contemplate. Of course there is meditation. There are rattles. There are bells. There are crystals. How are you expanding and deepening your spiritual practice to nurture yourself on all levels – body, mind, and spirit? Do that. 

On Being Different

Although I am the only vegetarian resident here in Evergreen Long Term Care, I have met at least one vegetarian on staff.  My suite mate has crosses hanging all over her walls and her daughter brought her a small Christmas tree. I celebrate Winter Solstice and am trying to figure out where to get a pine cone for decoration. I’m the only resident who has dream catchers and sun catchers in the window. But then I have been joyfully a tad different all my life.  

When you find yourself in a situation in which you find you are quite different, what do you do?

I just do my own thing in my own space. I already know my friends are all going to be staff members. Follow your own path and encourage others to follow theirs.

We can learn from different cultural traditions. I remember a Jewish friend of mine in New York City who prepared a Passover supper for a few of her non-Jewish friends and explained its meaning and symbolism. 

Celebrating Winter Solstice is perhaps a time to strengthen some facets of your spiritual practice. 

Perhaps add a few simple elements that you use to celebrate. I have added paper that is dissolvable in water to help me release things. Experiment and thoughtfully add a few elements to your ceremony and find new ways to celebrate your own spiritual version of Winter Solstice. 

===GUIDANCE FROM OUR COSMIC COUNSELORS ===

Listen Beyond the Voice Within 

Releasing

Speak to me of releasing.

I go to my Secret Garden and am invited to cross the reflecting pond to join the three Cosmic Counselors in a circle. In the center of our circle is a fire. “Speak to me of releasing,” I say.

The first Cosmic Counselor says, “Releasing is about letting go and you can do that in many ways.” The fire in the center of our circle flares up and smoke rises to the sky. The smoke escapes and disappears in the darkness. The second Cosmic Counselor drops a piece of dissolvable paper with writing on it into water of the reflecting pool. She watches her words dissolve and disappear. The third Cosmic Counselor joins her at the reflecting pool and thoughtfully tosses a small pebble into the pond and watches the ripples disappear against the opposite shore.

“Find a form that seems to resonate with your feelings about releasing and create your own ceremonial words and manner of releasing.” 

Maybe you find a different form for what needs to be released. When you prepare to let something go, pay attention to the images that you release and the feelings they evoke and any messages that come in. It can be a simple ceremony or a complex one. Set an intention to release whatever you want to release and set about doing just that. Look to be sure you release it all.  Experiment with another form for the ceremony or repeat the one you did. 

Create your own ceremony for different purposes. Clear yourself with a Releasing Ceremony. Bless your day. Offer gratitude in general or for something specific. Create a ceremony of Blessing.  

Be conscious of what needs to be released. See if you can find a core belief that is stuck. Or an underlying fear that is holding you back. You may want to experiment in order to create the most effective releasing ceremony for you.

Once you feel you have released whatever you have chosen, notice how you feel. Is it lighter? Is it clear of pain? You might be tired from finally letting it go. And all of those responses might change with each releasing ceremony. It depends on you. And how often you do a releasing ceremony depends on you and what you have allowed to build up and how completely released you feel around whatever it is you have chosen to release. You might use a cycle of the moon as a time to have a releasing ceremony or the ending of a month. You decide when to create a releasing ceremony. If you choose to do one on a regular basis, that allows you to look over your life to see what needs to be released and create a ceremony that allows you to do so.”

I find myself across the reflecting pond sitting on the bench into my Secret Garden. Ancestor rabbit is there holding a bottle of soap bubbles and I sit in the shade of my worries and blow them away.

End of journey.

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

What Is A Light Bearer?

What is a Light Bearer and what do we do? I believe we are a group of humans with Guides from the Unseen World who are here to not only hold High Watch for the planet but to be its protectors. That means we are to live our best lives in service to the highest good for all. We do that with our focused energy and our mindful actions. It will take new forms but being a Light Bearer means that our heart is focused on the well-being of the whole earth and all that it encompasses.

As Individual Harps we must play our sweetest song and at the same time stay in harmony with this grand diverse orchestra of Light Bearers. Stay aware in your own heart that you are being called and continue to elevate your role and perform with your participation.  As Light Bearers we play a higher role in the evolution and well-being of our planet. You will be led to the work you are to further, the work you are to lead. That work is evolving as is your role. As an individual light bearer, make sure your daily light falls softly on the world around you and is uplifted and nurturing to whomever see it. Because a Light Bearer is an adventurer, it is our obligation to continue to expand our knowledge and our beliefs and our role and bring that awareness into our daily life expression. Have an open heart and focus on the highest good for all. That is the role of a Light Bearer. 

We are each individual harps in this Orchestra of Light Bearers. We must play our individual instruments well. And at the same time, we must keep our individual harp in harmony with the whole. We can do that. Raise your light and see where and how you are to expand your role in the world. 

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

The People You Are Around

I am finding very interesting, intelligent people to talk to among the staff. I talked to the head of maintenance about the 3-D printing of homes, recharging solar cars and artificial intelligence. Can you see why I love the mental stimulation here?

I have met a fellow writer and a fellow metaphysician and fellow vegetarian and the only other Cara I have met to date. This is the most in-person mental simulation I’ve had in the 13 years I’ve been in Kansas. I’m loving it. 

People are good at their jobs.  They like their work, and they like helping people and it shows.

Does your joy and appreciation for life show in how you express yourself?  I bet it does. 

=== OLD WOMAN HUMOR ===

I was getting ready for my shower.  We are wheeled down in a wheelchair to the shower room, helped to undress, hang on to grab bar and are positioned in a shower stool with a back and are given a shower by a Med Aide. I mentioned to my 82-year-old wheelchair-bound suite-mate that I had only been given showers by men so far and she said, “Aren’t you lucky!”

Who says we’re too old.

=== DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===

Be a spot of ground where nothing is growing,
where something might be planted,
a seed, possibly, from the Absolute.

-Rumi 

Imagine you are an open field. You can plant whatever crop you choose in this field. It is as a spot of ground from the Absolute. What do you plant? What do you grow? What do you harvest? Keep cultivating the space where you are planted and make sure you are living your best life and are offering your best gifts to the world. Plant your field of life carefully and harvest it with love. 

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

Expanding Awareness

Journey to Our Ancestors to Expand Our Consciousness 

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

===CARA’S CORNER===

An Unexpected Kindness

I received an unexpected gift. Unexpected Blooms is a company that takes flowers from weddings and other occasions and recycles them into lovely bouquets to give away. Mine is a lovely arrangement of mauve roses and white snapdragons among other beautiful flowers. It was totally unexpected.  I wrote a thank-you note on my computer to be sent to them. Not only because I was happy and surprised to receive it but I want to encourage them to keep doing this really thoughtful act of kindness. What perfectly good something can you re-purpose to give to those who have less than you do? We have a place called Savers that is a thrift store that supports the Boys and Girls Club. I used to like to shop there a lot too but my kids gave away a whole lot of my stuff when I moved to the smaller place. 

Look around and notice how much you have that you really don’t need to see how you can pass it forward and put it in a box and give some of it away. Maybe in the summertime pass along a few extra vegetables or flowers from your garden. But most of all look at the possessions that you have that you don’t need anymore and don’t care about anymore and see what you can pass forward to grace someone else’s home. Share the wealth.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Letting Go

I let go of things. I let go of worries. I let go of what is not working. I clear my space and I make room for new insights and understanding.

I let go of things .I let go of worries. I let go of what is not working. I clear my space and I make room for new insights and understanding. What do I want to invite in? What do I want to learn? What experiences do I want to have? What deepening understanding? 

I let go of things. I let go of worries. I let go of what is not working. I clear my space and I make room for new insights and understanding. What do I want to invite in? What do I want to learn? What experiences do I want to have? What deepening understanding? I clear my space. I declutter my life and throw open the doors to new adventures. 

-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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My Books

The Nature of Spiritual Power

By

The Nature of Spiritual Power

Living Our Deeper Song

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

As I look for my role in helping to balance and heal this chaotic world, I understand that those of us who are aware must use our consciousness to change the world. 

To do that, when we speak, we must become deeply aware of the originating source within us so we can become a constant conscious expression of the wholeness of the web of life. 

It begins with our conscious contemplation of the state of the planet and the energy expressed by its inhabitants. We can begin to identify the eruptions on the planet that we personally want to help soothe. This impactful change begins with constant conscious contemplation of what is showing up, what imbalance is making itself known and how it is making itself known. Based on what we find, our calling can begin to move into conscious choices. Everyday choices, little choices, big impactful choices based on this awareness of the state of our planet and the depths of our consciousness. 

Based on this thoughtful, conscious contemplation we redefine our role, our place of impact, our form of service and we begin to move into deep and open-hearted action. 

We study the global consciousness. We try to understand the sources of impact and perhaps even its healing. Perhaps what we identify might actually make for a change in an area that we are focusing on.

But we have to go deeper than that. We have to go to the core consciousness, the all-encompassing consciousness at the center of the continuing evolution of the planet. We are an impactful participant and change is chaotic and sometimes scary. But if we, as Light Bearers, can move into our collective soul consciousness, that is where we will find our next course of action.

What steps do we take to tap into and utilize this all-encompassing spiritual power? It will be individual. We may work with groups. We may do our own personal inner work. We may work with one or two other people. 

We must experiment. We must explore. We must observe the results of our choices and judge its impact on the overarching changes we wish to make.

There are Light Workers everywhere, including you. Notice them. Be inspired by them. Perhaps join them in service. 

What form is your participation in the changing world beginning to take? You are filled with spiritual power. You are an integral part of the web of life. Do you have a thoughtful, impactful, profound gift to offer as we make this intense, organic, change?

Stay open. Listen closely to those soft internal prompts that suggest you change directions even a little. Learn to trust that inner voice. Let it open up new doors of possibility. The new dawn is here and we have deep, impactful work to do.

Conscious contemplation that leads to conscious choices will guide our path and open doors. Listen to the global consciousness to see how it wants you to help create this impactful shift. Listen to your soul consciousness to understand your role in this profound universal change. Come, let’s help heal the world together. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I move into contemplation, immerse myself in spiritual power and move into deeper service.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS

  • Experiment with ways to listen to your inner voice. It could be shamanic journeys, automatic writing, or a simple knowing. Listen for and respond to those nudges from the universe.
  • Pay attention to the insights and opportunities that show up and give thoughtful consideration to how or what is calling you.
  • Pick one and go exploring. Together we will create positive changes for our planet. 

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Use Your Imagination To Explore Possibilities

It’s like trying on an outfit and looking in the mirror to see how it fits.  That’s one way to use your imagination to explore possibilities.  Imagine different scenarios and see how they feel, see where they lead you, see what new possibilities open up.  Use your imagination to explore your choice and its potential more deeply.

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility For Healing Yourself

Sometimes You Need Help

I sure am glad that Doctor J knows how to do hip replacements because I didn’t even know I needed them. Sometimes you need help to get yourself well. He’s already done a ton of them in his own professional career and I have no clue how it even works. Aren’t we glad that people specialize in things we need to have help with? 

As I settle into the care of this long-term facility, I am eating better than I was eating before and being offered nursing and tests that I didn’t know I needed. And if there’s something I can’t do physically, there’s always someone here to help do it for me. 

I haven’t stepped out of my room to meet many of the residents here but I sure have met a lot of wonderful staff. I do see people going down the hall pushing wheelchairs and even a couple of really big machines that will lift people out of bed who can’t get out otherwise. I have not been to a meal in the dining room but there sure are a lot of people in wheelchairs here. It makes sense. 

I plan to find a way to get stronger. I love physical therapy and I will keep doing that recumbent bike machine forever. After my hip replacement, my plan is to do a lot more walking and be ready to go outside in the spring. And in the meantime, there are a lot of people here that I can ask for help.

Don’t let yourself fall into dependency on other people helping. Keep up the good fight. Keep doing your part. For me it’s much more fun to go to physical therapy and be encouraged to get on the bike and do other things than it was to motivate myself in my live-alone apartment. I think that being surrounded by all these supportive people will help me make this important shift to more activity. 

Even when we have to ask for help, we still have to do the work.

Do The Work

I have just begun a new Qigong class with Deng Ming-Dao at The Shift Network and it is a lovely class. 10 years ago, I could have done everything easily. Today I can’t. I’ve got the top part of me doing some of the work but the leg part is very behind. I have to do the work and there is quite a bit of it to do.  

I’m behind because I didn’t do the work but also because some of my body needs fixing. I just found out I’m going to have both hips replaced in the near future. So it’s not only me and laziness, it is that some body parts need upgrades. But I have to do the work and it makes a difference that I have the supportive people in physical therapy here to come get me and put me on a recumbent bike several times a week and help me work certain other body parts and help me find new ways to get in and out of bed.  So it’s important do the work and it’s also important to find the help you need in order to be able to do the work. Go take a Qigong class or a yoga class or some classes that help you keep moving. Maybe you need some physical therapy to get your body going in the right direction. Keep your body in shape by honoring its needs and taking care of it and helping it heal when it needs help. You can get help to do the work but you do need to do the work. Keep moving. It’s more fun that way. 

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

Say “Yes” To The Universe

It has taken a great deal of trust on my part to move through this major unfolding change in my life. I felt that I did not have much control over what I saw as timing and details and I had to trust. I had to trust the move was the right thing to do. I had to trust that the space would be the perfect one for me. That it would happen in its perfect time. And it did.

It’s scary to trust. It means you feel you are no longer completely in control. It means you have to be flexible and fluid and respond to what is presented to you by the universe as opportunities, new roads, unexpected detours, pathways, insights and supportive people. 

The universe is very busy giving us opportunities. We have to learn to recognize them. We need to actively explore them. We need to make our choices and we have to learn from them. Where are you going to explore today and what do you think you might learn? Go exploring. Create your own adventure. 

Do The Work

I was not doing the work before I moved. Now I’m getting help with physical therapy and my body is doing some shifting. It’s hard when you’re old to decide to move your body on a regular basis. Sometimes it is not comfortable. We are absolutely, totally, singularly responsible for how our body ages. Our response to our choices and our beliefs creates the pattern of process.

Physical therapy has given me a couple of very simple movements to do and since I get up a lot during the middle of the night, that’s when I’ve chosen to add them to my life. My body is rested and relaxed and flexible and responsive to the exercises. And my posture is improving. What small physical pattern can you create and add to your life that will make a difference in how your body responds to life in general?

Give Your Best Gifts

We each have gifts that we offer the world. What are yours? And are you using them? 

Some of our gifts are more noticeable than others. I can identify gifts like being able to identify the overview and writing about it with clarity for others. But a gift I may not be aware of is my enthusiasm and how contagious it is for others. And my curiosity. 

What gifts do you bring to the world and how are you expressing them? How are they being received? What lives are you touching? How are you changing them? Look closely at the impact your very presence is having on others and know that you are a gift simply by being. Spread the joy – by your very presence! 

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

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

Commune With Clouds

I was a young housewife with four children and a husband who were all asleep in the house. It was Sunday and I went out to my backyard and lay on my back in the grass and watched the shape-shifting clouds and felt the heartbeat of the earth beneath my back. I listened to the stillness of my neighborhood on this Sunday morning. And I talked to the clouds.

It was a long time ago but I will never forget that moment of being one with nature.  

Do you take time to connect with nature, to listen to her? To learn from her? Do you simply stop outside and listen to the sounds and feeling of nature? Do you take time to stop and watch the clouds shifting? Or a drop of rain dripping from a leaf? Or simply be present with a rainbow? Do you listen to the wind rattling the branches above your head? How do you take time to be with nature and how often do you do it?

I can sit by my window and look at nature with a turn of my head. But breathing fresh air is a bit more of a project. There is a door to the outside in the physical therapy room next door to me that leads to a deck with chairs and a gently sloping walkway that leads to a garden. So I know where an outside door is in this new space and I will begin by going to open the door for a few moments to enjoy each day. I can also turn and look out my window and play my flute.  In my other apartment I could play to the setting sun but now my window faces the sunrise. I just haven’t figured out how to not disturb anyone and still do that. But I will. For now, I play my Kalimba softly, do very soft drumming on my Celtic drum, and sing to the directions softly to myself. 

Find a way to listen to and connect with nature several times throughout your day. She has many lessons and guidance for us when we listen. 

===GUIDANCE FROM OUR COSMIC COUNSELORS ===

Listen Beyond The Voice Within 

Trust The Unfolding

I journey to the Cosmic Counselors. Teach me to trust the unfolding. 

I am deep in the old growth forest. A soft light shines on the path ahead of me. It is a signal of hope. It is a symbol of guidance. “Keep your eyes open” says a voice. “Look for the guidance. Look for the opportunities. Look for the insights. Listen with your heart. Listen with your intuition,” says the voice. “From those resources choose your path. It is always your choice. Make your choices based on your increasing awareness and contemplation of the possibilities and potential and the calling of your heart. Do the work. Listen. Interpret. Act.  All is well in your world.” 

I am on my bench in my Secret Garden beside the reflecting pool. The Indigo Carillon begins to play. It sends my song through my melody. My harmonies. My voice in the world. We have work to do and we are to get very creative about how we do it. How are you playing your song? What melody are you offering the world? How are you in harmony with what is unfolding in your life? Listen carefully and stay in tune. 

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

Expand Your Role In The Rapidly Evolving Universe

Cherish Your Differences

Each person has an individual gift and we must cherish our differences. The adventurous person shows us new paths today. The curious person opens new avenues of exploration for us. Maintain an eclectic circle of friends who will help you expand in new directions. Cherish the differences you find in your friends.

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

Raise Your Sights And Your Expectations 

Go Exploring Every Day

What kind of an adventurer are you? Do you go exploring? Do you take the narrow path down an unexplored landscape? How daring are you as you move through life, learning from others, constantly curious? We must learn to go exploring well and often. We must knock on unopened doors and step through new thresholds and throw open windows.  

How do you do that? Do you listen to the messages and opportunities that the universe provides you every day? It could be through a new person you meet, it could be an overheard phrase that touches your heart, it could be an unexpected realization of a new possibility. Our life is constantly unfolding but we must pay attention to the many possibilities our paths can take. Where will you go exploring today? Have an adventure! 

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support And Encouragement For Our Unfolding Role In The Future

Identify Your Cause

We only have seven or eight years to reverse the climate destruction we are doing and have a chance to save the planet at all.

You may be an advocate of the land, the ocean, a certain type of plant or animal that may be endangered. You may care about a certain group of people – children or the homeless or a certain ethnicity.

You may care more about one area of distress than another. I give money to organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and the National Wildlife Federation. But you may give to programs to help educate certain groups. Choose a cause that calls to you. Turn and step into service of that cause. It may be a donation or active participation or any other way you find that you can contribute.

Finding the work that you wish to do to help others is a fair, very powerful expansion of your awareness and your feelings and your place of service. Find what calls to you and get to work. Identify your cause and support it. 

=== DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===

The winds of grace are always blowing, but we must raise our sails.   Sri Ramakrishna

If you don’t raise your sails, you will not ever go anywhere. If you don’t row your boat in the middle of a river, it will not move forward. We have work to do to expand our life experience and nourishing food to produce. What new project of self enhancement will you undertake?

===INTENTION BLESSING===

May we hear and heed the call of the Divine Feminine. 
May we expand our hearts and our expectations.
May we walk the Path of Light with a sure foot. 
May we keep our gaze on the summit.
May we take this journey with a full heart. 
I entwine my light with yours as we move forward to guide the way.

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

Expanding Awareness

Journey to Our Ancestors to Expand Our Consciousness

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

===REFLECTIONS===

On Turning 90

I was born November 19, 1932. It was shortly after the Great Depression and there were not many of us born then. My father was a civil engineer and had a good job so they felt secure enough to begin their family.

90 years is a really long time. It has been a good life, a fulfilling life, and I have vigorously marched on my own personal path. I have honored the gifts that I have been given and used them in creative ways. I continue to deepen my spiritual awareness and broaden my spiritual path. And I am still in service in the world. And that is probably the most important thing I have going for me right now.

How are you staying relevant in your life? Are you still finding ways to contribute to others, to the world? Are you still learning? Are you still exploring?

This community of seniors has various levels of continued engagement. I’m not sure there is still a desire to contribute to the world let alone a way to do it.

I’m very clear that my place of service is to this very kind staff who is deeply in service to seniors who really need a lot of help. 

How do you find purpose in your life as you get really old? Sometimes what you have to offer is positive presence, your cheerful personality and your inquisitive mind.

I am grateful that I can still do my newsletter. It keeps me inquisitive and makes me feel like I’m contributing. As my eyes continue to change. I’m not sure how that’s going to unfold but I’m trusting that it will. 

I still love to learn. I just started my sixth Qigong class. There are other things that I want to explore. I want to deepen my spiritual practice but since I have a suite-mate, its form is still evolving.

When it comes time for your birthday, take some time to see how you have contributed to our world. Examine your spiritual practice and see how it needs to be changed. Decide what you want to learn next and make those selections and get started. What new aspect will you add to your life? I’m getting more and more ideas for what I want to do about that. And I’ve only been here two weeks. My place of service is definitely about encouraging this staff.

Each year, perhaps even several times a year, pause to see how you’re doing. See what lives you are changing and see how are you connecting via new forms of service. 

Explore a bit and make new choices. Take a new path and see where it leads you. You are never too old to go exploring.

===CARA’S CORNER===

Forge A New Path

My eyesight is getting trickier. It is dry macular degeneration and it’s scaring me because I love doing this newsletter. I have proofing from my friend Noralee in Canada. Even though I dictate, it’s even trickier to write using a 37-point san serif font.

I had given away my microphone thinking I would never do the podcast again, but it has gone over to my daughter’s house so I’m getting it back. It might be easier for me to record a message and then have someone help to edit it than to keep re-writing these pieces. I’ll let it evolve and stay flexible. I just need to keep adjusting and perhaps rethink some of my choices. All is working out well in my world. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

FLEXIBILITY

There are many paths to choose from as I undertake this next phase of my journey. Short steps. Long steps. Skipping steps. Contemplative steps.

There are many paths to choose from as I undertake this next phase of my journey. Short steps. Long steps. Skipping steps. Contemplative steps. I need to look around me for new ways of doing the work I love and refilling my role in this next stage of my life. 

There are many paths to explore as I undertake this next phase of my journey. Short steps. Long steps. Skipping steps. Contemplative steps. I need to look around me for new ways of doing the work I love and refilling my role in this next stage of my life. The answer will appear. The universe will provide. I trust the process and let it unfold.

– Cara Lumen, November 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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Past Issues of this newsletter are being curated on my site on a page called Insights.

Our Global Deeper Song Community

Our Deeper Song Community extends throughout the planet. Welcome new Deeper Song Explorers. I’d love to hear of your experiences –  caralumen@gmail.com or let’s discuss on the Deeper Song Explorers!

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My Books

Are You Driving Your Life Or Are You Just Along For The Ride?

By

Are You Driving Your Life Or Are You Just Along For The Ride?

Living Our Deeper Song

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

Who’s in charge of your life? Are you the one making the decisions and taking the actions that are forming the framework that impacts your life? Or are you just along for the ride, letting things show up and then making your choices and letting it take you wherever it does?

We are in charge here. Everything that happens to us is of our own making – either because of what we believe is possible or what we believe we deserve. How our life unfolds depends on what choices we make and what actions we take. How proactive are you in creating your own life?

Even as circumstances seemed to be moving me in the direction of long-term care, I still had many, many choices to make about my attitude toward going, the choices I made about what I created in my new environment, what I wanted to experience and how I internally approached this major change in my life. Those beliefs, and expectations and choices are driving my decisions and my expectations.

You may think that you are stuck in a situation. You’re not, it’s simply where you find yourself and from where you get to move forward. If you don’t like where you are, turn the wheel, change directions, go faster or slower or get off the bus.

Your mental attitude towards change is cornerstone to how change evolves. If you are excited and willing to learn and see it as an adventure, it will be fun and fruitful. If you see it as a dead end, that’s exactly what it will be. Change your perspective, change your life experience.

As we age, our choices seem less broad. Notice I did not say limited. When we get creative, we can find new ways of doing some version of everything. And anything.

I do the Shaking Qigong movements seated in my chair because I don’t stand up very well. I do it several times a day and it is effective. We get to modify how we do certain things. But we still do them.

Approach your circumstances from a different angle. As my dry macular degeneration continues, it was a game changer for me to have a 21-inch monitor so I can work in large type. Sometimes we simply need to change the mechanics of how we do something. 

Change the situation. You may have outgrown a friend or that friend may take a different path and you choose to go forward. You may find new friends that inspire and motivate you to explore a new path.

Be open to change. Go exploring. Make new choices. Drive your life in the direction you want to go. Do not just go along for the ride. Be creative, adapt, and get busy designing your new life.

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I take charge of my life journey and make choices that take me in the direction I want to go 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Look carefully to see where you are. Simply allowing things to happen instead of making choices to go in a direction you want to go.
  • Go exploring.
  • Guide your own path. 
  • Make your own choices.

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Value Your Own Wisdom

Over the years we accumulate a wisdom that helps us make informed decisions.  Wisdom is required to make our daily choices. It accumulates with time and experience.  Pay attention to the suggestions the universe offers and see what ideas and plans and actions it suggests. Every experience adds to the depths of our wisdom and adds insights and guidance for our journey. 

Learn to recognize the voice and let it help guide your choices.

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Create Your Own Safe Haven

I have a suite mate here in Evergreen Long Term Care because we are both being covered by Medicare. Her television tastes run to old game shows and Turner classics and pawn shows. I watch a lot of news and now that my bluetooth headphones are hooked up to my computer, I’m on Pandora and will get on Spotify for music and podcasts.  I haven’t tried audiobooks yet as I’m a visual learner. I have some learning and adjusting to do. Be patient with yourself as you continue to change and adapt.  

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

Step Back And Observe

The more complicated something is, the harder it is to get distance on the evolution and thrust. The more complex the project, the greater the need to step back and observe. Take a deep breath, quiet your busy mind. Perhaps even go into nature to center yourself and bring your awareness to the natural unfolding that expresses itself in so many forms. When we return to considering our circumstances, we do it slowly, observing the overall picture more than the details, to see that we’re headed in the right direction. Then we adjust, we make corrections, we drop some things and expand others until our next step forward is clear and we are getting results we are looking for. The bigger the project, the more often you should step back and observe. If you are to gain perspective, you see the overview and the progress. See if you are still going in the direction you choose or if an entirely new choice has appeared.

Get The Help You Need

It is with great relief that I am surrounded by Health Care Professionals who are helping to find out what’s going on with my body and creating personalized plans to help me get better. Do not put off asking for the help you need, whether it’s a medical understanding or the positive shift you need to make sure you take charge of your belief system and find the professionals that work with your needs. 

How To Nurture Your Creative Energy?

My suite mate here at Evergreen was a potter. She loved to create, but since that art form is no longer available to her, she needs to find a substitute. How do you downsize creativity and keep it relevant? 

I am using drawing pencils to sketch my shamanic journeys. That helps me remember them when I review the drawings.

I used to play the piano. I used to sing in coral groups. Today I have my native flutes, my Celtic drum and kalimba thumb piano. How do you nurture your creative energy and use your imagination? Keep that creativity going.

How You Fill Your Day

I have an opportunity to re-examine how I fill my days.  Over at Ridgeview I know I was watching too much news, playing too much Spider Solitaire and watching reruns of Murder She Wrote until I could mouth the dialogue. These first two weeks at Evergreen have been filled with new faces and awesome help. Lots of help. Despite having the flow of professionals come in to cheer me on as a new member of the community, who listen and care about my well-being, I am once again faced with long days that I can fill as I choose. It is a clean slate on which I could write anything. Twice I have fallen asleep in my chair. I have yet to take a nap. And daylight savings mixed me up even more. 

A new environment and new opportunities to be explored and some choices to be made. 

How do you choose to fill a new situation? What criteria do you use? What preferences do you discard? 

I will begin with my objectives. 

My body: I’m looking out at a garden with paved walks and handrails, a gazebo and apparently places to grow things in the summertime. So even going to the door every day to breathe in the fresh air would be an activity of sorts. Not a particularly ambitious one but a distance to cover and a goal to achieve. Choose a goal that you will achieve and repeat it. 

I need to have a variety of objectives. Some physical, some mental, and of course my spiritual practice. 

Although I already spend a lot of time at the computer, I want to add a category called mental stimulation. It’s about learning. It will be a podcast. I have to figure out audiobooks. None of that is about moving my body.

This is an opportunity to change my pattern, to identify what no longer serves me. I’m going to begin by adding things to replace some of my less than stellar choices on how to use my time.  

Isn’t it interesting how we can maintain not particularly productive cycles. And sometimes we don’t even notice it.  

What makes you feel productive? What feeds your mind and what stimulates your soul path? Are you just filling your time or are you using your time wisely?

I might actually create a soft schedule to make certain that I alternate mental stimulation and physical stimulation. I have no trouble with the first one and am really pokey about the second level. And I like to be spontaneous.

How are you failing to meet your needs? It’s not that you need a schedule to follow but you could create a schedule of opportunity in which certain activities could be placed.

I have an 18-minute Qigong video from Robert Peng that I would like to learn. I’m starting a new class with Deng Ming-Dao that will give me work to do to expand my Qigong practice.  

Begin by choosing an area you want to establish. I wish I would do more Transcendental Meditation. Where do I put that? I want to expand my Qigong practice. Where do I want to put that in my day? Perhaps identify general times in your day to put one type of activity in order to build your daily practice for both your spiritual life and your physical well-being. First, see which part of your day you want to change and then begin to establish it in the vicinity of a general timeline.

7:30 – daily spiritual practice including Qigong 

8 Breakfast

8:30 -10 Open email, Write on newsletter

10-11 learn something. Listen to a podcast.

11 – News

12 Lunch

Keep it fluid. I’m still having a lot of interruptions so I have to be flexible with when I do things. Experiment and find a pattern you can maintain.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

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

Change Your Clock

In the US we changed our clocks recently to get rid of daylight savings time and return to regular time. That made me pause to think in what ways I needed to change my own clock, my own sense of timing, and make adjustments for the winter season. The days are gradually growing shorter which means I may wake up in the dark and eat my supper in the dark. The changing seasons is a good time to reflect on how you’re doing, what you are doing, and when you are doing it. It’s a good time to make changes. To add or subtract to your spiritual practice and your physical practice. 

Do you have a goal? Since I am in a new environment my goal is to take advantage of all the physical help and establish a routine of healing. Physical therapy is helping a lot. But I’m also eating better. And the things that are hard for me to do are now being done for me. There will come a time when I will not have quite so many people coming to introduce themselves to me and tell me what their area of expertise is for my well-being.

I get to look at how I spend my time. The choices I make. The choices I don’t make. I am in the process of establishing a new rhythm that impacts when I get up (early) when I eat (on schedule), and how I spend my time (on the computer). I have a lot of new patterns to develop and establish. Because there are so many people to help me do everything, I have to create my own physical routine to keep me moving along. 

How are you adapting to the change in seasons? What new plans do you have? What do you want to explore? It’s time to change your clock and create the patterns you want to establish in your life. 

Do Your Thing

I’ve been here 10 days and I have not yet played my flute for my spiritual practice. Part of it is that with arthritis in my fingers, sometimes I don’t play very well. And the door to the hallway is always open and this is the conservative Midwest. So an old woman playing a native flute is an anomaly.

I will do it. Because it’s important to me but this is a conservative population and I have already gone very, very far afield simply because of my eclectic being-ness. I will continue being me, but I may break it to them gently.

Do you simply let the chips fall where they may? It’s important to fully express yourself in all areas of your life.

===THE CHARGING STATION ===

Working As Healers

I knew I was to have a new role before I moved but I am surprised at what it is. Evergreen is full of social workers who are deeply in service. I know my role is to help them expand their holistic inquiry if it calls to them. I am a resource and an encourager.

I had been here about a week when I realized that my new role is about supporting these incredibly kind spiritual people who are in deep service. I decided to make my space a charging station so whoever comes in receives positive, supportive, loving energy. And I will tell you there’s a huge flow of people in and out of this room.  And all of them are motivated by a huge desire to be in service.

On Zoom I have gathered together a group of dear friends. I call us The Rainbow Weavers. We meet monthly on Zoom. This month I have asked for their help in creating my Holistic Charging Station.  I still have quite a few crystals left but I have chosen a Himalayan Salt Lamp with a forest scene that sits on my dresser and it’s on all the time. There are chunks of orange salt rocks surrounding the light and at our next meeting we are going to take the rocks from the Himalayan Salt Lamp and imbue each of them with a quality that will serve those who are in deep service here. That way the lamp is always sitting on the dresser putting out loving, supportive energy to whomever comes by. Based on what we discover I will share some ideas on how you can create a charging station for yourself or your family in your home or your office.

Bo gave me a shower today. He put me in a wheelchair to take me to the shower room and help me take a shower. It turns out he is one of my cornerstone people. He asked me about my flutes and wanted to know more about my holistic work. He will share that with like-minded people and the connectedness will expand. Don’t you love it when the universe opens the door so wide you have no choice but to skip merrily through. I love it. I have had several of the people who work here tell me they are glad I’m here. I am too. 

===GUIDANCE FROM OUR COSMIC COUNSELORS ===

Listen Beyond the Voice Within 

My Journey To The Cosmic Counselors: Talk to me about this new role that is opening up.

Once again I am in my Secret Garden but this time, I have crossed the reflecting pool and I’m sitting in the center of the circle surrounded by the three Cosmic Counselors that have shown themselves to me thus far. 

You are moving into a very deep place of service. When people focus on helping others, the entire dynamic changes. Create your Charging Station and listen to see how you can teach others to do that. You will touch many lives as you continue to expand in your own life and others will see it. And want to emanate it. There are many forms of service and teaching is one of them. Be a light. Be a teaching light. Show others the open path.

I sit on the bench on the other side of the reflecting pool and The Director is there. “A teacher of light ,” I say. “Yes,” he says, “a teacher of light.” 

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Helping Professions

The majority of people in this long-term care facility are social workers. They are very kind, caring people. One young man said he was in the field because his mother was a social worker and he had gone to work with her at times. 

As a social worker you can pick the population with whom you want to work. It could be a particular group or a particular type of problem. The jobs here range from nursing to dietitian to cook, to caregivers for us on many levels, to people doing housekeeping and maintaining the building, and the two girls who do laundry for the entire complex. Noble indeed. And probably more I don’t even know. The shifts are long but the people sure are kind.

Patricia is my life coach. She is my go-to person to answer questions and coordinate everything I do and the care I receive. The physical therapy room has practitioners of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.  My favorite is the recumbent bike –  it recently told me her name is Shirley. This week Sarah my PT person watched me get in and out of bed.  The bed is an agile contortionist, the head and foot of the bed go up and down separately with the push of a button and I use that feature as leverage for getting in and out of the bed.  It’s just taken me some time to figure it out but I have a good system now.

There is a standing menu and a daily menu and I can have a snack when I want. The emphasis is that this is our home. People here bring our food, make our beds, and help with anything physical we need. All supplies are provided. We can go to a dining room or eat in our rooms. My life coach who is responsible for overseeing my cara00 also labeled every piece of clothing I brought in because the laundry is done in a central location so without a name tag, they can’t return it to you.

These are very kind, caring people and of course have chosen a profession of caring for others. I am surrounded by deeply dedicated, supportive people in deep service. It is a good place to be. 

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

How Do You Know When You Need A Major Change?

Change comes in all sizes. Sometimes a small change makes a big difference. And sometimes a big change is difficult to do. How do you put change in perspective?

I kept getting nudges where I was living. The first was that I could no longer do the walk back-and-forth to do my own laundry. It was hard to get things off the floor. Then it was hard to move the trash out on the walker. Things just got harder and harder as I refused to take action because of them. 

It can be a gradual and subtle diminishing of power when you continue to make small compromises one on top of the other.  And if you know you have to downsize, that’s a whole challenge within itself.

Play attention to the nudges the universe gives you and begin to look at your options for change.  They may open new doors. Don’t be afraid of big change. Consider it an adventure as well as an opportunity. 

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

How to Open Space for Change

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

===CARA’S CORNER===

Our Future

I wrote this knowing that the balance of power in the Senate and House have not yet been decided after the US election. It turns out that many people did understand how much is still at stake in this country. Women in particular made themselves heard. It seems like the women and some inclusive men are on one side and a big portion of old men are on the other. That is the Divine Feminine continuing to unfold and gain strength and power in the world. 

How and when will we regain our awareness of our oneness? Is it a generational thing? Why cannot we each take action for the highest good of all? Why are we fighting to have the rules support only our own way of thinking? We must learn how to live in an inclusive and compassionate way. 

So much of this seems wrapped up in the concept of self, not the whole, the collective well-being.  There is no honoring of different viewpoints to see them as valuable and informative, and give them space to exist. Our future is in our hands and we must make our choices wisely and embrace the wholeness of who we are – One Energy.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Wholeness

I am a ripple in the river of life. I am the curve of the rainbow. I am the song of a bird. I am the laughter of a child. I am wholeness.

I am a ripple in the river of life. I am the curve of the rainbow. I am the song of a bird. I am the laughter of a child. I am wholeness. I must live with an ever-present awareness of my interconnectedness with all things and always choose for the greater good of all.

I am a ripple in the river of life. I am the curve of the rainbow. I am the song of a bird. I am the laughter of a child. I am wholeness. I must live with an ever-present awareness of my interconnectedness with all things and always choose for the greater good of all. We are all participants in the Web of Life and must think accordingly. We are One.

– Cara Lumen, November 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.

Please forward this newsletter to a friend and suggest they
Join the Deeper Song Community

Past Issues of this newsletter are being curated on my site on a page called Insights.

Our Global Deeper Song Community

Our Deeper Song Community extends throughout the planet. Welcome new Deeper Song Explorers. I’d love to hear of your experiences –  caralumen@gmail.com or let’s discuss on the Deeper Song Explorers!

Subscribe to this weekly Deeper Song Newsletter at www.deepersong.com

My Books

The Seedling

By

The Seedling

Living Our Deeper Song

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

I was sitting at the edge of a sandpile in Central Park in New York City while my granddaughter, Kimberly, played on the slide. I looked down and at the edge of the sandpile was a very straight, very green, very healthy and very small 4-inch seedling. I looked up at its parent and saw an exceedingly tall tree proudly looking down on this tenacious seedling. It was a very brave seedling. But it had chosen the wrong place to grow. It would not be allowed to stay there very long. I greatly admired its tenacity and its beauty. My granddaughter, who was four had just transplanted with a major change into my custody even though I was in my 50s. Her mother was not capable of taking care of her. It was a good move for her to change her environment. It was in fact a very major transplant for her. She now had room and encouragement to grow.

Here’s the point. We get to choose where we plant ourselves. Perhaps not as young children, although I believe we agreed to that particular set of parents and circumstances before we came in. But if we, once mature, find ourselves in an unhealthy environment, we owe it to ourselves to change where we are planted. That could mean beginning or ending a relationship, it could be changing jobs, it could mean moving, it could mean learning a new skill or making new choices in your life. What do you need to change about your environment that will assure you of healthy growth?  

I have made several cross-country moves in my lifetime and I knew in an instant that I was to do them. In an instant, I knew it was time to move from Kansas City to New York City. 13 years later, I knew in an instant that it was time to move from New York City to the San Francisco area of California. 17 years later, I suddenly knew it was time to move to Kansas City so I could be close to my daughter as I age. And recently, I suddenly knew that I needed to move into long term care.

Do you trust your instinct, your intuition, when it comes to major decisions? Are you able to reach your full potential where you are now? Where would you fare better? Will you make that change?

Our world is suggesting we embrace all manner of change in order for it to survive and for us to heal ourselves. We must be flexible and creative and experimental about where and how we choose to live in this chaotic evolving environment. We must continue visioning a positive and inclusive and self-healing planet.

What changes do you need to make and will you make them? If you need a new place to grow, go plant yourself there. We have more work to do.

Be a spot of ground where nothing is growing,
where something might be planted,
a seed, possibly, from the Absolute.

-Rumi 

I’d like to think I am a seed, spreading awareness.    – Kahlil Gibran

He is planted in his own integrity, and there he stands, gnarled and knotted, perfectly at ease with himself, his roots deep in truth, his branches held up to let the light in.  

-Stephen Mitchell, Second Book of Tao

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I look closely at my environment to see if there is a need to change. Then I respond to what I discover.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Look closely at where you are planted and see if it’s the best place for you at this point in time. It may be a job, a relationship or a location change. These times are asking for new growth and commitment from us. Are you planted in the right environment?

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Incubate Your Ideas

All things need time to grow, to mature, to reach fruition. And that includes ideas.

For me, what evolves begins with a nudge that I receive. It often comes as a single core concept that I am drawn to and I pause to examine it for myself first in writing.  The writing helps clarify and anchor it for me. 

It’s a little like talking to myself in order to discover new abilities and potentials.

An important part of incubation is to try out your ideas in different scenarios and different forms. And then give yourself time to reflect on the possibilities that emerged.

You can try different versions, different approaches, and different processes to see what and how you want to bring your idea into manifestation. You can actually try on different versions in your imagination and see where they take you.  Go exploring, look at it from different angles and see where it takes you.

Allow yourself to end up in an entirely unexpected place. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Life Is What You Make Of It 

Here in long term care, some seniors sit and watch television – all Game shows and Turner Classics. But there is a man who sings and leads the karaoke sessions. I also saw two men in wheelchairs going down the hall and one said “If you hold onto the railing, you can go faster.” 

Life is what you make it. Are you living your life in the most productive manner? Are you achieving the goals you set for yourself? And are they good goals? Productive goals? Impactful goals? Life is what you make of it. How are you doing?

The First Step

“A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step”
– Lao Tau

Just begin. Take a step and look around at the new views you have just acquired. New opportunities appear with every new view. Keep exploring. 

This week Occupational Therapy removed the holders for feet from my wheelchair to make me use my feet to move forward, which is a really good exercise. Later that day I was taken down to get a shower and needed to use my feet and the railing along the wall to move forward. There were two young high school girls, Katie and Emily, who are in training and we had a wonderful conversation about everything from my crystal to my flutes and rattles that I have in an altar shelf.  It was great fun to reach out to connect with several generations below me too. When they left, they thanked me for the conversation and I enthusiastically thanked them back.

The bed here is magical in that the top and bottom move up and down separately and the whole thing moves up and down with the press of a button. Occupational therapist Kristy showed me how to get in and out of bed. My previous version has been to throw myself backward into bed and hope the legs followed. Hers was similar but there was a purposeful approach to it which I can now emulate. 

And I love their version of a reclining bicycle which of course is a big machine with pedals and arm movers and I really love how it is freeing up my body.

The Midwest is a very kind part of the world and because they are all social workers who want to help people, it is a lovely environment. I have three extremely tall windows looking out over a Gazebo and a gardening area and I have a bird feeder outside my window. I can watch the sun rise here and I watched the sun set across the street where I moved from.  I wonder if that’s an omen.

My Life Coach Patricia said she had had fearful  dreams and I sent her a link to my podcast  The Transformative Sphere and she tried it and it worked for her.  She forwarded the link to her boss who was excited to explore my website. I knew I had a new path unfolding but I never dreamed it would be here.  You just never know where you will be called into service.  My role is to support these kind people on their deep path of service.                       

===OUTER WORK==

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

What It Means to Be in Service

I get help from a physical therapist, occupational therapist, doctor, dietitian, nurseand I actually had my haircut for the first time in over a year because I didn’t have access to one. She cut off 5 inches. I’m having all sorts of intake experiences. I know it will slow down. Meanwhile I am getting medical help I could not get to because I can no longer get in the car. All my needs are taken care of through Medicaid. I get $62 a month. But they supply everything. This is long term care. The willingness of the staff to help is touching. There is a shortage of service individuals which is going to be hard as the boomers age and need this type of care. Willingness is the corner stone of their service.

We are in service in many ways. Some ways seen so small as to be unnoticeable to others. All acts of kindness have an impact. Up your game and reach out to more people in service.

Where Do You Find A Teacher?

You choose a teacher because they provide an answer to questions you have at this moment in time. You may follow that teacher for a long time or it may be a one-time experience. 

I have recently begun to turn to my teachers of the past. I’m rereading some of their poetry and books. Those words will have a different meaning for me now because I have matured and gained insight and wisdom. The messages will go deeper and resonate more broadly. I attend a lot of free on-line summits and often find wisdom and sometimes teachers I want to experience.

Know when you are on topic. For instance, I’m tempted to take a new Qigong class and I must stop and think about how much I’ve already studied, how much work I need to do to really absorb that into my spiritual practice. Go exploring to put yourself in a position to learn something new. 

It’s also important to be able to know when a certain topic is not what you are to explore right now. I know how to do shamanic journeys and I would like to do those daily again. Look closely at how you spend your time and see what you need right now. Teachers are everywhere. It may be a moment with one of your friends, a statement on the television, or maybe in more formal settings, a podcast or an actual class. Go exploring and see what teachers call to you.

A Life Lesson From A Dramatic Change

I’m on my sixth day without watching television because my television does not work. My daughter and son-in-law are buying me a new one which is not here yet. Meanwhile I have not listened to one piece of news nor have I bothered to go look for it online. What a huge difference that is making. Partially because it’s scary out there. We have a huge election coming up which has the demise of our US democracy at stake. I need to change my focus and particularly my concept of how I spend my time. 

My daughter helped me learn how to use my Bluetooth headphones with Spotify. There is an outstanding classical station and I am humming and singing and loving every minute of it. I want to notice how my personal vibration changes with this withdrawal from dramatic daily news. I also have not played the game Spider Solitaire in seven days. Mainly because I can’t figure out where to put my tablet. But also because that was one of those things I did while I watching the news. 

Sometimes we take vacations to rest and restore and examine our habits and modify them or choose new ones. This is not a vacation, it’s a permanent life change, but it is a perfect opportunity for me to examine the choices I continue to make and have made. I have a feeling that this change from mindless habits to conscious choices will make a huge difference in my life. 

What are you doing too much of? What would you like to do more of? How will you rearrange your choices to accommodate that? 

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

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

Build A Stable Spiritual Practice

A major goal for us in this time of turmoil is to build a stable place within where we can put our roots deep into a spiritual practice that helps us find balance and insight and the right action we make through all the changes we are experiencing.

There are many ways to communicate with and experience the unseen realm where we can receive the guidance we seek. When we listen, we are shown how to live a centered, focused, compassionate life. We must create and explore a path of positive change for ourselves and for the collective. You may choose ceremony, you may choose meditation, you might find yourself writing down ideas – whatever method works that brings you a deeper understanding of how we can work to facilitate positive change. Our meditation practice, our ceremonies, our beliefs and expectations bring us a deeper connection with the unseen world and the guidance that it offers. 

Be aware of what your mind is focusing on. Look at your choices and see which ones have become less than positive for you and stop doing those. 

We are part of nature and nature is always changing and unfolding. It is expanding and contracting. Notice how your life is changing and evolving and make conscious choices to explore your path. 

Notice the dimension of life where you have chosen to spend the most time and move from the 3-D world into the spiritual realms using your imagination and insights to listen to the guiding nudges of the universe. 

We can choose the dimension we live in – fear and suffering or positive expectation. We build that by deepening our awareness of ourselves as a natural part of the unfolding process. We can design our own inner landscape, plant in it what we choose and weed out what we do not want. As we deepen our inner spiritual awareness, the landscape on the physical plane will change to a more positive expression. 

Use your words and thoughts to create your reality. Watch the vibration and frequency of the emotional energy you choose to share.  Ask your helping spirits to show you how to use frequencies to create an interesting landscape that both comforts and elevates your expectations by the thought you think in the words you use. 

===GUIDANCE FROM OUR COSMIC COUNSELORS ===

Listen Beyond the Voice Within 

How To Respond To Turmoil

I have not had a TV for a full week. I came here with my old one which didn’t work here because it’s on satellite not cable. That whole week without news. When I began to see how our world is changing, I went to the Cosmic Counselors for guidance. “What are our next steps? What is our role in this unfolding shift?”

I go to my Sacred Garden. The Cosmic Counselors are once again moving in a circle around the planet which is slowly turning within their sacred circle. “It is unfolding,” says a beautiful butterfly that is flying around the planet in a counter clockwise circle. “For those of you who are aware, you must touch hearts and help to expand the vibration across the cosmic consciousness so others can see it. You can do that with your mind and your intention. And then you listen, listen for guidance for the next step. The next step is fluid and graceful and very creative. It unfolds as you explore your imagination. Give it free rein.  You can discover some of it with obvious choices that you have to make. Look for the unformed energy waiting for direction.  Listen to the signs. Look at the spaces. Be prepared for a new adventure. Hold High  Watch for your own continued balance and the new choices that are making themselves known. Keep your heart focused and expect the best to unfold for the highest good for all. That is your part of it.”

The Director sits beside me on the bench. “Unfolding. Look for your role and trust”.

When I return to my home space, I realize my role continues to be to expect the vibration, to see it and experience it and emanate it. We are Light Beings and we are to show others the higher path.

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Listen With Your Heart

Next time you have a conversation, listen with your heart. Listen beyond the words to the core need or emotion and what is not being said in the moment. 

When you listen with openhearted silence, you see beyond the words. You move into the core emotions and needs and beliefs that are being expressed. And you can respond to their core need. When we listen with our hearts, it lets us connect to others on a soul level, taking us beyond mere words into the realm of truest and more honest communication. Use your heart center to listen and see what new dimensions of understanding appear.

Communicate From Your Heart 

Years ago, Chris Brogan interviewed me. I have no idea how he came to choose me and I was so new to the Internet that I could barely get onto Skype. I have followed him in his newsletter ever since. He is now an executive and he recently wrote this in his newsletter which I think is a very powerful consciousness to have, particularly if you are in a position of leadership. 

“An Executive Approach to Business (And Life)

“Before You Communicate – I wrote the next idea first, then added this. Before you reach out to anyone in any part of life, ask yourself the following few questions:

  • How can I co-create the best experience with this interaction?
  • What do I need or want to convey?
  • How do I want this person to receive it?
  • How can I say this briefly? (Remove the garbage, backstory, etc)
  • Does this serve everyone well?

If more people did this step before EVERY communication in ALL parts of their life, verbal or written or otherwise, life would be much more magical!””

=== DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===

The Web of Life

“Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” – Chief Seattle

We must be conscious of our role in the universe and keep it in mind as we live our life and make our choices. Everything you do impacts the web which in turn will impact us and how we live our lives, focus our intention, and encourage others to do the same. 

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

How Vibration Heals

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

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

Free Global Joy Summit, Nov. 13 – 16 

I love to attend free Summits. They teach you about the topic and it is a good place to find a new teacher. Here’s one I’m going to attend this week: Join the Global Joy Summit, Nov. 13 – 16 and be inspired by the contagious Joy and timely message of the Dalai Lama and the late, great Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and learn from 30+ renowned joy scientists, spiritual teachers, changemakers, and artists.

Register now for this FREE event >>

The lived experiences of these two global icons, and self described “mischievous brothers,” serve as a profound example of the power of Joy in the face of adversity.  They teach us that Joy is an essential key to meeting the many ordinary and profound challenges we now face, individually and collectively.

The summit will include a free screening of Mission: JOY — the laugh-out-loud funny documentary that shares the magical friendship, practical wisdom, and historic final in-person meeting of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu — as well as inspiring and practical sessions with 30+ speakers.

The summit November 13-16, will explore:

●     Practices to transform stress, anxiety, grief, depression, despair, isolation, challenging emotions, and difficulty

●     Practical tools to cultivate well-being, connection, love, compassion, and Joy

●     The relationship between Joy and sorrow (they’re not opposites)

●     Joy as a “clean fuel” to power transformative action

●     Ubuntu, Interconnection, and Compassion as essential keys to healing our planet and creating a good future

●     A special keynote with His Holiness the Dalai Lama

●     Live interactive workshops and musical performances

More than ever, the world needs each of us to tap into the innate love, compassion, and Joy that the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu remind us are at the core of our beings. Come for 1 session or all 20+ and join the celebration and exploration. Register now for this FREE event >>

===REFLECTIONS===

Creative Adjustment

For all my apprehension about moving across the street from where I’ve been living for 13 years, it has all gone very smoothly. And I’m exactly where I am meant to be. Much of what I anticipated did not unfold. There’s more space in my space than I expected. And I’ve never had this much help in my entire life from kind, thoughtful, willing people. When you need to make a major change be flexible, experiment, and expect the best.

===CARA’S CORNER===

Feeling Cared For

I have moved into Evergreen and I’ve never felt so cared for in my life. The first few days were very busy with everyone figuring out their role in my well-being. I will receive Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, access to a medical doctor. And I got my first haircut in 14 months. She took off 5 inches! I’m back to the real me. I’ve had a bath in the Jacuzzi and I will see the doctor here and come under her care. I get to sit beside a window using my computer again, and there is a bird feeder right outside my window. It turns out this is long-term care, not assisted living. But it is the right place for me.  It seemed like there were millions of people to come offer different types of services and all of them are wearing Covid masks so it’s hard to recognize let alone remember them all. They can help you with everything. I am eating better than I ever have, even though I’m the only vegetarian in this entire population, although some of the staff are vegetarian. I get lots of vegetables in a variety that I could not have managed as a single person buying groceries for myself. I get physical therapy. I love their version of a recumbent bike and in three days it’s making a difference. Having both physical and professional help makes a huge difference in how I can take care of myself. 

Patricia, the Life Coach Manager of my wing said her mother lived to be 113. So maybe my 13-year-old cycles of change will hold. Golly gee.

My TV was too old to work here which is on satellite instead of cable so I have been without the news for seven days which is probably a good thing. But I will modify my news watching.  My daughter and her husband are very generously going to buy me a new television with a voice remote.

I voted this week with the help of one of the section managers. That’s one of the things I can do on the physical plane to help to heal the planet.

So here I go on my new adventure.

If you find it’s time for you to receive more help, go exploring and find a place that you can call home for the next phase of your life. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

A new cycle begins. A cycle of change, a cycle of evolution, a cycle of discovery. 

A new cycle begins. A cycle of change, a cycle of evolution, a cycle of discovery. I change my thinking, I change my actions, and I listen to and look for the myriad of nudges and insights the universe gives me. 

A new cycle begins. A cycle of change, a cycle of evolution, a cycle of discovery. I change my thinking, I change my actions, and I listen to and look for the myriad of nudges and insights the universe gives me. I trust the unfolding. All is well in my world. 

– Cara Lumen, October 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.

Please forward this newsletter to a friend and suggest they
Join the Deeper Song Community

Past Issues of this newsletter are being curated on my site on a page called Insights.

Our Global Deeper Song Community

Our Deeper Song Community extends throughout the planet. Welcome new Deeper Song Explorers. I’d love to hear of your experiences –  caralumen@gmail.com or let’s discuss on the Deeper Song Explorers!

Subscribe to this weekly Deeper Song Newsletter at www.deepersong.com

My Books

Seekers and Change Makers

By

Seekers and Change Makers

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe

(“Ah-Shay”)

The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

We are both seekers and change makers and we have work to do. What format that work will take will vary with each of us as individuals but the goal is the same. The purpose is to learn to work from an ever-increasing awareness of our innately high vibration and help others recognize that higher vibration in themselves so that collectively we can help heal the planet and its inhabitants. You know. Simple stuff.

How we do that is an individual choice. Some of us may actively teach. Some of us may simply live our lives as a strong example that others see and emanate. We might write about it – a poem, a song, a book, a podcast. We might just live it so strongly that others see it in us and recognize it in themselves.

Our individual expression as a seeker and change maker is just that, individual. It will be based on our gifts and our inner calling. How we express it will be up to us to determine with our choices, our enthusiasm and our actions.

Where are you being called? What are you being asked to do? And are you doing it?

This new path I’m on has come to me organically. Partially as bits and pieces of a concept that called to me so strongly that I have found a new path opening to me. And I am following it. I’m at the beginning of it. It began with the reminder from Michael Meade that nature is always about evolution. That helped me put into perspective the chaotic change that is going on in our planet. This is a cycle of nature. A cycle of growth. Evolution – an organic cycle of change. And that means releasing, restoring, repurposing, and a whole lot of other steps that go into recreating a new earth.

My role is still unfolding but I’m getting glimmers. What your role is will also be made known to you – perhaps with a bump on the head or a nudge so subtle that you almost miss it. We are seekers on a path that grows more inclusive and esoteric and we are change makers when we put that new knowledge to work and share it with others.

Be prepared for a change. Be aware of the nudges and insights and opportunities that the universe gives you and act on them with thoughtfulness and wisdom and high intention. Let’s go change the world.

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I explore new paths with enthusiasm and curiosity. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Identify the problem that you want to work with right now.
  • Do some research about what is being discovered about that particular direction.
  • Find a path that calls to you and explore it more deeply.
  • How are you to help change the world?

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Gratitude

I want to establish a gratitude practice. Not just a few acknowledgments at the end of the day but a little more than that – a bit of a ceremony in which I look back and both acknowledge and accept the gifts I have been given. That will include insights, new ideas, new experiences and deepening awareness. What a lovely thing to do.

I think I’m going to make up a little song to go with it. I might use a rattle or a drum. But I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a song of gratitude.  I may use the sunset as a period of gratitude. How will you acknowledge the gifts of your day? Add it to your spiritual practice.

Listen Within and Trust

I know where this nudge came from. I listened to a podcast on the Akashic records and came away with a willingness to listen more closely to my inner voice and to trust what messages I perceive.

This is a more conscious effort to listen than I have done for a while. Opening myself up, asking a question, interpreting what I am given. I used to journey every day and I have stopped doing that, so I think it’s time to add that practice back into my life.

There is a major change taking place. A deepening of my work. An expanding of my adventure. I let go of perceived notions and specific ideas that I may have been holding, and sit in open acceptance of the messages and guidance that are available to me when I open myself to hear. Here we go adventuring. Again. Or more. However it turns out. Listen to your inner voice and trust what you hear.

A Practice to Open Up to Guidance from the Unseen World 

As I prepare to open myself to a new path, I have had several ideas that came immediately to mind. I’m going to start listening to the Living Myth podcast of Michael Meade because I think he will open me up to new possibilities. He will be a springboard for my own adventures. It occurs to me to reread some of the books that inspired me, in particular the Tao de Ching Stephen Mitchell translation but other ones come to mind. I will ask my guides for a specific way to journey to get insights for this unfolding new role I am to take.

In my journeys I already have established the Indigo Portal in which there is a library. Perhaps that’s where I begin.

I am exploring ways to listen to guidance from my deepest self so that I can elevate what I learn and what I share. As I share what I explore, perhaps you will find your own version of a new way to explore and receive guidance. Let’s go explore together and learn to listen more deeply.

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Adjustment Periods

It takes time to adjust to change. It takes time to make a decision. It takes time to explore the options. And once the decision is made, there’s a whole process of letting go in order to move on. You can’t rush any of them but you can support their smooth unfolding.

It felt like a sudden decision for me to move into assisted living even though all the signs were there that I would continue to evolve. I have had to adjust to giving away a lot of stuff. I’ve had to adjust to how to fit myself into the much smaller space. I keep releasing possessions and expectations and even possibilities. It is a huge period of adjustment and sometimes it has been less than easy.

Notice when you are in a cycle of change. Be aware of what is being offered to you and be aware of what you must release in order to accept it. Do that mindfully, but also keep in mind the ultimate objective.

Change always comes with a period of adjustment. It is a time when you explore. It is a time when you question both beliefs and expectations. And it is a time of continual exploration of the gifts and nudges and surprises the universe provides. Set your goals, yes, but be flexible about what shows up and the timing of that unfolding.

Be open. Be flexible. And adjust.

Belief In Self-Healing

Belief in the concept of being able to self-heal is prevalent in many cultures. There are many holistic approaches to self-healing – Ayurvedic, Qigong, Tai Chi, Yoga, meditation, acupressure, flower essences, reiki and shamanic journeys are some examples. I have been studying Qigong as one of the approaches I use.

Recently in Robert Peng’s class on The Shift Network, he taught us that all of the meridians in the body come across the top of the head so patting the top of your head for four or five minutes every day stimulates all your meridians. That’s a pretty easy start to self-healing. You can use your fingernails to simulate the top of your head too, depending on how you want your hair to look when you get through…

I know what I need to do to take care of my body. I need to feed it, to rest it and move it. Even then, sometimes it resists wholeness. Explore the various holistic healing techniques, establish one as your own personalized self-healing practice. Take charge and do the work.

An Easy Qigong Sequence

Here is a lovely 18 minute Qigong video with Robert Penn with whom I just studied. Easy to do and very powerful. Enjoy.

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

Renew Intentions

Periodically we have to sit down and give ourselves a good talking to. We have to look closely at what we’re doing and what we’re not doing and set some new intentions. When I make this move to assisted living, my space will be small and I will need to get out and walk the halls in order to get any kind of exercise at all. Depending on where my apartment is, I may go find a window in one of the big rooms they have and do my Qigong practice. If the weather is nice perhaps I could even step outside to do it. That makes me walk to and from and I must make it a practice to move with mindful posture and movement. I need to set other intentions around healing my body.

I will set intentions to listen to at least three podcasts a week. I want to work with the quotes that I’ve selected. They may inspire me to take some action or do some writing. That will unfold. What new intentions will you set each day and how will you make them happen?

Let Go And Move On

Are you good at quitting? Do you know when it’s time to let go and move on? It’s important to know when it is time to change directions or correct a course. We go exploring, that’s natural. But then we get to evaluate what we discover, to see if it is what we want to do, if it’s taking us in the right direction, and what action we should take about continuing or discontinuing that particular path.

The decision to quit or move forward happens many times during our day. But I’m really thinking about the big commitments we made and how and when we knew it was time to change, to let go and move on from the choices we had made.

The three times I have moved cross country in my life, I knew instantaneously that it was what I needed to do. They were huge moves that meant giving up all I had going on and go to a new place with unknown opportunities and challenges. But in an instant, I knew it was time to move on.

What do you need to quit? What old path do you need to leave behind and what new one is calling to you? Be flexible. Be curious. And listen to the voice within. Know when it is time to quit and move on. Then do it.

Random Acts of Kindness

I don’t get to do this very much anymore. I am more of a receiver of acts of kindness than I am the giver of acts of kindness partially because of my aging physical process. But I get to look at that. Because whatever shape I’m in, there is a way that I can offer a random act of kindness.

Give that some thought. I can write a thank you note to someone who has been supportive. When I see someone doing an act of kindness for someone else, I can acknowledge them. Then I get stuck. Until I realize that I don’t have to be present to offer a random act of kindness. I could write a note. I can make a phone call. But it does seem like a random act of kindness wants to go directly to the person you intend it for rather than come to them in a roundabout way.

However, if I saw a need, I might tell them of someone else who can help them and connect the two. Perhaps I have learned something that I can share with someone else that will help them.

I have a strong urge to teach the Shaking Qigong movement to anyone who will listen because whatever shape you’re in, you can do it.

Keep on the lookout for the random acts of kindness that come your way and also keep looking for the way you can pass random acts of kindness forward.

Learning Online

There are so many ways to learn online that there is no excuse for not exploring whatever calls to you. I like the free summits that various groups give on a specific topic because I often find people there that I want to follow or learn from.

Where do you find your teachers? How do you find them? Stay open to the unexpected taps on the shoulder that offer you new teachers on the path you want to explore. Just listen to your inner nudges and go exploring online. Your next teacher will find you and call loudly enough for you to hear.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

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

Leave Some Emptiness In Your Day

It is important to leave some emptiness in our day. We need to pause to examine what we have chosen several times during the day. We can sit quietly and inwardly explore how we are feeling and where we are. It is from this inwardly centered focus that we choose our next step.

You might use these contemplating inquiring moments to look out the window at nature and change your rhythm and the focus of your thoughts. You might use these pauses to go within and talk to your body and do some gentle stretching, breathing, centering moves to quiet your mind.

You might just sit in stillness and focus on your breath until you can move deep within to listen to your heart. Only then do you take your next step.

I have not yet established these thoughtful pauses throughout my day, but I want to. I might find various signals to help me go within to observe and feel where I am and where I want to go next. There is a certain organic flow through my day but what I need to add, what I want to add, are moments of emptiness in which I go within and empty my mind and give myself time and space to bring in the next step I may or may not choose to do. I will open myself to inner guidance and deeper insights.

Where will you place moments of contemplative emptiness in your day? Experiment but find a place to do it every few hours.

I Went To The Woods Because I Wanted To Live Deliberately

What did Thoreau mean to “live deliberately”? How does one do that? Mindfulness comes to mind. Thoughtful action. Taking time to be aware. Listening to your inner voice. How would you set about living your life more deliberately?

For me it means being aware of my choices and making them more conscious, more relevant and impactful. It means taking time to be with nature whether it’s watching the sunset or lying in the grass, or simply smelling the fresh air coming through the window. Create a conscious connection with nature. Living deliberately means being totally present when around other people to feel and sense beyond their words to their spiritual self, and respond to that. For me, living deliberately means taking care of myself – this body I’ve been given, these gifts I have been given to share. I give conscious thought to the choices I make around my gifts.

Here’s Thoreau:

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rest all that was not life. And not, when I came to die, discover I had not lived.”  -Henry Thoreau.

===DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===

Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same. Why do you weep? The source is within you. And this whole world is springing up from it.  – Jalaluddin Rumi

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

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===CARA’S CORNER===

I Did It!

I made my move into assisted living. I got to ride in a wheelchair in the back of a van which is kind of fun. There are extremely kind people in service here but it’s going to take some adjusting as do most new things.

My new apartment number is 104. Which adds up to five. My previous apartment number 1131 which adds up to five. I looked up the number five.

Number 5 is related to personal freedom and independence, individualism, adaptability, major life changes, and life lessons learned through experience. Number 5 also symbolizes motivation and determination, adventure, courage, imagination, and making positive choices.

I moved 10/25/22 = 3.The number 3 has always held powerful symbolism. Think about good things coming in 3s, the birth-life-death cycle, the mind-body-soul connection, the 3 acts of a typical story. Wherever the number 3 shows up in your life, it’s generally an omen of creativity, communication, optimism, and curiosity!

This move has more significance than I had imagined.

In the few days I’ve been here, I have seen a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a dietitian, and had a Jacuzzi bath! Oh yes, and I had a haircut and cut off 5 inches of my hair since I have not had a haircut for a year and a half. I am eating better than I have in years because it’s hard to feed one person. And my desk gets to sit beside three big floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over a lovely garden. Everyone is very helpful. I’ve been fitted with my very own wheelchair to get to and from the haircut and a doctor appointment which is about a year overdue. They measured me for the wheelchair… my space gets very full of people sometimes. That will stop as I figure out what I need next. I love the opportunity to get some physical therapy to teach me to take care of these physical changes. I had the greatest salad I’ve had in years, because it has so many different things in it which you can’t do when you’re a single person feeding only yourself.  

So this new adventure has begun. My life has been in more or less 14-year cycles, and I lived at this last place for 13 years. But at 90 I thought that might change until the Director of my wing said her mother had lived to 112. I get to rethink that one.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Accepting Help

The help I need has appeared as I move into this new phase.

The help I need has appeared as I move into this new phase. Change is happening with welcomed support.

The help I need has appeared as I move into this new phase. Change is happening with welcomed support. I will do my part. All is well in my world.

Cara Lumen, October 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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