Cara Lumen | Sing a Deeper Song

Sing a Deeper Song

Inspiration

Live in the Nowhere That You Came From

By

Nowherer

“Live in the nowhere that you came from, even though you have an address here.” So says the poet Rumi, and it made me wonder. What do I think “nowhere” looks and feels like? How will I know if that’s where I am? You know, minor philosophical questions like that…

What do you believe?

There are many versions floating around of where we came from and where we’re going when we die. They all come from the limitations of our human-ness. We only know what we can see and feel and hear with our bodies. The rest is a rather big mystery.

The image that appeals to me about death is that of a vase surrounded by “air” and “space”. When the vase breaks, the “space” is still there. The whatever-it-is still exists even when the body is gone.

That’s one place to start in our search for the nowhere that we came from.

The meditative state gives us hints

Years ago, I took part in a meditation called The Space Between the Molecules. We mentally moved through each part of our body and visualized that we were simply the space between the molecules. There came a point when my body did not exist.

That was as close as I’ve consciously come to the nowhere that I came from.

What would it feel like to live in the nowhere that we came from?

You can be certain there is no judgment, anger, criticism or any of those human emotions that mess us up. Does nowhere feel serene? What does serene feel like? Look like? Is it silent? Is it like floating? Are we even conscious? Do we feel like a drop of water in a big ocean, or is there some sense of our uniqueness. My guess is that there is no separateness. We are like flavoring in the cosmic soup.

What do I ”do” in the nowhere? How am I useful?

Those are human questions, however, that do not apply to “nowhere.”

Be aware of the subtle flow of nature

As I work to allow my life to unfold, I tend to look to nature for my lessons. The unfolding of a flower – how does that happen? The instinct that guides the birds to find my feeder? What goes on in the mind of a fish? I examine the circumstances that bring the changes in weather. We understand the highs and lows of the weather reports, but what makes weather systems form in the first place? The questions go unanswered.

Of course, we have some human explanations but “nowhere” is the mystical, mysterious, un-definable whatever-it-is that powers these cycles. It’s the nowhere that we came from and we can only guess what that might be like.

We can only accept and adjust to what we perceive as “nowhere”

A friend was trying to “create” her next steps. She was using her mind and her intentions as she had been taught at some point. I used to do that. Now I simply observe what shows up and shape events as they come.

I have choice in how I live in the nowhere that I came from. I focus on exploring my inner spiritual calling and share what I discover with others. I work to keep my days simple and my actions focused on walking beside others in service. I work to deepen my own spiritual awareness, my own personal connection with Tao.

I have removed myself from negative people. I actively seek more like-minded, supportive friends online from all over the world. I would like to meditate longer, listen to silence more, and become more tuned in to what shows up throughout my day. I want to learn to hear the subtle guidance that Tao offers me.

For me, “nowhere” is deep within and I’m still learning to hear it and listen to it and understand it.

I accept it. I know I can find my “nowhere” in my inner silence. I just need to learn to keep my consciousness there – in that nowhere that I came from. So all my actions and thoughts and responses come from that indefinable but always reachable place.

How do you cultivate and recognize the nowhere that you came from?

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:

The Power of Exploring the Unknown
Can You Control Your Own Destiny?
How to Hold the Space for Things To Change
Steps to Deepen Your Spiritual Awareness
36 – Engage the Power of Trust
27 – Why Have You Been Chosen

The Renewal Inherent in Spring Equinox

By

buds

Spring is a time of rebirth. With new life emerging from the animal kingdom, the young animals have the warm months to grow and develop. Spring is a time to plant new seeds for the crops you want to harvest later in the year. What an awesome opportunity to look at where we are and choose what we want to do next!

In the Winter Solstice we tucked ourselves in for a time of healing, hibernation and renewal. Now it’s time to emerge and plan and plant what we need to cultivate for the upcoming growing season.

We experience renewed energy

As the days grow longer and warmer, we experience an uplifting of our spirits. We take walks after being indoors all winter. We make plans because we can be active outdoors. We feel rejuvenated and replenished, ready for new activities. We plan new action steps, make new resolutions and outline new projects.

We experience renewed determination

Along with this new energy comes new resolve. We’ll make this year different, we’ll make new choices, accomplish new goals. There’s hope for change.

We make plans to change. We open ourselves up to new possibilities, new adventures.

What have your learned that opens new doors?

As we move into the new season of planning and planting, it’s helpful to look at what we’ve learned in the past few months. For instance, I spent two months exploring and getting mildly proficient at several new software programs to be used in self-publishing projects. That alone opens up fresh opportunities to place my work on new platforms.

What new skills have you developed? How has your thinking changed?

How have you changed?

In the past few months, what have you realized about yourself, your ideas and your objectives that could impact your upcoming choices? As you take time to do your inner work, notice in particular that things that no longer matter to you that you can release. That creates space for new things to come in.

Look closely at the new gifts you have uncovered, the friends you have made and the ideas that appeal to you now.

What crops do you want to harvest this Fall?

Spring is a perfect time to look ahead. What seeds do you need to plant in order to have the harvest you want this Fall? For me, learning those new programs is a form of seed planting. My next step is to get more comfortable with them so I can use them more proficiently. I don’t know what crops I’ll produce but I now have the equipment I need to create something new and exciting.

How much room do you have to grow things?

I would love to create more ebooks, but I also want to do more videos and create a course or two. But I actually don’t have room in my life right now to develop all those things — unless I let something else go.

You have to choose the ideas you want to develop and plan the sequence of your harvest so they don’t all mature at once and need more attention than you have to give.

So, what are your priorities?

When the seed store is full of promise, it’s hard to choose. What crop can you plant now that will bring you the harvest you want this Fall? What fertilizer do you need to apply in order to help the seeds to their potential?

Prioritize your crops. Be real about what you can or cannot accomplish.
Look at what you have growing right now

Take a reality check. How full is your life? What can you truly take on and complete? I have another book in progress. I have seven video scripts ready. Hmm….

Also notice what nourishes you and keeps you thinking and growing and enthusiastic about your life. Do more of that.

Allow flexibility for a change in weather

There’s an unpredictability in nature. Sometimes there’s too much. Sometimes there’s not enough. Sometimes everything is perfect for growing the crop you have planted. You have to be flexible. You have to be prepared to change.

As the growing season progresses, you have to add and subtract. More water, less water, more food, less food, weeding, pruning are all part of cultivating a crop. It requires flexibility and being attentive to how the crop is growing to bring the harvest to full fruition.

One step at a time

Pick one packet of seeds and figure out where it fits in your garden of life. Is there room? Do you have the right place to plant it? Do you have time to care for it? Can you get help? From where? When?

Give thought to the adjustments you might have to make in order to properly cultivate this new crop. Gather some ideas that support you in whatever circumstance show up. Then set them aside and let life unfold.

See what the climate brings. Bask in the sun, allow the rain to nourish you, respond to the needs of the crops you cultivate.

What seeds are you planting this Spring? Do you have time to bring them to harvest? Will the crops nurture you and those around you?

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

Hold the Space for Things To Change
The Reward is in the Journey
Are you in the right room?
How to Develop Your Distinctive Voice
How Often Do You Redefine Yourself?
30 – The No Plan Plan

Steps to Deepen Your Spiritual Awareness

By

steps

There are steps we can take, beyond the obvious ones, that deepen our spiritual awareness. They are subtle steps, personal steps and very individual choices. But where to begin?

Create regular quiet time

You can’t do inner work unless you are quiet and listen. That can mean walking in the woods, closing your eyes and taking some deep breaths, or sitting in meditation. Do you arrange for quiet time? Do you consciously set aside time to contemplate, absorb, and listen to your inner voice? Start there. Choose your method. Set a time. Be quiet.

Get to know yourself

Learn to understand what you need. What drives you? What do you long for? What’s keeping you separate? Journaling helps you understand yourself. Mind maps sometimes uncover inner messages.

Accept yourself. Love yourself. Be patient with yourself. Shape yourself into a more open and receptive vessel. Accept that you are Tao, the All-That-Is, the Great Nothingness, as is everyone else.

Study what calls you

Your spiritual life is totally personal. It’s up to you to explore and examine and try on concepts to see how they feel in your life. I’m learning a lot from Taoism. I love to identify with the cycles of nature. I love the idea of letting life unfold and simply shaping things as they come. I love the idea of learning to simply “be.” But it all takes practice.

Deepen your place of service

We are in service by our mere existence. Even our casual interactions have impact. When we make conscious choices to walk beside someone in service, we have a far-reaching effect. How are you in service? How far-reaching is your impact?

Dissolve all concepts of duality

Here’s the big one. We need to stop seeing ourselves as separate. A quote I’m working with is from Rumi, “Live in the nowhere that you came from even though you have an address here.” I’m working on that to see and feel and experience all as one. There’s no “you”. There’s no “I”. There’s but one all-encompassing energy. How do I experience that? How do I understand that? How do I know that?

It’s easy to feel close to someone you like. It’s a lot harder to feel oneness with someone who’s quite different. You may feel close to the cat on your lap, but less close to the lion stalking through the woods.

I can feel the nothingness when I meditate. I have moments in meditation when my whole body seems to disappear. At times I become so totally absorbed in what I’m doing that my physical surroundings cease to exist for me. Is that the “nowhere that I came from?”

Practice “being”

My conscious step toward feeling this “nowhere” is to deepen my awareness of my own presence in every circumstance. I pause to listen to the sound of silence. I consciously merge my energy with my cat as he sits on my lap. From the crystal I hold, I invite energy to enter my body. I feel the flow of energy in my Qi Gong practice. “Being” is subtle. It needs your awareness. But it’s a place to begin.

Is there a teacher?

The only physical-plane teacher I have are my personal experiences and my ingestion and absorption of the spiritual philosophies with which I resonate. The fact that I write to figure out these ideas is one way I learn. I’m deeply tuned in to the phrases and concepts that resonate. They show up at all moments of my life. My inner voice says, “write about that.” I write for my own clarity. I search to encourage my own spiritual expansion. I’m traveling my own journey.

Just as you are.

You are the only one who can deepen your spiritual awareness. How are you doing that?

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:
How to Walk Beside Someone in Service
I Am You 
We Are Part of a Larger Spiritual Order 
Your Work as You 
18- How Your Light Illuminates Paths of Darkness 
21-How to Share a Piece of Your Soul 

Come Sing a Deeper Song

How to Deepen Your Calling

By

deepen-you-calling

The more deeply I immerse myself in the direction of my calling, the more profound the ideas I discover. I’m allowing my calling to take me where it wants me to go and I continue to be amazed and thrilled with what shows up.

I never did my work this way before. I always had a plan. I was always in my head figuring out the steps we’re taught when we build a business.

But that’s not how I’m living my life right now. I’m going where my urges and intuition tell me to go. I’m taking my calling deeper and I have no idea where we are going.

To take your calling deeper, get out of your head

It’s a huge relief to allow myself to write about what calls to me. I explore concepts that resonate, that make me say, “Oh my!” Then I figure out ways to work that concept into my life.

I’m a writer. I know how to do editorial calendars. I know how to plan a series. But when I get out of my head and simply immerse myself in my calling, I make room for all sorts of ideas to bubble to the top. It’s very exciting. And elements of the process are new to me.

To take your calling deeper, let your heart guide you

Your inner self knows what to do next. I have a very strong inner awareness that identifies each concept that resonates. I race to my computer to capture the ideas and questions that are waiting for me. Responding to my inner urges also makes my work eclectic. I begin with the question and let the answer unfold.

Sometimes I can see a pattern. I make a list of ideas and write about them. Often it’s just one sentence that expresses a profound core idea that I might have no clue about how to add it to my life.

I immerse myself more deeply in an idea. I explore the idea from many directions. I try out different solutions. I trust that I’ll discover what I need to know next.

I uncover concepts and ideas that are very thought-provoking. I take my work deeper as I immerse myself in my intuition and respond to what shows up.

Your calling is about what you need to know

There’s always been a spiritual undertone to my work, but the primary urge right now has to do with the fact that I’m old. I’m a metaphysician and believe our thoughts create our reality.

So, how do I need to change my ideas of aging in order to change my life?

I need to make peace with dying. I need to make peace with a changing body. I’m harvesting my crops, taking stock of everything I know and ofall the skills I have to figure out what makes us a spiritual essence. I explore how we work with that and how we expand on that.

These are all things I need to understand and that’s where my calling takes me.

What do you need to understand next?

When I took my first play-writing course as a junior at the University of Kansas, the first instructions were to write about something you knew. I dropped out of the class because I didn’t think I knew anything.

Now I’m more aware. I’m more confident in my ability to see patterns and connections. And it’s sixty-five years later. But all that time, I’ve been working on those skills that create self-awareness

As a content development coach, I saw that one way to improve my own skill was to teach, as the preparation always took me deeper into the topic. I taught what I needed to learn. Whatever the topic, teaching created a permanent improvement around that particular skill set.

Your calling is about what you need to know next. What you need to learn. You serve the people who will teach you.

I’m exploring my essence – whatever that turns out to be for me. The more I give myself over to this journey of introspection and discovery, the more unexpected and profound are the answers I find.

Take your calling deeper by learning a new lesson.

Let your calling unfold

Watch what shows up. Simply be aware. Look at the idea or circumstance and feel how it fits with the direction in which you feel called to go.

The more I explore a core concept, the more deeply I understand it. And the more ways I find to apply it to my life. I examine. I test. I experience.

It’s only recently when I noticed how relevant some of my posts are that I saw what I was doing: letting my life unfold. Responding to what shows up. Following my calling.

Ditch the plans

Once in a while, I try to make plans. I’ll design a course, write an ebook, or take some further step to define what I’m doing. But I’ve discovered that the best way to stay true to your calling is to drop the plans. Just keep exploring. Follow your instincts. Follow your passion. Simply allow your calling to take you deeper and deeper.

That’s where the magic lies!

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

20 – Why Are You In Service?
21 – How to Share a Piece of Your Soul
17 – Exploring The Village of Nothingness
18- How Your Light Illuminates Paths of Darkness
10– What Will Change Because Of What You Are About To Do? 
We Are Part of a Larger Spiritual Order
You Are All-That-Is
I Am You
How Are You Harvesting Your Crop?
What Message Are You Modeling?
Are You a Gift Person
What is Your Personal Promise?

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We Are Part of a Larger Spiritual Order

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All mankind is spiritual. Each person’s spiritual path is unique and individual. Although we sometimes gather in groups, our personal spiritual expansion is ours alone to develop.

What do you need spiritually right now?

I’m 82 and suddenly death is a little higher on the list than it used to be. I thought I already had a strong philosophy of the process of life and death, but I decided I wanted and needed to strengthen my experience of being spiritual. I want to deepen my connection with All-That-Is—which I call “Tao”.

As you shape your unique spiritual practice, choose what you need from any form of spirituality that resonates with you. Look at the different cultures of the world and discover what calls to you. Chants, rituals, mudras, singing, prayers, affirmations, spiritual treatments, dancing. Spirituality is celebrated in so many ways. Adapt what resonates with you to align it with what you need right here and now.

Depending on where you are on your own spiritual path, you may need to develop different forms of expression. You may find you need to be totally alone. You may need an organized service led by one person. You may want to join a group where everyone speaks from their heart, or vision together, or study together. You may choose to meditate in your own special place, or you may simply go for a thoughtful walk in nature. All of those celebrations of your spirituality are perfect—particularly when they help you feel closer to Tao, to All-That-Is.

Shape your own spiritual practice

Experiment with ways to deepen your spirituality. I am drawn to elements of many of the world’s great religions. Not every word or any one, just certain concepts that feel right for me. My spiritual practice involves mindfulness and allowing my life to unfold. It involves reading authors who inspire me, who make me think and who are aligned with what I feel: Gibran, Rumi, Deng Ming Dao, Steven Mitchell’s translation of Tao Te Ching and The Second Book of Tao, Thomas Troward, and Emerson. I examine concepts that inspire me. I look for ways to apply those principles to my own life. I really like the idea of all of us belonging to a larger spiritual order, one that connects each and every one of us.

The Tao is All-that-Is, and that includes each of us

I am you. You are me. We are them. They are us. When we experience that deep connection with everything in this world as we know it, we become better caretakers, better friends, better stewards. Barriers come down and we see our sameness. Thoughtfulness towards animals and our planet increases. We walk more softly through our lives.

What are the goals of this larger spiritual order?

Compassion, understanding, forgiveness, peaceful intentions, highest good for all, kindness, serenity, shared wisdom.

We are all walking along the path of life. People come and walk beside us for a while and then move away. We move to join the flow around someone we resonate with and then we move on. Each person is a gift. Each experience is a lesson.

Feel the immenseness of the spiritual order around you—people, animals, plants, minerals, water, air. We are part of a larger spiritual order. Feel it, embrace it, and contribute to it.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

Unfolding an the Wu Wei of Not-Forcing

Unfolding an the Wu Wei of Not-Obstructing

Unfolding and the Wu Wei of Not-Interfering

You Are All-That-Is

What is Your True Nature

I Am You

Return to the Simplicity of The Uncarved Block

Wander Beyond All Paths

14- How Strong is the Foundation You Build On (podcast, 20 minutes)

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