Cara Lumen | Sing a Deeper Song

Sing a Deeper Song

Our Luminous Legacy

Journeys of a Spiritual Heart

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Journeys of a Spiritual Heart
An Inner World Exploration

The words were given to me in a shamanic journey – “journeys of a spiritual heart”.  That’s what my work is, an inner search into the realms within and a return with guidance and insights that will enrich and deepen the spiritual lives of those who see my light.

The spiritual heart is expansive

The spiritual heart covers everything – all of nature, all of the planet, the universe, all beings, including the smallest microbe.  The spiritual heart includes it all and permeates it all.

The spiritual heart is inclusive

As a human in a body suit, I have to practice using my spiritual heart because it is inclusive – inclusive of everyone and everything. As a human, I can’t always do that. That doesn’t mean I have to move to a lower level; it simply means I must shine my inner light brighter and stronger and longer so that someone who is searching can see a ray of light and bring it into their own heart. What they do with it then is their choice.  But my light, and that of others like me, will always be there for guidance.  And hope.

Practice using your spiritual heart

In a quiet place, every day, sit with your spiritual heart.  Feel it.  Let it radiate into your body until you’re filled with light.  Let it move into the room where you are, to the land you are on, the community where you live and … you get the picture – sit there and shine and shine and shine, allowing your light to increase, to become stronger and more far-reaching.  Every day.  Practice radiating.  Practice shining the light of your spiritual heart out into your world. 

It will join with others to deepen and broaden the spiritual light that comes from other spiritual hearts who are radiating through the world.  

Be light.  You are light.  Radiate it out to share with the world.

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:

Our Defense of Non-Existent Boundaries 

 Do You See and Hear and Walk in a Sacred Manner?

Are You Sacred Space? 

Where Do You Find Your Inner Circle of Light Beings? 

Expand Your Spiritual Heart 

Life Messages from a Potter

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Life Messages from a Potter
An Inner-World Exploration

I took a course in clay sculpture a long time ago in New York City.  I remember rolling the clay into “snakes” and then weaving them in a circle to make a bowl.  I remember looking at a live model and managing to mold a small figure.  The instructions were to cut away what was not needed.  

Cut away what is not needed

Now there’s an amazing life lesson! What are you carrying around in your life that you no longer need, or never needed, but are hanging onto as if you did?

Self-doubt, comes up.  Not experiencing your own self-worth.  Who needs those! Take away what is not needed. What should be left, what should be saved is self-love.  

Build a foundation

To build a larger structure, potters create an armature.  It’s a wooden or metal base they construct to hold the clay when they sculpt a figure or a head.  

The pottery lesson here is that although we can shape our lives into any wonderful figures or elements or expressions of our life that we wish, we may have to provide an armature, a strong, supportive foundation upon which we can build.  That means we need to know our values and our spiritual beliefs.  

The potter knows that the structure of this foundational armature must be in the correct proportions or the entire sculpture will be flawed and unsteady.

How strong is your armature, your foundation?  Does it need strengthening?  Start with self-love. 

You magically shape your life every day!

Become more aware of your role as the sculptor of your own life. I never expected to become a really good potter, but I did love the learning process. And I surprised myself. My most amazing feat was to create the head of a woman model that was really good. I was really proud as well as truly pleased at the talent I showed that I had no idea I had. It surprised me that I could do it.  I took away what was not needed and true beauty emerged.

Then the head broke when the instructor fired it but I was so surprised and pleased that I had done it that I carried the unfired sculpture with me for years. Remember your life successes and bring them forward with you.

Clay can be made into anything, as can your life.

You begin with nothing and you make something.  Is that not a perfect metaphor for life?! 

Chose your clay 

We come into this world with the ingredients of clay, along with the ability to fashion our life in any manner. But we can add elements to our clay to change how it can be used.  We may mix different colors of clay for a specific effect.  We may vary the coarseness of the mixture. We may need to make the object thicker to make it stronger, depending on its intended use.  

We begin with the clay of our being, evolve its purpose, add our choices, our beliefs, our experiences into our own unique clay-ness to form and create and evolve the expression of our life.

Mix in clarity of purpose

The clay itself will vary depending on where it comes from the earth.  Just like us.  The potter (that’s us) slowly adds water (choices) until the right consistency is reached. 

We add all sorts of things to our “life” clay.  We add experiences and beliefs.  We add learning that we accept and learning that we reject.  

Start with your intention

What do you want to create in your life?  You have access to the ingredients to make anything you want.  What will that be?  Begin with an intention but let the clay talk to you and help shape the end result.

What do you want to make of your life?  How do you want your “clay” to be in service?  That will determine how you shape it. 

Form the shape you want

In pottery, you work the clay to get out all the air bubbles, the excess, the unwanted. That takes massaging and folding and pulling and kneading.

The next step is to put the kneaded clay (you) on the wheel (the Wheel of Life) and center it. Picture this.  The lump of clay (you) is on the wheel (life) and the hands of the potter are there to hold you and center you.  These strong, supportive hands (your values and spiritual beliefs) help you begin to form the shape of your life experience and your form of service. 

Shape your life based on the clay you have chosen to work with and the service you wish to provide

To get clay ready for the wheel, you press it to make certain all the air is out.  Air will cause distortion.  Think of air as unfound beliefs or ideas that do not serve your final destiny. Get rid of them.

The very first act is centering  

Here is a major lesson in this metaphor of life.  We must center ourselves many times as we move through our lives, through our day.  It is at the center that we find balance, redefine our direction, and move forward. 

The potter makes certain the clay moves into a balanced form as the wheel is slowing turned.  A slight pressure here, a release there, and the clay begins to take its intended shape. 

The potter begins to get a feel for the texture of the clay and her hands adjust in order to help the shape take form. She “listens” with her hands and responds to the needs of the clay. A little pressure here. A little release there. Just like life.

Draw the clay up into the desired shape

If you’ve ever watched a potter work, there’s a constant moving of her hands.  She “draws” the clay up as the wheel turns.  Pressing in one place so another area can expand. A potter talks to her clay.  She listens to what it offers and she uses her imagination and intention to shape the piece into the best form for its intended place of service. 

Cut off excess

After the shape is as she wants it to be, the potter lets the clay harden, leather hard, soft but holding its shape. She examines her piece to see that it is what she intended and trims off the excesses. She checks for balance and trims off what’s throwing it off.  She checks for appearance and balance. What do you need to trim off in your life?  What’s keeping you off balance and needs to be discarded? 

Trim the unnecessary pieces in your life and refined its shape to make your life experience more balanced and aligned.

Fire it to make it hold its shape

The idea of firing something to help it hold its shape is an interesting life concept. You need fire in your life to hold your shape. Passion, conviction, a little testing here, a lot of testing there. That firing, that heat, allows you to make choices that firm up your beliefs and helps you recognize your gifts and take steps to shape your life according to your calling.

The potter lets her shaped clay dry completely.  Then she puts it in the very, very hot kiln.  This is the bisque firing.  Clay is super fragile before you fire it.  Once you’ve done the bisque firing it holds its shape and is as sturdy as stone.

Does that mean our times of pressure and difficulty are simply ways to help us toughen up so we can truly be in service?

How do you decorate your life?

Now comes the fun part.  The artistic part.  The decoration part.   Now that you have the shape of your life determined, how will you decorate it? What colors do you use?  What shapes do you draw?  Your life is yours to decorate.  What do you choose?

Once the color is on, the decoration complete, it’s ready for the glaze firing.

Put your life in service

The life you have shaped and fired and glazed is ready to go into service. Who needs it?  Who wants it?  Where will the life you have shaped and decorated have the most impact?

Did you shape a life that could hold the joy and love you want? Are your lifelong lessons emblazoned on your surface? Is your place of service clearly evident?

Make each day a new creation

If I approach each day as a new opportunity to create a unique shape for my service I’ll begin by using my spiritual practice as the armature, the solid frame upon which I’ll build my day.  I’ll consciously and intentionally shape my vessel for the service I intend to offer through the choices I make.  And I’ll decorate my life with my thoughts and actions so everyone can see how I’m in service.

How do you shape your day?  What form do you want it to take?  How do you want it to look?  Are you willing to do what it takes to make that happen?

Each day is an opportunity to create a new offering.  Make it a useful one.

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:

What Are Your Weaving in Your Reality?

Are You Sacred Space? 

Make Work Your Offering 

Does Your Work Stir Your Heart

The Power of Being Different 

Tune Into the Calendar of Nature

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Tune Into the Calendar of Nature
An Inner-World Exploration

What if we had no clocks?  What if we had no calendars? What would our lives feel like? Look like?

There would be a flow. A gradual easing into and easing out of our days, our months, our years. 

Can you imagine being awakened by the first light of a rising sun with no time structure to your day?  How patient it is.  You gradually ease out of sleep and become aware of where you are and what you might choose as the light unfolds. 

And evenings. The darkness would dictate what you could or could not do.  That could be alleviated by a campfire or a full moon, but the darkness of nature would signal the end of your day. 

I wonder if we can recapture that feeling of flow.

Nature simply unfolds

A bud breaks into a flower when it’s ready.  There’s no due date.  An apple ripens on the tree but not all the apples are doing the same thing at the same time.  It’s an individual coming to maturity.  

A gradual growing into maturity, do you allow yourself that?  Are you patient with your own growth?  Are you patient with the unfolding of a pattern, a project, an insight?

Think what happens to your life if you no longer feel the need to control anything! There are no deadlines, just a sense of right timing.  A step planned for a certain day, may be changed because of the weather – too nice to stay indoors, or too wet to go out.  We adjust to the weather, but less so than if we actually lived in nature. 

Farmers plant when the moon suggests by her waxing and waning.  Crops are ready to harvest whenever they are ready to harvest and that depends on what nature has provided. 

There’s no timetable in nature, there’s only unfolding 

When I allow my life to unfold, there’s no deadline.  There’s only steady movement that varies as the natural cycle unfolds.  

No deadlines.  No have-to’s. Only moments of tuning in to feel what needs to be done next, and then choosing to do them, or not.  Listening to your inner voice for guidance.  Observing the signs and signals of nature.  Let the cycles of nature guide your progress.

All change simply unfolds

Your hair grows longer a very slight bit at a time.  One day it’s fine and the next day it falls into your eyes.  An overnight change that has been gradual in the making.  

Take a daily walk and gradually you can walk farther and faster.  

Embrace a change that gradually unfolds.  

You can’t push and shove change into happening

You can only invite change.  You can only observe ongoing change and adjust your movements to its gradual unfolding.  

We change. Others change. Our world changes.  Sometimes the changes are subtle.  Sometimes they are blatant and sudden. But change is an ongoing given.

There are unfolding signs of change in nature.  Small subtle signs.  A little more color in an opening bud.  A new tassel on a corn stalk, a hatchling bird in the nest, a newborn calf.  There’s no timetable for those births, those emergents.  There’s only unfolding, in a natural cycle in a natural timetable.  

What if you let it all go and listened?

Each day I begin with a spiritual practice that can vary.  Each day I sit at my desk and check in to see what nature would ask of me today.  An idea comes up.  I see if it feels aligned.  I do it or I don’t. I allow my inner voice, my inner wisdom to guide me.

Each day I choose one housekeeping task.  But I never decide when to do it.  If I seem to be putting it off, I begin to focus on how good I will feel when the task is complete.  That usually gets me moving.  But I choose one task and the timing is allowed to unfold. 

When an idea pops in, I usually stop what I’m doing and capture the idea.  I may flesh it out by writing the first draft of an article.  I may make a broad outline.  I may simply put the idea in a few sentences to be developed when it’s time.  

When is it time?

It’s time when it’s time.  Just as you go to sleep when your body is ready for sleep and feed it when it is hungry.  We must allow our lives, our projects, our tasks, our decisions to unfold according to nature.  To the aligned timing.  To the moment of choice.  

It opens up our days, this not choosing.  Allowing life to unfold opens up our days….

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider: 

The Power of Being Different 

Live in the Center of Your Being

Discover Your Spiritual Heart

Make Work Your Offering

Are You Sacred Space? 

Do You See and Hear in a Sacred Manner?

Expand Your Spiritual Heart

By

Expand Your Spiritual Heart
An Inner World Exploration

Behind our physical-plane heart is our spiritual heart.  It’s who we truly are. When you leave behind the limitations of your body suit, your physical ego, you become your spiritual heart.

Our spiritual heart lives in the Nowhere That We Came From. It is a universal heart. It is our collective heart. We must learn to live there. We must learn to live from there.

Our physical heart is our ego heart, our body suit heart.  It’s restricted and small and egocentric. It’s not the heart we want to use because it limits us.  It limits our vision. It limits our understanding.

When I use my universal heart, my spiritual heart, I see everyone and everything as radiant light. That’s all. Radiant light. There’s no physical plane argument or anger. Everything goes beyond even the human plane emotions of compassion and empathy.  The spiritual heart sees everything as radiant light. One light. It’s us. It’s me. It’s you. It’s all there is.

When we learn to see everything as light, the discord will disappear. That’s how much power we have. We see others as light. We see only light. We must learn to see only light. Because radiant light is all there is.

When you begin to reach out to another person, do so from your spiritual heart. Not your ego heart, not your human heart. Connect from your spiritual heart where you are light and they are light. Where you see only light.

It takes practice to come from your spiritual heart. It takes focus to continue to come from your spiritual heart.  We just need to practice it. Every day. Every moment. See the world and the plants and the animals and all the people in your life as light. Because that’s what they are. Radiant light.

Can you do that? Can you move out of your human heart, your body suit heart, into your radiant heart?  Your life will change when you do. 

Spiritual light is formless energy. Spiritual light is who you are.

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:

 Do You See and Hear and Walk in a Sacred Manner?

Are You Sacred Space?

What Does Spiritual Friendship Look Like?

Where Do You Find Your Inner Circle of Light Beings?

 Live in Your Center 

The Power of Non-doing

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The Power of Non-doing
An Inner-world Exploration

Practice non-doing,
And everything will fall into place
– Lao Tzu

When we listen, the answer appears. When we wait, the next step unfolds. There’s tremendous power in non-doing, in simply listening and looking and feeling until the message unfolds. 

Non-doing allows for unfolding

When something is in the process of unfolding, all you can do is wait.  You cannot push, archive or cajole, you simply have to give it time to become clearer.

I feel a change coming.  That’s all I’ve got – a feeling.  I get vague images of the direction I may be going but nothing concrete, nothing to even explore.  

I have to wait, do nothing, except be aware of an unfolding process.  And be patient. It will unfold in its own time.

Non-doing allows for contemplation

I can’t even give any thought to possible choices because the choice is not clear yet.  It’s unfolding.  I have nothing concrete to contemplate.  I can only stay in a state of sensitive awareness of the subtle nudges that show up.  I can observe.  And I can contemplate what I observe.  But until there’s a clear message, I do nothing. 

Non-doing gives you time to evolve

It’ll be obvious when whatever is unfolding is not ready to reveal itself yet.  It’s like a wisp of a cloud that has not yet taken shape or is changing shape.  I don’t think this is something totally brand new coming in.  My feeling is that it is an evolution, a next step.  I’ve opened myself up to new possibilities, but I’m too new at those ideas to even understand where they’re taking me, let along where I might end up. 

Non-doing allows everything to fall into place

I may have to learn more.  I may have to experience more.  Perhaps it’s simply not time, I cannot make a choice based upon who I am at this point in my life because I need to change. It’s like a fruit ripening, it simply is not yet time.  The time is not “ripe.”

Although I’m in non-doing mode about this circumstance that’s unfolding, I’m continuing to move forward.  And it’s from these small steps that clarity will eventually appear. 

Be willing to change

My intuition says I’ll have to give up something I’m doing or focusing on now simply because of time. As this new door opens, new insights will appear and I will change.  It’s upon that change that I will build.  It’s not yet time. The change has not happened, it’s in progress. 

Perfect non-doing

There’s nothing I can do.  There’s nothing to do. That’s the point – do nothing.  Be observant.  Be reflective.  Be aware.  Move within, where there are serenity and support from your voice within.  

What’s unfolding for you?  Are you practicing non-doing?

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:

Are You Sacred Space

Do You See and Hear in a Sacred Manner?

How to Weave the Sacred into the Ordinary

The Power of Being Different

I Row My Boat Alone

Live in Your Center