Cara Lumen | Sing a Deeper Song

Sing a Deeper Song

Self Awareness

Why Is What You Do Important?

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We all want to feel useful. We all want to feel that what we do has meaning. How do we take what we love to do and put it in service where it can really make a difference?

Why do you do what you do?

We do what we do because we love to do it. We do what we do because we are good at it. I love to write. I love to teach. That has turned my life work into coaching and teaching and writing. Those activities fill my heart. They get me excited as I help people in person or through something I’ve written. I have this huge collection of ebooks and teleclasses and radio shows I’ve created and each one of them taught me something. I do what I do so I can learn and grow and be creative.

When I was a young housewife with four children I decided to find out why each of the men in our collection of friends did what they did for a living. One was in the same job he had gotten right out of school. Another was in his father-in-laws business. When I asked one of them what he would do differently he said he would work outside more. Too often we are unconscious about why we do what we do. But you’re in business, you’ve made a choice. Why did you make that choice?

What elements of what you do excite you? Are you interactive with people? Do you work by yourself to create something new that didn’t exist before? Do you love to use your organizational and management skills to turn around companies? Look at your passion – those things you have loved doing all your life – and be certain what you do today still contains that passion. Your passion contains your purpose.Why do you do what you do?

Why is what you do important to the people you serve?

Here’s the rub. If you love to do something and no one needs what you create you’re in a bit of a bind. Sure, you can create and keep what you do to yourself but that’s not what our life’s work is about. Our life’s work is about making a difference in the lives of someone else. That can be one person or it can be a country full of people. Whatever we do needs to be useful to others.

I’m suddenly attracting more people to sign up for my two blogs and I’m not certain why. I’m looking to see what has changed in me and what has changed in what I’m doing that is drawing more people to me. The answer is going to be in the topics I am writing about on my blogs and the fact that I am posting regularly in one article submission site. Those are the two obvious physical changes I have made – exposure and content. What is less tangible are the inner changes within me that have altered the topics I explore and how I express myself. My business focus has moved into helping people build their business from their inside out. My articles are self-examining and they are hopeful. That is important to the people who are fining me. And it is attracting new people e to my community.

Focus on the difference you can make in the lives of others. What do your services do for your community? My business is about helping people teach what they know. When you make a difference in people’s lives you make a difference in your life. Why is what you do important to the people you serve?

Why does the existence of your work matter?

We came into this world to give our gifts – those unique combinations of talent, skills, beliefs, personality and passion that make us individual. That we offer those gifts can make a difference in the lives of those around us. What is really special is when you put something out there and it makes a difference in the life of someone you don’t know. What I wrote recently touched new people and caused many of them to join my community. They wanted more from me. I have no idea what chord I touched but I do know that what I wrote came from my heart and the topics were about our inner work. My goal has always been to help those who set about to help others. My work helps them do their work better and they in turn can touch more lives. My purpose will never be about being the head of something, or running a huge organization. My purpose is about changing the world one powerful life at a time. And that is going to make a very big difference in the world. That’s why the existence of my work matters.

You never know when you will have an effect. In a telecourse I gave several years ago there was one five-minute section on forgiveness. One small section in the entire 90 minutes. At the next class one of the students shared that she had really heard that section and made moves to reconnect with her father whom she hadn’t seen for years. You just never know how your heart and your sharing will change a life.

Follow your passion

If you are passionate and excited about what you are doing you are working close to your purpose. The journey to find your purpose can be an adventure. You may explore many paths. When you find it you will sigh and settle into an inner serenity that you know will carry you forward one authentic step at a time.

When you identify your purpose and start focusing on it, others will get excited about it because you’re excited. Your enthusiasm will shine through everything you do and become contagious. When you have a purpose it helps you easily make decisions because if an idea or action doesn’t support your purpose you simply don’t do it.

Here’s your assignment, should you choose to accept it. In a quiet place center yourself and one at a time search for the answers to these three questions.

Why do you do what you do?

Why is what you do important to the people you serve?

Why does the existence of your work matter?

Out of that inner inquiry you will begin to find your true purpose. You will see why your work is important. Or you may identify the small changes you need to make in order to place yourself more deeply into service. This is your calling and it is worthy of giving it everything you have.

Are You Reading the Signs?

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The Universe has an interesting way to offer us guidance. It sends signs. Sometimes those signs are about bumping into someone on the street that creates an opportunity you hadn’t considered before. Sometimes it is a phone call or an email suggesting collaboration. It may be a surge of interest in a particular product or service you offer. And it may be an idea that simple floats in out of nowhere. These signs indicate an interest from somewhere directed at you and what you offer. They are worth considering.

Signs that say change direction

I’ve been moving steadily in one direction for about eight years. Before that I was going in another direction. What’s currently showing up are people interested in that original niche – those initial products and services that I still offer on my website. I’m wondering and watching. Part of me feels that if I moved back to that old niche it would feel like going backwards. Another part says maybe I’ve learned all I can from the niche I am in and have something more to contribute to my original niche. Since learning new things is more important to me than just about anything in the world I need to find the place where I can keep learning and be in service while I do. So the question becomes how can I approach this former niche and make a new type of product and service around it.

Signs that inspire new work

I began my online presence as a spiritual counselor. Then I decided to take that metaphysical approach out into the world as I helped people develop their online business. I became a business coach, curriculum developer and an educator. The spiritual part has always been in my work. The current signs are about increasing the spiritual work. I’m observing and thinking and considering.

I feel that a lot of my earlier work was about teaching what I had learned from others in my own unique interpretation – which is pretty much what we all do. But I have now developed what feels like a relatively original idea and would love to find more of those. However, my unique viewpoint has changed because I am more knowledgeable and experienced so if I went “back” to offering more spiritually oriented products they would be different than what I produced ten years ago. That’s a good thing.

I learn when I teach and since I’m going through an introspective period in my own life, I plan to write a new teleclass that will give people tools for self-exploration. That’s quite different from the practical courses I’ve been teaching. My target community is certainly going to be surprised!

What ideas are coming to you that seem a little off the beaten path that you would be interested in exploring?

Signs that a change is in the air

My Passionately on Purpose blog has always been a mix of practical and philosophical – like me. In the past year, I have written more personal development posts than practical ones. That was a conscious decision as well as an organic one. It seems that the Universe has been steadilly laying the groundwork for this possible change. Look at what you’ve been doing the past six months. What has changed? Is there a new direction being suggested?

Signs that suggest new relationships

Some of the signs are coming to me in the form of the people that are showing up to be coached and the products that they are buying – the older spiritual ones. As I examine the world around me, I see major, major changes and as I look carefully at what people want it seems like hope would be at the top of their list. Hope, spiritual awareness and a way to get control of their lives at least internally since, at the moment, the physical plane seem skewed. I could do that.

New people are also showing up who would like to collaborate. People are showing up for coaching who not only want practical guidance but help in defining their values and their passion and their deepest place of service. The people who are seeking me out are coming because they feel a spiritual connection. That’s always been that way it works but these people are expressing it in those terms. Who is showing up in your life that you are immediately drawn to, or who seek you out with collaboration in mind?

Signs that you should take the leap

I haven’t made this leap yet. I’m just reading signs. And I also realize it doesn’t have to be a complete leap, it doesn’t have to be an abandonment of what I do now. It can just be an addition to what already exists. I have to look at what I want right now. What do I want to learn? What do I want to write about? What do I want to teach? Who do I want to coach? And what do I want to help them to accomplish? I can offer a personal development class alongside a business class. It would be a stronger position if I stuck with one or the other but I’m just going to let it unfold. It may also mean that this is the beginning of a gradual transition. Are you being nudged to change directions? How does that feel?

Are you noticing the signs?

What signs are showing up for you? What are people asking you to do for them? What new need do you see out in the world that you would like to meet? How does your present focus need to expand or change in order to continue to be relevant and necessary? Read the signs and see if it’s time for change.

6 Ways to Use Open Time for Inner Work

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The pilots call it  “down time.” Musicians may refer to it as “between sets.” It could be the time between jobs or between tasks, but whatever you call it we’re referring to those unfilled moments in which you find yourself with nothing to do. How you fill those open spaces can make all the difference in what comes next. Here are six ways to use those open times for inner work.

1. Reflection: What did you accomplish?

I particularly like the week between Christmas and New Year. For me it is a time to examine the year just completed, to acknowledge what I accomplished and plan the year ahead. I begin by looking for what really worked. That acknowledgement is very important. If you take time to list all you have done you may be both surprised and pleased. Maybe you want to call it a “Gratitude List” rather than an “Acknowledgment List.” Write down your successes, you’ll find you have a lot to be grateful for.

2. Contemplation: What do you want to change?

Of course, some things didn’t work and we get to give gratitude for them too because they contained our lessons. We found out that we didn’t know how to do it, or people didn’t want it, or the timing was off, or, or, or… Looking at our less-than-successful ventures gives us insights into what not to do next time or how to do it differently if we choose to try it again. What lessons did you learn?

3. Decisions: What do you want more of?

Some things were absolute joys for us so of course we want more. What made them happen? What parts of it made it so invigorating? A little examination of what happened, what its components were and why it happened helps us take a giant step toward attracting more of the same. What do you want more of in your life?

4. Values: What qualities do you want to attract?

Whether you are contemplating next year or next quarter or next week or next day, what qualities do you want to be there for you? I’m a bit too much of a loner so I’ve decided to embrace the quality of willingness to be more social. Within 24 hours I had a most rewarding conversation with someone I knew only slightly. We deepened our understanding of each other and it warmed my heart. The next day another new friend felt comfortable in asking me to drive her somewhere. Another friendship expanded all because of my willingness to be more social. What qualities do you want to have evident in your life?

5. Choice: What you focus on you get

It’s very simple. What you look for you will see. What you focus on you will attract. If you look for negativity you will see a lot of it. If you look for positive reinforcement you will see how much there is of that around you. Notice the words you use. Are they “I can’t,” or “I can” phrases? Notice what you expect to happen – good things or bad. Once you are aware of what you are focusing on you have a choice to consciously start focusing on and expecting only the good.

6. Take charge: You are the director of your life

I play weekly cards with a woman that when I first started I found to be very, very judgmental about how I played the game that was new to me. It showed in the tone of her voice, in her judgmental sighs (you’ve heard those) and her attitude. Now I know that I always have a choice: I can hang out with people whose positive energy I like and not be with people whose energy is negative. I privately mentioned to another one of the card players that if that judgmental-ness kept up I might not play cards. It was just a concerned comment and the expression of an awareness on my part that I had a choice. I have a feeling she told the woman for the latter gradually began to change. And a few evenings later the woman said, “This is so much fun!” Because she had changed her attitude, that had changed our responses to her.

You are the director of your life. What you say, what you think, what you look for, what you do, all influence those around you and their reactions to you. If you do nothing else in those quiet, reflective spaces of time, look at what you want to change about yourself. What do you need to let go of? What do you need to do more of? How can YOU change? Then do it.

Use your open time to contemplate, to rest in the unfilled spaces and simply see what shows up. Look within and see how balanced you are. What does your body need? What does your soul need? Use these pauses to reflect and make new choices based on what you find within. Open spaces are for inner work. Use them wisely.