Cara Lumen | Sing a Deeper Song

Sing a Deeper Song

Newsletter

How to Interpret the Messages from Nature

By

How to Interpret the Messages from Nature

Insights Of A Deeper Song


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

When we learn to listen to the stillness we receive all manner of guidance and insights.  It begins with quieting your mind and opening your whole body as an antenna to receive the information.  

Everything has energy and we can receive messages from the elements, the plants, the rocks.  The example I’m going to give is with rocks and I invite you to use some of the ideas to talk to the rocks and crystals you have around you, to your plants, a tree in your yard, and to any aspect of nature that calls to you. 

Feel their energy 

When I was first taught to listen to crystals 40 years ago in NYC, I was told to put the crystals in my left hand (receiving hand) and listen.  What I got was a sensation in one of my chakras and I began to use those body sensations as a starting place for interpretation. 

Where the energy expresses itself in my body is still an important part of my listing to nature.  

What prompted me to write this was an inner prompt that happened this week in my daily start-the-day practice.  I am surrounded by crystals.  I probe have over 150 of them.  Sometimes they call to me across the room to come participate more closely  But each morning when I sit down at my computer after playing my flutes to nature, I pick up and talk to the crystals I have currently been called to work with. 

But here’s what happened because of a nudge from my inner voice.  I picked up one crystal in each hand.  Now right there is a place to experiment.  Which crystal goes in which hand.  Hold them, feel what you feel, switch hands, and feel again.  From that inner insight find out if the crystal wants to work alone or with another crystal.  

Sometimes I hold a crystal wand by both ends.  I change the direction of the ends to see how the energy changes.  But here’s my latest discovery.  I held each pair up to my head to see where it resonated.  The first sent very strong energy to my eyes.  I simply sat and accepted it for a while.  The sen pair sent more energy when they were held near my crown, although I had also tried them in front of my third eye.  My body was telling me what it wanted from the rocks. 

Experiment in order to hear better

Your rocks/crystals will tell you what they are for and how they want to be held and how they would like to be in proximity to you.  Experiment with your rocks and your chakras. 

You might find a rock on your walk that calls to you  I got most of my crystals at expos and crystal shops.  I tried to not have my eyes do the choosing by how it looked.  I tuned into my body and listened. Pick up each rock you are considering and see where it talks to you in our body and what message it brings to you. 

If you have something you want to heal, ask nature to provide you with some assistance, and then pay attention.  It could be an acorn that falls from a tree or a twig or a feather or a bird call…. listen and nature will offer you her gifts for self-healing.

This energy messaging also comes from hand-made items for the energy and intention of the craftsman are part of it.  Your house plants have messages for you.  They choose you. They wanted to be in your home.  Sit with a plant.  Touch its leaves  Listen. Ask it for guidance or for a message.  It will talk to you. You just have to listen and learn to interpret.

Whatever calls to you, listen. Listen with your inner voice.  Listen with your body.  Hold it in one hand, then the other to see what difference there is.  Put it in different places near you – left side, right side, in front, it will tell you.  

Part of my morning practice is simply to look at what I have around me.  Part of that is appreciation, another part is to see who is calling to be picked up and held or who is simply sending me energy from where they are.  

All of life is energy.  Rocks are wisdom keepers.  Go exploring and start talking to rocks.  They have wise insights to share with you. Learn to listen to the messages of the rocks. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION
I listen more closely to nature and                                                                          experiment with different ways in which to listen. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS

  • Choose a rock or crystal or a gift someone made for you or something you are very drawn to and hold it in you your left hand.  Close our eyes and notice what sensations appear in your body. What thoughts.  How are you interpreting that energy?
  • Move the object to the other hand and see how or if the energy changes.  How are you interpreting it? Sensations?  Thoughts?  Images? Is the energy stronger in one hand than the other?
  • Put both hands on the object – use just your fingers if ir is small.  Again notice the areas in your body and use that to help you interpret the message.
  • Move the object, hold it in both hands in front of each chakra and notice what shifts, what speaks to you,.
  • Ask your rock for guidance and  see what thoughts show up  
  • Trust That
  • Repeat often.

***
MY DEEPER SONG THIS WEEK
The River of Time – The Discovery
An Exploration of the Unseen World

Shamanic journeying is a form of meditation that is filled with metaphors that only we are to interpret.  The River of Time appeared in one of my journeys and has led me on many adventures.  Here is the story of my first encounter and the adventure it took me on. 

Cara Lumen, spiritual philosopher and Founder of the Deeper Song Community is a cosmic explorer who consciously travels into the unseen world to serve as a bridge to help us expand our relationship with the spiritual world. She shares what she learns and guides us to the next level so we can sing a deeper song.  

In this episode we explore
The River of Time – The Discovery
(10 miutes)
(Listen Here)
With Transcript
Listen to 
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on 
Apple / Spotify /Google

For a complete list of podcasts go to
https://www.deepersong.com/deeper-song-podcasts/

***
Inner Work
I SEE YOU.  I AM HERE

The Zula greeting Sawubona means “I see you.” One way to respond is ngikhona, which means “I am here. So shared Chris Brogan in a recent newsletter.  

I see you.  Do we really pause our thoughts and beliefs to become fully present with someone?  Do we look into their eyes, feel their energy, understand their heart,  simply be present with them, understand and experience our flowing energy exchange?  Be present.  Be present for yourself.  Be present for others. Experience the flow of energy between you. Open your heart to them.  Be WITH them.

“I am here.”When we are fully present in the moment, we experience ourselves, we experience the other person, the circumstance, the subtle energy flows around us.  We have to quiet our mind, put aside our emotions and take that mindful moment, to be in our Still Point before we open ourselves up tho the flow of energy around us – energy coming to us, energy flowing  from us 

I see you. 

I am here.

***
Outer Work
WHY DO YOU KEEP MAKING LOUSY CHOICES?

If your life is not working – change it.  If it is not exactly how you want to be, fix it. I think what happens is that we are unaware of slowly sliding into a situation that has become toxic or that no longer serves us and the shift is so gradual we barely notice. 

Make a list of what is NOT working.  It could be your health, your work, your relationships, your spiritual life – just let it flow out onto the paper.  Get angry, be sad, become aware.  Write down everything that is NOT working in our life right now.

Now focus on what IS working.  What you cherish, what nurtures you, what exists you, what makes you joyous.  

Which list is longer?  You probably have some work to do.

We have tremendous control over our own life experience – we have a choice.  To do or not do.  To accept or reject.  

Look at your list and make some new more aligned choices. 

***
FIND THE SWEET SPOT – ENERGY AND WILLINGNESS 

When the time is right it sure is easy to do it. This week I found a new sweet spot that suddenly makes something I’e been fretting over both doable and easy. You can’t ask for much more than that. You see, I found a sweet spot for a task I had been putting off and have been beating myself up for not doing. The answer lies in timing.  

I have a few introspective sweet spots in place.  I work at my computer first thing for about 90 minutes.  Another sweet spot is that I take a shamanic journey at 12:30 or so and get very introspective. 

But I actually need two new major sweet spots that are more physical in nature.

My new  “doing” sweet spot comes after an hour and a half of creating – writing something or editing something.  It is my Honor My Home moment in which I put in 15-20 minutes of cleaning or dusting or sweeping, organizing. 15 minutes. Each day.  I have been sitting. I a ready for a change in rhythm and focus. My body would love to move, my home would like some care. It all comes together as a sweet spot. Then I reward myself with breakfast and a cup of tea and The View.  I like rewards.  

I see a second sweet spot forming in mid-afternoon.  I want to cook more for myself.  If I combine listing to Nichole Wallace on CSNBC with chopping up something to cook that works as a sweet spot.  And another shift from introspective focus to outer world focus. 

I could use one more sweet spots. One will be a jaunt down the hall for the mail and maybe a turn up and down joining hallways at about 4:30.  Now that the weather is chaining I cold take a flute and site outside and play to nature.  I would like to do that. 

I am going to add my Qi Gong practice to each day so I am looking for a sweet spot of willingness and energy in which to place it. 

Where are your sweet spots?  Do you need to find some new ones?

***
EXPERIMENT WITH A RANGE OF OPTIONS  

Short o long?  Weekly or monthly? How many classes in one offering?  How often to podcast?  Or video? or… I have a lot of things to offer, who is my target audience?

These are all questions we ask ourselves and often wrestle with. My suggestion is to experiment and see what resonates. 

Here’s my suggestion.  We hack about 12 weeks left in this year.  If we explore one now idea a week, that’s 12 ideas or skills to explore.  That would certainly give us a good starting place for designing our offering in the coming year.  And it could be fun.  

The first six weeks are about exploring.  I seem to be talking about online entrepreneurship here but you can translate it.  That’s six different .. what-ever to explore.  That means immerse yourself in the idea and see what it takes to go that direction.  

Goole the topic you are considering building a business around and notice what comes up.  How are other people setting up their web presence? What are they offering?  How much are they charging?  What are they doing that you could translate into the ideas you are considering?

Make a list of what calls to you in an easy access document on your desktop. Keep notes on how you feel about what you find.  Fun, hard, exciting, not for me, maybe later…

You may need to learn how to host Zoom so get an account and a friend and practice until you own that skill.  Get on the many free Zoom calls to see how others are doing it. 

If creating a podcast calls to you check out Pat Flynn.  I spent about 18 hours watching his free video course when I first started years ago.

Make a video and post it on YouTube so you know if it is something you want to do.  So far you have invested no money and made no choices.  You have looked at options for getting information to people.

What do you want to learn for yourself and what do you want to help others learn and do? 

Normally business coaches start with who do you want to help,  but I find that making my topic be about what I want to learn more about is extremely motivating and inspiring.  Just a thought. What topic do you want to immerse yourself in for the next few years?

Experiment and see what resonates.  I can see such differences in what I have offered along the line.  My books began 20 years ago with booklets sold in my church book store.  The information is solid and the references could be updated but that was where I was in my thinking 20 years ago.  I also like short so books are not a natural fit or me. 

I studied books on writing articles and learned to write posts.  That has worked for a lot of years.  

I have taught courses in person and online but that is not calling to me now.

I made a few talking head videos (just a head talking) and was not drawn to them. Others love to do them. 

Returning to podcasts has added a degree of intimacy to my communication that wiring alone does not have. It is very rewarding to do them now.

So sometimes your progression of choices will need to take some time and at other times you may know immediately what format you are to use and even what you will offer. 

Use these 12 weeks as a tine of exploration to understand what calls to you – both in format and in topic.  Try some formats out on some friends.  Once you decide you are going to start making online offers the ideas will start lining up until you will be hard-pressed to choose. 

What new aspect of your business will you begin in 2021? 

***
SEEK BALANCE

Know when you are full up and don’t do more. I got so excited at the Shift Network Qi Gong practice that I selected 18 people to listen to. I listened to 15.   It was wonderful and I am tired but I am also inspired to restrict my I Gong practice. You have to get real about your energy and your time and choose accordingly. 

What do you want to learn?  Wh two you want to share?  What do you want in your spiritual practice?  When do you connect with your friends? 

It’s OK to lean a little heavier in one direction for a while but each month stop and seek balance. Do you need more rest, more play, more conversations, more mental stimulation?  What do you need in the next four weeks  Chose that.  Do that.  And let the rest fall by the wayside for those four weeks.

You must have balance in order to stay healthy.  Enough rest, enough food,, enough downtime, enough mental stimulation… That sounds like a busy week and there is no “work” in it – no have-to’s that you have chosen as your way to make a living. It’s important that you love what you do because it takes a large amount of your time.

Know what calls to you and select that.  Let the rest float on by to be explored another time.  Find balance.  

***
LISTEN TO YOUR INNER SELF

The Native flute has no wrong notes so it is a  fabulous form of self-express yourself.  Each morning before sitting at my desk, I sit facing nature outside my window and play. 

I have watched my inner music mature, first with my innate ability to drum, particularly on the djembe which called to me greatly.  I figure I have a drumming ancestor somewhere.

Sometimes my flute playing sounds like an Irish jig.  Another ancestor I think.

One day this week as I played without any plan I realized how happy I was.  My playing reflected cheerfulness, willingness, expectation.  It was a good way to be.  

What subtle ways do you listen to yourself?  Humming is good.  Hum whatever shows up.  Direct your hums to specific places and circumstances for healing.  You can make a drum out of a plastic container, or a rattle out of popcorn in an empty glass jar.  Then sit and let your inner self start expressing herself/himself through sound.  Sing if you like, tone if you like.  

I love the Native flute because I am not trying to play a specific tune, and whatever I pay is perfect.  But I do find myself playing lively rhythms. I find one note sequence and I repeat it but I don’t try to remember it, I just experience the moment. 

I have made up songs for the ritual drumming I do with the Buffalo drum I made 40 years ago.  I drum to the elements and the directions and over time songs appeared.  it makes a lovely ceremony. 

Take time to express our inner self through sound.  

***
OUR EVOLVING FUTURE

We have to let go of the way it was because it’s not going to be that way again.  And that can be scary. And exciting.  And challenging.  It’s time to be creative and innovative and look for entirely new ways to provide a shrive or a product. 

Put on your creative hat and go exploring.  Be open to the oddest of ideas.  Who knows?

***
CARA’S CORNER

Qi Gong can be done at any age and it strengthens and brings chi energy to body, mind, and spirit.

After listening to 14 different speakers on the Qi Gong summit on the Shift Network, I know that I really want to resume my practice  It is good for energy, balance and spiritual expansion. It is slow moves that gradually shift your weight and the direction you face while establishing a breathing pattern that brings it all into balance.  As an old lady I really, really, really need to put this back into my life. 

Breath and breathing is a foundational aspect of Qi Gong.

In the very first talk the teacher taught a Qi Gong sequence that I can easily do, but the part that I helped me learn it was the images and intentions he put with each move.  Gathering in, pushing away.  With those visuals, it was easy to learn. I was hooked – again.  I can do it as an old person.  I can practice it with no equipment  I can practice inside or out.  And the health benefits are enormous.  

It is taught that the breath is at the core of all of these healing and strengthening movements that strengthen breath, muscles, immunity, and spirituality.  The suggestion is 20-30 minutes at a time, two or three times a week.  You can do it inside or out.

Breath is a cornerstone and with another speaker, I learned a way to expand my Tan Tien though breathing. 

One ay I “accidentally” got on a talk I had not planned on attending. And the message I took away was to tune into your own body for a series of moves and intentions that open up the flow of Chi breathing and put that in harmony with your body and your soul.

I learned from Daisy Lee the Radiant Qi Gong Practdice on the Shift Network.  I’m going to review both courses I took. and put Qi Gong firmly back in m life!

***
A DEEPER SON

Qigong is a way of being.
Being soft, yet strong.
Qigong is a way of breathing.
Breathing deeply, yet calmly.
Qigong is a way of standing.
Alert, yet relaxed. ~Nigel Mills

Qigong is the art and science of refining and cultivating internal energy. ~Ken Cohen, The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing

Keep singing a deeper song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song 

I help those seeking to sing a deeper song to expand their relationship with the Unseen world.

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

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

What are Your Beliefs about Your Future?

By

What ae Your Beliefs about Your Future?

Insights from a Deeper Song

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

Our beliefs create our life experience so it is impotent that you and I look carefully at what we believe is in the process of evolving, where we think we are going to fit in, and what it will look like because of our thinking and our expectation. Our beliefs have the power to change the trajectory of our future.

In my Shamanic Circle with Hank Wesselman he quotes some interesting authors who said that in our “next”, we seem to go where we believe we will go.  Now that’s very inserting. That means if we change our belief here and now, it will change our “next”.

Well, we know that to be true in this lifetime. It makes sense that it is true in the next.

Another point the class offered was that hunters and gatherers did not believe in higher powers, they knew very well the spirit of nature and communicated with those spirits for guidance and insights.  It was a very shamanistic existence – communing with nature.

Religious belief systems seem to reflect back the basic characteristics of the social order in which they appear. The more hierarchal and structured the culture becomes the more hierarchal and structured the region is. 

Now that’s very interesting. I was looking at where my belief system fit in. I’m very drawn to Taoism which recognizes that there is an ongoing flow of energy form to energy form.  There is no higher or lower energy. There is simply Tao.  All that is.  I am dawn to that. In Unity and zen Buddhism, the natural and the supernatural are not different, they are seen as different aspects of the same thing. Ernest Holmes who taught the work of Thomas Troward to form Science of Mind was trained by some of the same people the founders of Unity were.  I immersed myself deeply in the world of Troward and Holmes in what is now called Center for Light Living.

All religions have a system of ethics that is based on the beliefs of their social stratification. Have and have nots or one communal tribe.

When I try to imagine where this group of humanity may be headed as we move into this huge reposition, I begin by looking at our system of conduct.  I realized that we find ourselves separated into two major groups depending on our belief – one group believes in a social hierarchy and another group has an awareness of all being one.

I already know that those of us who are working with vibration and the concept of raising our vibration, understand, and experience each other as one big web of energy. We are also aware that what we do affects the whole. We are in a minority and there is no way I could go have a conversation with people who are not on this individualistic, stand-alone path that would make much sense to them.  I’m sitting here in the conservative Mid-West with not a lot of takers here for this raise your vibration stuff.  However, according to HeartMath.org, every thought in our heart connects 100 thousand hearts around us.  We have work to do.

I find like-minded people all around the world. We find each other on the internet; truly the world wide web. We share with each other.  We bolster each other. We work with each other. We raise our vibration together.

What do I do for our planet right now?  I am to keep raising my own vibration so others see it. I explore the unseen world and share what I find with others so they recognize our collective light in themselves and chose to raise their own vibration.

Not all of us are on this journey together and that is just the way it is supposed to be.

I don’t know what our world and our lives will look like as this new era evolves.  But I know that as I deepen my awareness of my inner world, as I actually explore the 95% that is the Unseen world, I am given new awareness, new ideas for an action show up, and when I act on what I am shown, I will be shown where I am to go next.

We each have our own life expressions to work with.  Our own beliefs, our own actions, our own choices. We are to keep listening to our inner wisdom, keep choosing for our highest good, and stay open to new insights and ideas and realizations that are unfolding in this New Era.

Change is constant.  Change is exciting.  Change is unsettling.  Change is good.

We are evolving into a higher vibration.  Yeah us.
And the adventure has just begun…

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

With consciences focus, I seek to raise my vibration
higher and higher and join with
other Light Vibrations who are doing the same. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS

  • Become aware of your own vibration and experiment and explore the ways you choose to raise your vibration to a higher level.
  • Become aware of our vibration of one energy as a field of energy and resonate with others of this same higher vibration. 
  • Make your light, your vibration as high you can, and follow where it takes you.
  • Let others see your light and follow – or not. 
  • Let it be.  
  • And simply be.

***

MY DEEPER SONG THIS WEEK

THE PATH WE CHOOSE
An Exploration of the Unseen World

We are responsible for the journey we take.  We are responsible for the path we choose. We choose what we bring in our backpack and we are responsible for how willing we are to keep going.  

We cannot go back. We can only begin from her ewe are and move forward – or sideways  – it is our choice in each moment.  How do you choose?  What do you choose?

Cara Lumen, spiritual philosopher and Founder of the Deeper Song Community is a cosmic explorer who consciously travels into the unseen world to serve as a bridge to help us expand our relationship with the spiritual world. She shares what she learns and guides us to the next level so we can sing a deeper song.  

In this episode we explore

The Path We Choose
(14 minutes)
(Listen Here)

With Transcript

Listen to my Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on

Apple / Spotify / Google

For a complete list of podcasts go to
https://www.deepersong.com/deeper-song-podcasts/

***
Inner Work

FIND THE ENERGY POINTS

I have begun to put my drumming back into my spiritual practice.  It was talking up a lot of time first thing and I was eager to get to my creative work so I dropped it for a while.  I needed to find a new energy point for it. Now to begin my day I sit looking out the window and play all there flutes and I have recently begun to sing a song of intention to my day.
When I realized I was ready to put the drumming back in my day, I began to look for the right energy point.  A synergetic meeting of energy and willingness….!

If you have a habit or a practice you want to establish, look at the places in your day where you are energetically willing to put them. 

I have some exercises tied in with the action of making my bed.  I have some stretching moves ties in with being at the kitchen sink while waiting for my tea to brew.  

I want to put Qi Gong back and just discovered that each time I return to my computer I am to look out at nature and do some Qi Gong moves first.  Each time. Several times a day.  It’s a perfect energy point for mindful movement. 

Decide what still point you want to add to your day, what it will look like, how long it will take. Will it change your rhythm and therefore be welcome?  Move from sedentary to action and back to sedentary. Can you combine things or do they need to be separate?  What is their purpose – to stimulate or calm or center or strengthen? What is the reminder prompt for you?

Expand what you are doing now. I walk down the hall to get my mail in the late afternoon.  I’m going to expand that – walkup up and down the hallway several times.  I can also change the rhythm of that walking – mindfully or rapidly or a combination. 

Choose the practices that call to you, that works for you that resonates with you, and begin to add them to your day one at a time until they are security embedded.

I have m daily shamanic journey tucked in at 1230 or so.  What do you want in your spiritual practice and where do you want to put it that you can immerse yourself in it?  I have several mindful sill points in my day. 

Tune in to the energy of your day and identify the energy points that call for you to change your energy.  Then do that/

 
***

Outer Work

TRADITION VERSUS CREATIVITY

I currently live in the conservative mid-west.  I have lived on both coasts which is where I truly belong.  But this is an old-age choice because my daughter lives here.  

I was thinking about tradition and how relieved my son-in-law seemed when we established that my time for Christmas with them was breakfast on Christmas Eve morning for – my choice – pancakes and fresh pineapple and real maple syrup. He even pointed out that we now have a tradition established.  He and my daughter have lots of traditions. It is how they want it.  But it occurred to me that by doing something the same way each time you limit your ability to explore and expand and create.  And I love to do all of those. So I am not a fan of tradition. I prefer improvisation – making stuff up in the moment. 

I learned to disregard holidays when I lived alone in New York City.  I bought myself a birthday present and a Christmas present but beyond that, I just lived my life.

I rebel at all the holidays.  I don’t like to be told what to do on a specific day, who to honor, how to celebrate.  So I don’t.  I honor Winter Solstice instead of Christmas.  I honor Sprint Equinox instead of Easter.  You get the picture.  I go back to my pagan roots and take my cues from nature.  

I’m looking at shamanism the same way.  I do not want to go back and learn the details and traditions that have evolved over the generations.  I want to underhand the intention and ask my current spiritual awareness to get me where I need to go.  

Guess I’m still a rebel in my wold – at least a non-conformist, an independent thinker. 

I’m also am not one to dwell on the past, except for the lessons I learned and the changes my choices made in the unfolding of my life’s journey that I can build on now.  I am both eager and content to live in the present moment.  To reposition myself in the now based on my insights and needs.  I live in the moment and respond from an ever-deepening awareness of my inner guidance. 

Perhaps you want to examine the traditions you have and see if and how you want to reframe them.  What do you need to create in your “now?”

***

EXERCISE YOUR LUNGS

I woke up in this middle of the night with shortness of breath and it scared me. I’m going to make a really lousy old person because I didn’t like it.  I did some online research to see what it was and I don’t know but it did make me realize that I am not exercising my lungs.  No aerobics, no long walks.  No wonder my lungs woke up grouchy.  So I went online and the first thing I found was 6 Breathing Exercises for Older Adults

Heres’ the one I have begun to work with. 

Breathing from the Chinese practice of Tai Chi. 

This involves taking three short breaths

Breath  One – raise, your arms shoulder height in front of you, 

Breath Two – pull your arms out to shoulder height at your sides 

Breath three raise your arms  above your head.

Then slowly exhale and lower your arms back down to your sides. 

Try 10-12 repetitions. If you get light headed, stop the exercise.

There is a diaphragmatic breathing exercise I learned in Bikram Yoga (Hot yoga) that I really like.  While standing, bend forward to put your hands on your knees and do diaphragmatic breathing. Breath in and contract your diaphragm, breathe out through your open mouth and release your diaphragm. It’s a bit like slow panting. Feel your diaphragm actively and energetically go in and out.   I do 50 repetitions. 

I’m going to put that one back into my day. 

My healer friend Christina Gerber suggested that placing your fingers at the base of your sternum is calming as you breathe.

Also holding your lung points inside your shoulders (at the hollows here) helps give you deeper breaths.

Notice what you have stopped doing as you age and find a version you can still do and then do it.

Beaching is a pretty core activity….!


***

HEALING

Healing is about bringing back something that is missing.  I’m not sure where I heard this concept but I made a note of it to explore.

The first missing thing that comes to mind is balance. When things are out of balance everything is affected.

I’ve been working with a tilted right pelvis that got untitled in recent healing so in theory that puts me back in balance.  Now, of course, the muscles in the other leg are hollering loudly because they have to work differently than hey had become accustomed to. And as my hips align my spine is straightening above it.  It too is grouchy. It’s all related as balance continues to come back into place. 

Healing is about bringing back something that is missing.  We have lots of emotional things a bit out of balance with the isolation of the pandemic.  Look closely to see what that is.  I have had three in-person in-depth conversions in the past six months.  Fortunately, I have friends with whom I speak on Zoom on a regular basis.  

What is missing? What is out of balance?  I do not have a good balance between writing and exercise and taking care of my food/home care needs.  
Consider actions.  One of the ways I have learned to rebalance my body is to do leg lifts to the back and knee raises to the front, and standing sit-ups from a chair.  

What do you need to add that is the opposite of what you are doing/feeling too much of?

Healing is about bringing back something that is missing.  What is missing in your life?

***

ARE WE RAINBOW WARRIORS?

In my early shamanic journeying years ago one of my first guides was a  young man I called Rayne. He said he was a Rainbow Warrior. I had not heard that term before and I had no idea what it meant so I look it up.  Notice what it says about the world today. I think we are all Rainbow Warriors…. The Warriors of the Rainbow Prophecy

***

DEEPER SONGS I HEARD THIS WEEK

Tao and Poetry. I have read a great many of Deng Ming-Daos’ books.  Heres’ an opportune to join him ina free series of Zoom talks about Tao and poetry.  In olden times, friends met often to talk about Tao. They wanted to share its profound wonder. Through a series of informal conversations, Deng Ming-Dao and David Ohanesian will discuss Tao through selected classic poems from sources such as the Daodejing and the great Tang Poets. The passages will be taken from Each Journey Begins With a Single Step, available from Hampton Roads Publishing Company.You’re invited to join us by Zoom every two weeks on Thursdays at 5:00 pm California time, beginning September 24, 2020. There will be nine talks in all. There is no cost to attend. Please messenger or send an eemail todmd@dengmingdao.com to be put on the meeting list.

A teleprompter app that was recommended  to staff at the Mayo Clinic for an iPad i is  Teleprompter Premium – free

Christina Gerber shared this: 10 hours of bioluminescent waves and ocean sounds from Monterey Bay to relax/study/work to https://youtu.be/9p2Egh6K0yc

Grammar and Our Chainging Society  Interesting insights…

***

OUR EVOLVING FUTURE  – NEW VARIABLES

New variables are like the wind shifting and we have to adjust our sails. Or the wind comes and you have to take shelter, or the sky clears and you take a nap under a tree. Different “climates” illicit different responses.  We are continually coming across new variables in our life.  We have great choices in what we do with them. 

Here’s the trick.  We get to change but we also get to bring with us what is the most nurturing, the most interesting aspect of what we have going on in our lives.  

For instance, my switch to podcasts brings with it the same exploration and discovery I have in my posts but speaking those words adds a tangible vibration that elevates the experience.  The variable is the format. The message is the same.

In the course of exploring new variables, build on what you love.  
Reframe how you see what you do.  I teach all the time but I teach it once and move on to the next discovery. So while I definitely do not want to teach Life 101 over and over, there are fundamental concepts that I bring forward into all my work.  I teach, but it’s an ongoing discovery process for both of us. 

The variables you embrace are to strengthen your journey.  Learning a new skill comes to mind.  I’m getting better at recording and editing and that may open up some new opportunities for me.  I know I’m going to create some introspective processes in my podcasts. I started a new weekly Meaningful Pause offering because I wanted to add more mindful still points to my own life so I’m teaching and I’m leaning at the same time.  I  always teach what I want to learn.  

Variables could be a physical change. More exercise, better food, finding more friends. Each change you make changes the dynamic of the whole you. 

Evaluate what you leave behind.  What does your new choice replace?  Maybe you have to create some sort of revolving cycle so you keep the things you love in your life. I still have some books to put up on Amazon.  A c couple of days work would make that happen.  I want to add more movement in m life.  Getting the links to the exercise videos I have chosen would be an easy starting place.  I want to cook more for myself, I just have to find the right time of the day to do that. 

If you are lonely, reach out.  If you are bored, learn something.  We have a huge ability to change our lives.  What variables do you want to bring into your life and what will they do for you?  Do that. 


***
CARA’S CORNER

OUR ROLE IN THE NEW CONSCIOUSNESS

In a recent journey, I asked why there was so much negativity in the world today.  

The answer was both reassuring and a call to action. 

“This is a time for the establishment of higher group consciousness.  Help shine your light brighter so others can see and make their choice. There are levels the group consciousness must reach. There’s a shift of consciousness that is taking place for those who are willing to change that will lift the vibration of the planet. This is a test of consciousness.  Can this planet rise to the occasion as a collective?  You are being tested. Keep focusing on the greater good.”

On one hand, I feel better.  On the other, there is work to do.  
What I visualize is a field of golden consciousness, a high vibration that is encircling the planet  As people join in it shines brighter and others see it and recognize that light in themselves. Then they raise their consciousness and their vibration and join us. But what I have begun to consider is that we in this Collective Consensus of Raised Vibration may find ourselves separated from the planet or in an alternate reality or –  I don’t know.  I just see a group bonding that will strengthen us and also separate us from lower vibration.  On one hand, we will be safe.  And we have work to do to get there. 

My mind just flashed on he hunters and gathers where each person participates for the good of the collective.  This new change may be a conscious version of that.  Working for the collective, the continuing raised vibration of the collective, the continued awareness of being one energy that the group continues to embrace as their new reality.
I am ready to live in that awareness, that world, that consciousness of our oneness.

It helps me to rise about the chaos of the planet and move into an internal still point and feel and hear and see and experience us all as one high vibration. As we sit here we impact each other and our collective vibration raises.  I am very willing to live in that world with other points of light. 
This is a shift in consignees we are going through.  Raise your thoughts.   Raise your vibration. 

***

A DEEPER SONG

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

Keep singing a deeper song.
Namaste,
Cara


Come Sing a Deeper Song 

I help those seeking to sing a deeper song 
to expand their relationship with the Unseen world.

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

Positioning Your Gifts in the New Consciousness

By

Positioning Your Gifts in the New Consciousness

Insights oF a Deeper Song


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

\We get to rethink everything we take for granted. We have to get creative and innovative and imaginative. The world will never go back.  We can never go back.  And that is a good thing.  

What do we want to create?  Who do we want to support?  

This is a time for deep introspection. 

This is a time for expansive creative exploration. 

I particularly want to address this to those of us who have the freedom of retirement in the next 20 years.  It is a time of tremendous creativity and adventure. 

We have new tools and techniques to learn to use in order to make the most of this next opportunity. 

First, you choose an area of interest and then you go exploring. A Deeper Song Member who is looking at retirement has powerful gifts to explore.  She is an imaginative and expressive writer and she has a depth of knowledge in both horticulture and music.  She has strong gifts to cultivate. As she pr press for retirement, She gets to go exploring to discover how she might share those gifts.  Ans she will want to explore some of the available technology – like video. Or children’s books, or…

I don’t know which comes first, the idea or the technology.  I think they become intertwined in the doing.  For instance, the podcast format has added an experience of intimate sharing that I do not have with my posts.  And using only my voice, rather than going to video, allows the listener to use his or her own imagination to enrich the listening.  So sometimes the form in which you offer your gifts helps form the content and structure of your offering. 

And you MUSt have an offering, a place of service.  I watch the seniors in this center gradually be allowed to return to well-distanced bingo, but the pot lucks are not allowed for now.  What ARE they doing?  You do want to find a way to feel you are in service. And in this age of the internet, you are guaranteed to find like-minded people with whom to share your passion.

Bring those gifts and hobbies up into the light and see where they fit into your future.  Look at what you always wanted to do but put off and go do that.  

This is an era of change in which we are being asked to step forward with our best self, our most creative, innovative self and offer our gifts to the New Consciousness. 

What is calling you?  What form will you experiment with first?

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION
I open myself up to identify a gift I have that is needed in the New Consciousness. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Make a list of things you wish you knew how to do and go exploring.
  • Look at some tutorials on recording a podcast or a video, or posting a book on Amazon. Look at online class formats and how-to videos.  Identify the format you want to learn first. Then learn it enough so the technical part is not in the way of your self-expression ad make an informed decision if you want to use it in your work. 
  • Take one of your passions and the form you like to work in and create something. 
  • You have begun.  Keep going.

***

MY DEEPER SONG THIS WEEK
The Unseen World Needs UsAn Exploration of the Unseen World

The Unseen World needs us – it needs us to translate, to pass along their messages and teachings and guidance.  We need to learn to pay attention.  We need to learn to understand. Are you ready to become a messenger, an interpreter for the Unseen World?

Cara Lumen, spiritual philosopher and founder of the Deeper Song Community is a cosmic explorer who consciously travels into the unseen world to serve as a bridge to help us expand our relationship with the spiritual world. She shares what she learns and guides us to the next level so we can sing a deeper song.  

In this episode we explore why
The Unseen World Needs Us
(15:00)
With Transcript

Listen to 
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on 
Apple / Spotify /Google

For a complete list of podcasts go to
https://www.deepersong.com/deeper-song-podcasts/
***
Inner Work
UNDERSTAND YOUR CALLING

I’ve been speaking to a few Deeper Song members who are in their 60’s and retirement is coming up for them.  I just remember what Chris Brown said to me five years ago when I was 82, -“What are you going to do with the next 30 years?”  

It’s interesting to look at your life in 30-year blocks of time an to get to a point where you get to live the next 30 years in pretty much the way you’d like it to be creatively.

I have two words of advice.  Keep your body in shape and go exploring…

If you don’t have to earn an income,  the whole world is open to you. If you have an entrepreneurial bent, ditto.  
So there are several questions you need to ask yourself.

  • Do I want to work with other people or work alone?
  • Do I want to work with beginner or advanced?
  • Of all the interests I have, what calls to me most right now?
  • What skills do I need to learn and can I begin to learn them now?

That’s just a place to begin.  As you explore you will change your mind.  And the beautiful thing is, if you are not focused on bringing in income, you get to do exactly what you want to do. In my case I get to write about what I want to learn.   And my podcasts are nurturing my soul.

There is one other step.  How do you want to share with others what you are going to do next?

Posts, podcasts, videos, Zoom groups, offering your work online – art, books ,music.  You do want to offer what you create.  You have no idea whose heart you will touch, whose life you will affect when you offer your heart’s message to the world. 

I think it’s important to give away some of what you create in this wonderful, open period of exploration you are undertaking. The response you receive will begin to tell what resonates.  When you know you are touching the lives of others it warms your heart and makes you appreciate your own value in the world.

In retirement, you will be given a gift of time – time to explore and discover and share what you learn.  

Your retirement years are meant to be productive – an acute time of exchanging energy with others on your path.  What are you going to do with your next 30 years?

***
Outer Work
MONEY MANAGEMENT

20 years ago in a talk given in my woman’s group in Santa Rosa, California, a financial member suggested we have two savings accounts.  One to save up for large yearly payments and emergencies and a second one not to be touched.  Sort of a hidden asset account.  

As I was rearranging my money this month I realized that the first account that saves up for yearly payments and unexpected expenses represents safety, it is meant to be used for both the planned and the unexpected.  

The second account is for security. I put something in it every month. It may also come to represent  puree self-indulgence at some point…

The first month after my divorce when I alone was responsible for caring for my children, I ran out of food money. We literally put water on our cereal.  From then on I wrote out my weekly food checks in advance and knew that I could only spend that much that week.  

Now I use a spreadsheet to plan or my savings and my spending but the budgeting is the same.  I have a plan for what will be needed and saving goals for yearly bills.  Then I have my “dealer’s choice” savings account.

What kind of a financial handing system do you want to put into place? Give some thought to how your needs have changed and what you need to do to stay safe.

***
HOW DO THE GEESE KNOW?

I heard geese flying south this week, honking loudly as they flew over. Going where it is warmer for the winter.  How do they know?  Does their inner clock say this is a new season, time for a change?

How am I to get ready for the winter months? It is a time for shorter days, warmer clothes, and perhaps more contemplating. That works.

When I was a young wife and mother I loved to garden and each winter I would pour over the seed catalogs to see what I wanted to plant in the spring. I even started seeds indoors to get an early start. I loved doing that planning  So what if we each paused right now to look over our personal seed catalog for possibilities to see what we want to plant in the next growing season? What would you order?

I would order a willingness to move my body more. Whether that has to come in some new excise video I discover online or a daily use of my walking sticks, I will have to decide.  But I will put that intention on my pending order. Perhaps I will order several varieties of movement.

I would like to be surprised in the coming season.  It may be something I learn, a new skill I acquire, a new friend I meet.  I will plant a package of surprise seeds and see what I get.

And then there are the old favorites, the perennials if you will.  My writing has matured into podcasts.  My newsletter is now archived on my web site.  I have started a new weekly inspiration note. I have a strong group of friends who nurture and support ad interest me.  I’ll take good care of those. 

The geese know.  They know it is a time for contemplation, for looking at what worked and what didn’t, to know what to leave behind and what to carry with them.   

The geese seem to know it is a change of seasons. What will change for you? 

***
OUR GLOBAL DEPER SONG

I am both touched and honored by your presence. You come from all over the planet and as I receive a notice of each new Deeper Song Member and where you are from I wonder how you found me and I am very glad you did.  We are a global community.  As we each work to raise our vibration we are connecting more strongly with each other and we keep deepening the layer of light energy that we are offering our planet. Our collective work is powerful. Our individual work creates change.  I am honored to be a place holder for us to come together in deep, deep service. Together we create change.

***
THE POWER OF PERSISTENCE

I needed to figure out how to do one thing – make the control edition screen in Garage Band bigger so I could see to edit my podcast.  I made it bigger before and every thought I have crib sheets for the editing shortcuts, I didn’t have this one on it.  I had no choice but to figure it out because I could not see to edit the waveforms. 

I spent nearly 30 minutes looking at tutorials and reading the help library in GarageBand, and I greatly wished I could remember how to make that portion of the screen bigger.

So I persisted.  I was not angry, or upset, just dogged determined.  

And of course, when I found it, it was very, very, very simple – Command, Control, and Arrow up or down…I know that.  We all know that. I had just not made the connection to use that in GarageBand. 

But this is about persistence – whatever it is within you that makes you keep going, keep looking,  keep trying.  It’s a good quality to have.  It will solve lots of your problems and strengthen your journey.

Don’t give up.

***

DEEPER SONGS I HEARD THIS WEEK

Stunning space photos taken from a man’s back yard.

The Shift Summit and Music Festival, September 18-21.
My Qi Gong teacher Daisy Lee has a segment as does my drum and flute teacher Christens Stevens.  Michael  Beckwith is always good –  see what calls to you is always good and… cheek it out and 

Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation is a foundational book for learning to do shamanic journeying.

***
OUR EVOLVING FUTURE

We all agreed to come into this lifetime in order to do specific jobs – to be part of the evolving landscape.  I’m not sure any of us expected it to be this dramatic. But we are up to the task.  We are stepping forward. We are raising our vibration and bringing others with us. 

This week I launched a new offering – Mindful Moments – an opportunity for you to pause and go within and simply be.  All our answers lay within – in our most inner knowing.  

As this new era evolves, we will be shown our role and how we are to begin to put those steps into place.   First, we work on our self. Then that change begins to radiate out to the awareness of others and they see in themselves the opportunity to change 

Keep radiating out your highest vibration.  That will change our world. 

***
THE REFLECTING POOL
“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop” – Rumi

As we move into fall it is a powerful time to connect with nature – how she lets go of what is no longer needed, how she lets seeds drop to the gourd to come alive in the spring.  It is a time for releasing, a time of letting ideas marinate and ripen. 

Look for beliefs you might leave behind.  Look for projects that could use a little distance on them in order to take them to their next level. But most of all, leave behind anything that no longer serves you –  beliefs ideas, grudges, fears, Just put them down., leave them behind  The path will be easier without them.

***
CARA’S CORNER
THE POWER OF BEING ECLECTIC

I unexpectedly had an email exchange with a friend about plants and I realized I know a great deal about plants and was once an enthusiastic gardener.  And the world eclectic came to mind. It means a “broad and diverse range of sources.” “Extensive, comprehensive” are other words to describe eclectic.   

It means I’ve been an enthusiastic explorer of many of things all my life. And have had a very good time doing it. 

Curiosity has been a cornerstone of my life accompanied by enthusiasm and a love of learning.  Add to that my gift of seeing the overview and it allows me to make some interesting philosophical connections.  

Pause a moment and perhaps make a list of all the things you have explored in your lifetime.  It’s not about being good at it, it’s about exploring it, experiencing it, trying it out.  

I had a horse of my own during high school.  I have shown a Kerry Blue Terrier to his championship.  I organized a Picture Lady program so well in my school district that the Nelson Gallery of Art in Kansas City took it on as a project.  I have been a copywriter and a television talent. I have been in plays. And I worked with a lot of men with AIDS in NYC when the epidemic first began.  I learned to make silver jewelry and clay sculptures in NYC. And I taught Reiki to lots of people. 

All of the varied things you have done in your life have contributed to who you are today. 

A story popped into my mind just now.  When I was ten or twelve or so, my mother took m sister and me blackberry picking.  It was NOT fun because the bushes were scratchy.  I complained. My mother said, “It builds character.” So a lot of things we do are simply meant to help build a frame of reference, an experience upon which to base future decisions.  We like it, we don’t like it. It is easy. It is hard.  You don’t know until you go exploring. 

What are you willing to explore this month that you have never tried before but would like to experience?  

Go do that. 

***
A DEEPER SONG

Do you know what you are?
You are a manuscript of a divine letter.
You are a mirror reflecting a noble face. 
The universe it not outside of you
Look inside yourself;
everything that you want, you are already that.”
– Rumi

Keep singing a deeper song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song 
I help those seeking to sing a deeper song to expand their relationship with the Unseen world.

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

Lobbing Light Balls

By

Lobbing Light Balls

Insights OF A Deeper Song

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

Sometimes I sit here and watch so many disruptions all over the planet that I feel inadequate to do anything –  until I remember light balls.  I can lob light nalls any place I want – like LeBron James or Step Curry, just making one ringer after another.  

A light ball is just that – light.  It carries with it a higher vibration that enables us wherever are, each and every one of us, to send light vibrational energy anyplace we choose. We have forgotten sometimes that when we are only aware of ourselves as human bodies, we feel restricted in our power.  Until we remember that we are actually energy. We can use energy to change our environment and our experiences.

So for me, the prospect of a lobbing a light ball is to bring some light to the darkness, some compassion and inclusion, and right action into a situation or a place. You get the picture – a light ball goes and does what light does – it raises the vibration and reminds us that we are all one energy. 

Pretty powerful stuff. 

Sometimes I lob a lot of light balls in one direction.  Sometimes I toss more light balls than at other times but the intention is the same – to remind us all that we are one whole interconnected vibration. That there is no difference and we harm ourselves when we harm others.  

A lot of powerful results come from lobbing a few light balls. 

I have also been know to toss a light ball up in the air and then stand under it till it bops me on the head and I get it!

Sure, I could attach a strong intention, but light is light and it is whole and that’s what I want to send – the awareness of, the feeling of, the knowledge of our oneness, our wholeness, our existence as one energy. 

A light ball.  Lob a light ball…

I suppose we could make them colored, but I’ll leave that up to the light ball.  And since I send it with my intention, I don’t even have to be a particularly good shot  – it knows where it is to go.

Next time you are feeling a tad helpless, get out our bag go light balls and like a ball throwing machine, start tossing them out into our world with the intention that those who see them and are ready, will recognize that light within themselves and will join in the collective consciousness that is forming a layer of light around our planet.  

Where will you lob light balls today?

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I raise my vibration and intentionally lob light bells 
into troubling situations in the world.  

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • It only takes a second to lob a light ball.  One thought, one intention and it’s done.
  • Lob a light ball at the news.  Lob it out int the world. Toss one up in the air and stand under it till it bops you on the head…
  • It’s not about looking for negative energy, it is about encouraging you to feel that you are working for a higher good and it is effective. 
  • Keep lobbing light balls 

***
MY DEEPER SONG THIS WEEK
How to Reframe to Get Better ResultsAdventures in the Unseen World

This was a huge, life-changing discovery. Change is as simple as reframing how you see it. That means all you have to do is reframe the perceived problem in order to get different results. 

What needs to change? Could it be me?

(Read More)

***
Inner Work
STOP JUDGING YOURSELF

It’s a funny thing about being creative, you just have to let it flow. You have to trust what you create. You have to understand that the mere act of creating is honing a skill, clarifying your thought process.  

None of that can happen if you judge yourself during the creative process. You are not creating a final product, you are simply creating, you are exploring, you are expressing yourself, your feelings, your thoughts, your understanding, your passion. You are simply expressing yourself creatively – however it turns out. It’s the process that creates the change in you. 

Once you birth it, once you allow your creativity to flow and immerse yourself in that magnificent discovery process, then you can return to strengthen it. Just don’t stop the creative flow.  It is a free-flowing, reckless, exciting process that lets you bring up ideas from your deepest self.  If you get out of the way.  

The more you listen, the more you hear.

I’m at the point where not only do I close my eyes and type when I write, I close my eyes and type when I take a shamanic journey.  There is no judgment. I am strongly in the present moment and act as a conduit, a passageway for my inner wisdom to express herself. 

The more you listen the more you hear.

When I write a first draft, I do not craft it, I simply shut my eyes and type what shows up.  I simply capture my thoughts and go deeper to listen. 

In my podcast scripts, I have a template that asks for three points. Can you bring your idea down to three points?  If not you have several scripts ideas. 

If it feels right to you, release it into the world.  Fortunately, since I’m not selling anything, I get to write what I want.  However, I do listen to what you respond to in order to identify a need I may want to address.  

Listening is an important part of creation. Keep listening and don’t judge.  Just listen and see what is offered by your inner wisdom, your inner voice – the Unseen World. 

I like what I write so in one sense I write to please myself. I learn from what I write so I  am teaching myself. And people read and listen – or they don’t. I hope they do…

Again, I’m not trying to sell anything. But we all want to reach others.  We all want to make others think or feel.  So we do care.  But we cannot please everyone, only the people we reach with our hearts. 

Let the rest go.  Focus on those who are drawn to you and your work and your light.  Let the rest go. It is not yours to do. Follow your own calling.

***
Outer Work
PUT IT IN PERSPECTIVE

We get to keep things in perspective by doing a periodic reality check.

I can record a new podcast in 20 minutes. I can edit one in 45 minutes.  That affects how I think about those tasks and where I schedule them.  Writing them takes days because I need space between drafts to get some distance on what I wrote and come back to it with fresh eyes.  But I work ahead and there is no pressure.

It really helps when I take time to gain perspective on something I keep putting off.  I live in an apartment.  If I divide the tasks, there is not a lot of floor space to either sweep or wash. That was a game-changer for me.  Break a task up into small segments, set aside 20 minutes and just do it.  

Reframe what you need to do.   Approach it in smaller segments.  Washing my crystals can be a most lovely time of holding each one and talking to it.  I can make the cleaning a ceremony of blessing. What a lovely experience to create.

Take small steps a lot of times.  If I tidy or clean a surface in my kitchen every time I go in, it will be sparkling in no time.

I often wait until I am “in the mood” but stepping up to put in 20 minutes on something I’ve been putting off will carry me a long way forward.

Look at how little time it takes to do some of the things you have been putting off and see how that changes how you approach it. 

Put it in perspective and watch it become easier. 

***
ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR PROGRESS

At the end of every month, or the beginning of each new one, acknowledge your progress. It gives you an awareness of your success ad insights into what you may want change.  

Perhaps start a journal on your computer.  Your self-acknowledgment can be something you discovered, received, achieved, or let go of that month.

Then explore what you experienced and journal how it changed you.

***
AN ECLECTIC USE OF YOUR TIME

It occurred to me that I “waste” time.  And that may be simply a judgment call. 

I feel productive when I am at my computer making stuff up.  But it’s the break times that I could be put to better use. I need to find an alternate use of time besides listening to news and playing Spider Solitaire.  Truly I do.

How balanced are your choices when it comes to time?  We do need a change of pace.  But instead of going from one chair to another I could  – stand up and do something – exercise, dance, clean something.  I am not using some of my time well and I would like to change that.  

I’m going to add some music in the mix – more than my flute playing, I have an Om Bhur Chant that takes me want to dance.  I will find a time to play it each day and wiggle away.  

When I gave talks or learned lines for a play, I always reheard standing up because it is understood that you learn better when you engage your whole body.  I could memorize some of the quotes I love, particularly from Stephen Mitchel’s translation of the Tao Te Ching or bi of Emerson because I am deeply touched by them. I could see myself practicing those quotes with great gusto and movement.  Acting them out with my whole body as I learn them. It would be a form of exercise.

I could do mindful chi walking when I go to get the mail. I could even dance down the hall when no one is looking.  I could sing while I clean. You get the idea – use your imagination to create a change of pace in our life  – a more eclectic use of your time. 

***
FOUNDATIONAL INSIGHTS FROM PAST POSTS AND PODCASTS

18-How Your Light Has Illuminated Darkened Paths

28-How To Walk Beside Someone in Service

Are You a Ripple of Hope

***
SUPPORT YOUR BASE

Whether you are in business for yourself or choose to apply this concept to your friends and family, it is important to support your base. 

Christine Stevens of Upbeat Drum Circles does this magnificently.  She has been my teacher for both drumming and native flutes, but what she does so well is to send videos – support videos, encouragement vides, experiential videos – often.  It can be a video of her playing her flute in the g gorgeous mountains where she lives.  Recently it was a drumming video about breathing.

She continues to offer value so when it comes time to pay for a new course, I know it will be valuable.  

But what made me want to share this is that as she continues to support us – her community. Her videos also serve to remind us of her place of service in our lives. 

I think I’m doing that with this newsletter.  I share my eclectic life lessons and awareness in hopes some of it will resonate and help you create positive change. 

For those of you with entrepreneurial web sites figure out what your regular gift/reminder will be and at least offer something monthly.  

I know several major players who offer a monthly newsletter.  I think Christine puts out a new video every two weeks.  Begin to build a body of work on your web site and in the process figure out your message and the way you will continue to offer active support to those you desire to serve.

Explore the formats – video, podcast, newsletter, posts.  Begin with something you would enjoy producing and start doing it. You will get better with the doing. 

Look at how much time you can spend to create an outreach to your base and choose your format accordingly. 

Outreach is important in today’s stay at home, too much information stage.  What can you offer that will change the lives of the people you serve?  Start doing that.

And send me a link so I can subscribe…

***

TIP THE SCALE WHERE IT IS TIP-ABLE.

Some battles are meant to be fought, some are meant to be worked around. 

I’m a liberal sitting here in the conservative mid-west.  I have to go online to talk with like-minded friends.  It occurred to me that one of the things we each could do is to support a national organization in a more active manner than money.  We could immerse ourselves in the energy of like-minded people through violent work.  That would feel both supportive and powerful. I’m not talking giving money here, I’m talking service.  Service in which you get to interact with other like-minded people who are passionate about the change they are helping to create.  Look at your skills and your passion and go find a place of service where you can combine with the energy of others to truly tip the scales where they are tip-able. 

***
THE PWOER OF A STRUGGLE

“Struggles shape you toward  your purpose.”  – Chadwick Boseman. 

I heard this statement in a clip from a speech he gave at Howard University and it put “struggle” in a different space for me. “Struggle” means “to strive, to try harder, to do your best.”

Those are all good experiences to have. Periodically I watch myself persevere with great tenacity.  It’s usually about figuring out something technical I need for my work, but I am persistent, I do not give up and ultimately I succeed.  

What have you pushed through recently? What have you persisted in doing when it seemed discouragingly difficult?  And how has that changed you?

What is your purpose?  How have and are your struggles bringing you closer to success?

***
OUR EVOLVING FUTURE 

Our actions affect our own lives, but even more than that, our actions affect those who come after us. We leave a legacy, whatever we do. That means with each choice we must think beyond ourselves to those who follow.  What are we leaving to them?   

That makes every choice a big one – for the effect, it has on us and the repercussions it has on those who follow. 

Choose wisely. With increasing awareness.

***
THE REFLECTING POOL


Change

Yellow-brown leaves lie scattered on the ground,
A signal of the end
And of the beginning.

What do I need to let go
in order to move on?
I look closely within
and lay some of my burdens on the path beside me. 
I stand up straighter now 
with less to carry. 
I walk more briskly 
with a lighter load.

What yellow-brown beliefs and expectations 
are you ready to leave behind?

T’is a new season. 
A time of harvest. 
A time for gratitude
And reflection.
The end of a season.
The beginning of a new cycle. 

Greet it with open arms. 
And move forward into the new adventure. 

– Cara Lumen 2020

***
CARA’S CORNER

A CEREMONIAL PAUSE

I love tea and this week I ordered four new teas from Starwest Botanicals. My favorites are Yerba Mate and   Long Life for my morning tea.  I now have Afternoon Delight for an afternoon pause and a  Calming Rest for watching Rachael Maddow (which is a bit of an oxymoron.)  I  now have Matcha which I will explore. I have visions of taking lovely, mindful, replenishing pauses in my day.

Then I journeyed and was given the idea to turn those tea times into a ceremony.  I will make up a ceremony or two.  Morning tea would be about blessing my body and gratitude for my creativity.  Afternoon tea would be a deliberate turning off of my mind to look out the window and be with nature. Evening tea would be acknowledging the blessings of the day and opening the door to some lucid dreaming.

Watchful pauses – aware pause. Drink mindfully, walk mindfully, speak mindfully, feel, mindfully, go within n and see what your inner voice suggests, what our body might want, what the practice of taking those long slow breaths releases, and frees up.  

A pause.  Make it a distinct and mindful pause.  

In the 80’s I temped at Este Lauder Cosmetics for a while.  I used to walk across Central Park to get there. There were mostly women executives which was extremely unusual at the time.  I remember one vice president always sopped at 4 pm and had her Pierre with lemon. No calls, no interruptions.  She mindfully took 15 minutes each day to let go and recenter herself.   

Sometimes it helps just to stop what you are doing and shut off your mind and look out the window.  

We could all use more of that. 

Establish some mindful, self-care pauses in your day and sink yourself into them.  Changing your rhythm will change the tonality of what to experience when you return to your work. 

Take time for a positive pause – several times each a day.

***
A DEEPER SONG
The quieter you come the more our will be able to hear – Rumi

Keep singing a deeper song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song 
I help those seeking to sing a deeper song to expand their relationship with the Unseen world.
Please forward this newsletter to a friend and suggest they
Join the Deeper Song Community

Dance With the Harmonies Within

By

Dance With the Harmonies Within

Insights Of A Deeper Song

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

In stillness you will hear it.  In nature, you will be aware of it.  Your intuition is one of its voices. We each have harmonies within us, and we are each to play our own tune to those harmonies.  

But first we listen.

Wha is the rhythm of your day? If you have control over the rhythm, what do you want it to be – how fast, how slow, how stimulating, how restful?  We get to choose our rhythm and we use our inner voice to hear the harmonies within us and respond to them.

There is structure in the harmonies we hear within.  There is a beginning, a middle  and an end. There is a crescendo and a decrescendo.  There is phasing with alternating soft notes and bright notes, fast notes and slow notes. We have but to listen and we will be able to dance to our inner harmony.  

We are to find our own balance. We cannot dance jigs all day, and we need to cultivate moments of stillness, of awareness, of inner peace.  We need balance in our inner rhythms. 

We are to write our own composition each day.   We are to compose our own score and we are to perform our unique composition.  

How do you choose the tone for tour day?  Do you wake up with time to luxuriate in preparing your body for its day, time to meditate, or move your body in gratitude for its strength?  Perhaps you put those experiences later in your day.  Where you put them is not as important as that you do indeed find time for these rhythms of self-care – the inner and the outer.  

Breath sets the tone, the rhythm, the mood.  It is a way to find stillness and centeredness in a given moment. Get in the habit of taking several conscious, centering breaths after completing a task and before tuning to a new one.  Perhaps identify specific times during your day when you tun and look out the window at be with nature, even if all you can see is a little sky and a wandering cloud.   Take a moment to be that cloud, floating carefree in space.  Perhaps pause for a mindful stretching of your body to remind it of its strength and power and flexibility.  We get to sprinkle these moments of centering throughout your day.  Where are you putting your moments of serenity,  your moments of awareness, a pause to honor your body?  Each moment spent on self-centering creates more balance in all other areas of your day.  Begin with breathing. Use mindful breathing to find stillness. Then see what is suggested from that quiet place.

Pay attention to what you are to leave out, what you need to add, and notice how replenishing the steps you do take are. Adjust as desired. 

It takes only a moment of stillness to open the door to the new awareness.  Choose those moments often and see how differently your day unfolds. 

We begin with our senses in mindful stillness.  What do you want your day to feel like, to look like?  What are those experiences for you?  I want today to be a series of flowing and southing energies that leave in their wake great productivity of enormously unique quality. You know, start with the simple stuff. 

Move into stillness. After I capture that first draft I can move into stillness. After reading my email I can pause to breathe and center myself for my day.  I can pause and tune into my inner self and see what calls to me to do next.   When I leave my desk for a break I thank my inner self for its creativity and guidance and for encouraging me to be ready for the next cycle of movement and choice. 

Listen to what you are given, what thoughts, what ideas what new circumstances.  Contemplate them, observe them, adjust them, and see where and how and if you want to add any of them to your day.  

I am going to add more still points in m day, each time I sit at my desk I will pause to ask my inner voice what I am to do next.   Each time I stop what I am doing, I offer gratitude for what has unfolded so far.  I just sit and listen and receive and then I act.  That’s how I listen to my inner voice. That’s how I listen to the Harmonies within.  That’s how I dance my inner calling.  I move to my still point and listen.

In a shamanic journey, my guide said, “ Listen within. Listen to the harmonies within, the structure within, the balance within.  And write your own musical score. Rehearse it, strengthen it  Perform it.”  

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I consciously take moments to move within during my day and make choices from the wisdom and insights it offers.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Notice the moments of stillness you have created in our day. 
  • Notice how you feel when you move into that stillness with a deeper awareness. 
  • Add moments of purposeful contemplation to find our point of stillness.  Let everything else be laid aside.  Simply be.  Go where your inner voice takes you. 
  • Pause for moments of thoughtful awareness throughout your day. 

***

MY DEEPER SONG THIS WEEK

How to Direct Energy Outside of Time and Space

An Exploration of the Unseen World

If you have ever felt powerless, you need to understand how to send energy outside of time and space – to the past – to the future – to the present – to pave the way or heal the wounds or simply gain clarity in the moment.

In this episode we explore

How to Direct Energy Outside of Time and Space

(20 minutes)

LISTEN HERE

(TRANSCRIPT)

Listen to
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify /Google

***

Inner Work

DEEPEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

I’ve been a vegetarian for 40 years and a vegan for 8.  I know to give thanks for the people who grow the food and the people who brought it to me, but I’m going to add another ritual to my meal preparation – a ritual of asking permission. 

The Indian cultures know to bless the spirit of the animal that gives its life for their food and shelter.  I don’t know for certain, but I imagine they blessed a tree before they cut it down for a fire or a structure. They are very attuned to the voices of nature. I have often thought about the spirit of a plant. I know they heal us.  I know they are willing to be made into other things like a tree becomes a house and a branch becomes a native flute. But I have never created a ritual around consuming a living plant in order to simply nourish myself. 

I’m not even certain what it wold look like, but I like the idea.

It is about transforming energy so I might thank my carrot or my tomato for its willingness to transform its energy into my energy and perhaps share with it what we will do together.  Food wants to be useful too.

I’m going to make some potato soup today.  I will thank the potato and the onions and whatever else I put into it and perhaps even tell them the plans I have for the energy we create together. 

How will you honor the food you eat?

***

Outer Work

CHOOSE TO CHANGE

We have an outstanding opportunity in this changing environment to reposition ourselves.  Who do you want to serve?  What do they need that you can offer?  How effective is this choice?

Who do you want to serve? 

Do you want beginner or advanced?  That’s a huge first choice.  I want to move pro-active, curious, evolved people forward so we both travel together. Do you want to work with people who are struggling, or people at a timing point to success, or help successful people fly higher?  What do you want to help people do?

What do they need that you can offer?  

I personally want to keep exploring the Unseen World so that’s what I want to share. I have written a lot of posts and podcasts on personal growth concepts so I have begun a curation segment in this newsletter to support that part of our journey.  And I have to keep an eye on the changing world and see what I need to address there.   

How can you help? What do they need what do you want to provide? 

How effective is this choice?

We also want to earn money in all this.  So part of our decision for the kind of change we will make, is how it provides the basics we need.  How has your idea of “basics” changed right now? 

Go exploring

As we deal with this evolving change, new businesses are goiter to appear.  Some businesses are going to no longer exist.  As New  York Governor Andrew Como said, “Think outside the box. There is no box.”

What would your like your world to look like?  How do you see your role?

But most of all, who do you want to serve? Begin there.

***

TRAVELER 

By Antonio Machado

TRAVELER – Video

Traveler, your footsteps are the road

There is nothing more. 

Traveler there is no road

The road is made by walking. 

Walking makes the road.

And if you turn around you only see the path you can never walk again.

Traveler, there is no road, only a trace of foam upon the sea.

Shared by Deeper Song Community Member Mary Elaine Kiener, RN, PhD

As a person with a lot of footsteps behind her, this poem made me cry.  We have only this moment and this one.  This is where we live, not back there, or in what’s ahead. The past is dissolving behind us and we have only to choose our next step.  

Step with awarenss.  Step with purity of choice.  That next step is what matters most.  It becomes your path.

***

WHEN THE TIMING IS RIGHT

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.  Trust that.  Look around at what is showing up and see if it is for you.  If it is the right time for you to explore that particular direction. 

Exploring is a key step to moving forwards and it has to go hand in hand with discernment.  Does this really call to you?  Does this call deeply enough to you?  DO I already have enough knowledge on that particular subject? 

I mentioned that last year I thought sound healing was going to be an emphasis for me.  It’s not, it is only a part of what I do now.   Trust the evolution of your interest. Study what calls to you and periodically pause to see where that path has led you and see if it is still going the dire ion you want to go.  

And look for your next teacher.  She/he is ready when you are ready. 

***

CONSIDER THIS

Meet Beyond Our Differences

You Are Never Separate

Your Duty is to Be

***

FIND THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM  

The copy for the class said, “Tight hamstrings and weak hip flexors are the cause of many people’s lower back problems and body stiffness, but it’s also the area that many people overlook when stretching.”

I realized that for all the fussing I’ve been doing about my posture, I had not focused on the core weakness.  It changed my approach to correcting my posture.

What is out of balance in your life or your body?  What is the cause of your imbalance? It is not going to be the obvious, it’s going to call for deeper exploration. 

I actually know where the hip flexors and hamstrings are.  They play a strong roll in the mobility of your hips.  I’m not going to take this class because it calls for a mat and I can barely do bed yoga, but I will go exploring and find moves I can do.  

Give change time to manifest.  This course also called for 15 minutes a day fo exercise.  That undoubtedly means warm-up and challenge and cool down.  It’s the ask-more-of-your body part that I need to do better at doing.  

Strengthen your foundation.  Strengthen your core.  Whether it is your body or a skill set you need for your work, get better at it.  Keep learning, keep practicing, keep challenging yourself. 

***

THOROUGHLY PLEASING

In Chris Brogan’s newsletter, he wrote, “Imagine thoroughly pleasing several hundred people. Or a thousand. And that being enough.”

I really like the idea of “thoroughly pleasing” a few hundred people.  I feel I am doing that and that allows me to take you on an ever-deepening journey.  I get to listen and respond to you and let newcomers come in as they are called to a particular aspect.  

“Thoroughly pleasing.”   That means shining light on your path that helps you see all the possibilities. It means offering you tools that make the journey easier.  It means exploring various side roads and reporting back in case you too are interested.  It means that whatever I offer enriches your life experience and offers you insights that raise your sights and their expectations.

“And let that be enough.”   

That shifts my focus.  Rather than focusing on the task of drawing more people in, I get to focus on where I  am guiding the people who have found me.  It makes me feel content and joyous that I am touching the lives I am meant to in a meaningful way. 

How are you “thoroughly pleasing” the people you serve?

***

DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING

When you come up against a stuck place, stop, take a deep breath, and do the next right things.  

What are your choices?   What are you to do?  Not what looks like will happen, but what is present, in front of you rings now.  Do you leave? Do you stay?  Do you let go?  Do you draw it closer? Do you simply go within and wait until an answer appears?

What is the next right thing for you to do?

***

YOUR PANDEMIC HOBBY

What are you doing with all this time you now have? Or this rearranged time you now have?  Do you have a new hobby? Are you following a longed-for passion?

My passion is not cooking but I am working on upgrading how I feed myself. 

I am improving my mind by continuing to get better at editing in GarageBand. 

I am nurturing my inner self in many ways – my flutes in particular.

I could read some of those books that await me.  I could learn to use my phone better and my tablet.  I could sketch my journeys more often.  

What do you want to learn? It doesn’t make any difference what the outcome is, learning is the fun part.

Is there some hobby you want to share with those you live with?  Build a bird house and paint it. Learn to knit. Or crochet. Or bake. Or can.  It doesn’t have to be practical, it just has to be about learning something new. 

I’m glad I can entertain myself with my mind. We have stellar times together.

What new skills do you want to develop? I remember watching about 20 hours of tutorial on creating a podcast by Pat Flynn. (He still offers it)  I recently watched videos on editing in GarageBand and chair exercises for hip flexors.  I could learn to listen to an audiobook. I’m very much a visual learner but maybe I could actually listen to a fictional story for a change.  That would be novel.  

I have over 150 crystals that would all love to talk to me individually.  I want to create some new patterns around cleaning and exercising.  And reaching my point of stillness, and connecting with nature and…

How are you entertaining yourself with this new pattern of time?

***

DEEPER SONGS I HEARD THIS WEEK

How to Master the Ancient Art of Walking Meditation in Modern Life

Plant Medicine for Modern Epidemics Summit– at no charge: Augusts 24-28.

Talk about change: Stylish Tiny Homes Are Now Being 3D-Printed In 24 Hours And Shipped to Your Site

***

IS YOUR WORK MEANINGFUL?

Or is it just a paycheck?  Whatever your work, it needs to nurture you and nourish you and motivate you and inspire you and give you a sense of accomplishment when it is complete.

Don’t settle.  I moved to New  York with what I thought was an intention to pursue theater. That meant I did temp work so in case I got acting work, I could leave.  Boy was that about settling.  I could type 80 words a minute (that’s fast) but all I was doing was copying someone else’s work.  No, it was not satisfying.  It was not until I begin to learn energy work like Reiki that my life took on great meaning, regardless of how I brought in the income. 

Follow your heart. This is an incredible, and very challenging time to find the work of your heart.  

What will you do to make your work more meaningful?

***

OUR EVOLVING FUTURE

Use what you have. Because this is senior housing we have access to a food bank delivery once a month.  We never know what will be delivered. I get big bags of apples and potatoes and onions.  I have to get creative on how I use them. 

I am going to make soups and freeze them. I am going to make chop up vegetable combinations for stir-fries and freeze those.  That means that I have to spend some time chopping and freezing but I will be able to use it all.

So here’s what I am learning.  Applesauce can be made with three ingredients in 25 minutes and it can be frozen!!!!  All I have to do is spend an hour chopping up this with bag of apples and I’m set. 

The point is that when you take time to get creative and put in  little time you will save a LOT of money.  

Explore your seasonings and cook with what appeals to you.  Chop and freeze so you have a good selection.  

***

KEEP PRACTICING

One thing about practicing, you get better at what you are doing.  In one day, this week, I recored two podcasts and edited one.  I would have edited two but I hit some button I should not have in Garage Band and had to go study some tutorials. It thankfully self-corrected when I opened up garage Band a second time.  However,  I have no clue what to do if it happens again beause I have no idea what I did to cause it.  I’ll just be more careful when I set it up and push only the buttons I know.  

The sense of accomplishment was huge.  I am ahead of my scheduled.  That takes some pressure off.  So I will keep planing on doubling up on recording and editing.

I recored better so the editing is easier.  As the speaker I have learned to make a clear pause around a mistake because as an editor, space gives me room to edit.

Be patient with yourself but keep on practicing.  It does get easier – and easier.  

***

DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

The Yoga practice of alternate nostril breathing (Nadi Shodhana) offers instant centering and calmness. 

  • Sit up straight, eyes closed, and close your right nostril with your right thumb.
  • Slowly inhale through your left nostril.
  • Close your left nostril with your ring finger and briefly pause.
  • Open your right nostril, and release your breath slowly through the right side.
  • Pause at the bottom of the exhale and then repeat on the right side.
  • Alternate this breathing pattern, 5-10 cycles.

***

THE REFLECTING POOL

The Master allows things to happen. 

She shapes events as they come. 

She steps out of the way and 

lets the Tao speak for itself.

   -Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell @quotes

“Shapes events as they come” is an interesting way to live.  It’s about allowing life to unfold, opportunities to present themselves for options, and a deep trust that whatever shows up is exactly right. Can you step aside and let life unfold?

***

CARA’S CORNER

Nurture Stillness in Your life

“Nurture” means “to care for, to encourage growth.” How do nurture stillness in our life?

How do you experience stillness?  

You stop what you are doing.  You quiet your mind, perhaps with long long slow breaths and you turn and look out at nature.  And emerge yourself in that ebb and flow that is at the core of everything.

Stillness is about being still but it can also be a moment to change your rhythm.  For instance, I often stop to play my flutes.  Their vibration centers me.  I look out the window and play to the branches of my birch treen dancing in the wind.

I may take a shamanic journey to listen more closely to my voice within. 

Lately, I have learned to go deeper.  It has come with practice and a willingness to let go of what I am doing and what I am thinking.  In particular, for me, it means to quiet my mind. 

I use a series of quieting conscious beaches.  Focusing on my breath quiets my mind and my body.

The secret is to do a centering process often during your day. Sometimes that means a change in activities, sometimes it means the prompt is the hands on the clock. The catch is to remember to do it – to pause, to notice where you are, and to connect with our place in nature.  

I plan to get better at this. I keep looking for reminders. I keep experimenting with how to achieve that inner stillness.  

Stop now and breathe in to the court of 5, hold for a count of 5 and exhale for a count of five.  Repeat 3-5 times until you have stilled your awareness of the world and are firmly centered in stillness. 

***

A DEEPER SONG 

I’m a candle. Light comes out as I burn.” – Rumi

Keep singing a deeper song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song 

I help those seeking to sing a deeper song to expand their relationship with the Unseen world.

Please forward this newsletter to a friend and suggest they

Join the Deeper Song Community