Cara Lumen | Sing a Deeper Song

Sing a Deeper Song

Self Mastery

The Power in a Ceremony of Releasing

By

baloons releasing

My pedicurist is a healer. Recently she helped me release something big and old. We don’t have to know what it was, just that it was time to let it go. I can feel the release throughout my entire body.

And it made me think. Why don’t I create some sort of ritual, ceremony, intention each day to let go of something within me that I no longer need?

What do you need to release?

Whatever shifted in me affected my body, it affected my mood. It was a good thing to let go. And I know no specifics of what or where it was. You may very well be aware of a particular area of stuck-ness, but you can create your “ceremony of releasing” without knowing the details.

Create affirmations that release whatever you no longer need, or whatever is keeping you from moving forward, or whatever is keeping you from understanding, or seeing or feeling. Those are powerful areas to unplug.

I have used both specific and unspecific affirmations in my releasing ceremonies. The unspecific ones are a bit more exciting because you don’t have any idea what’s going to leave. You don’t need to define what you want to release. Let your inner self take care of that. Just express your willingness to release what no longer serves you.

Create a small ceremony

A ceremony can be as a simple as an affirmation said while looking into your own eyes in a mirror. It can involve slips of paper that you tear up or burn. It can include essential oils, or crystals. You can add bells or toning. You could dance or sing or chant “aum”. This is your ceremony. Make it as elaborate or as simple as you need.

The cornerstone is in the affirmation

All affirmations are made in the present tense, as if they have already happened:

– I now release whatever I no longer need
– I release beliefs that no longer serve me.
– I release whatever is no longer needed, particularly around the area of experiencing …..
– I release any beliefs, attitudes, fears, old stuff to make room for a strong, welcoming willingness to give my body what it needs now to be its healthiest, best, strongest, most productive self.
– I release whatever needs to be released so I can move forward in an aligned direction.
Watch what shows up

At the end of each day, journal what shows up so you notice it. It may be subtle. It may be dramatic. On the days that I choose a specific affirmation (such as for my body), I’m aware of being conscious of my choices around caring for my body all day long.

But the most fun are the surprises that show up when I’m willing to release whatever I no longer need. Sometimes the answer comes as a new awareness. Sometimes it shows up as an actual adjustment in the alignment of my body. Other times it’s a stunning new opportunity that appears, which I’m ready to take.

You just never know.

Release unneeded things each day

It’s very powerful to choose to release something each day. It seems that the simple idea of intending to and being willing to release something is enough – whether you affirm that you’re releasing whatever you no longer need, or indicate a specific area in your life that feels blocked.

Be willing to change

Releasing beliefs and blockages that no longer serve you is going to leave a space that might feel empty. Or open. Or serene. Notice it and don’t rush to put more stuff into it. Allow Tao to organically offer you choices that you can accept or reject. Change is exciting. Change is challenging. Change is a constant in our lives.

Notice the pattern

As you begin to use a ceremony of releasing in your daily spiritual work, notice what works best for you – either in the results or in your willingness to perform whatever ceremony you create.

I have included my releasing ceremony in the small blessing ceremony I perform when I first sit at my desk in the morning. I sometimes put it into the end of my meditation. You could affirm it on your run or during your exercise. Or even when you’re in the shower. Whatever works for you.

The changes may be subtle. Perhaps at the beginning you might want to write down the stuck status of various aspects of your life so you can look back and see the change.

It’s important to check in with yourself at the end of the day so you can become aware of what happened. It may be subtle but it will be there!

What do you need to release? How will you do that? Are you up for adding a ceremony of releasing into your life?

DEEPER SONG PROCESS

In order to Sing a Deeper Song:

• Spend the next seven mornings performing a releasing ceremony the appeals to you.

• Create a ceremony around the releasing process – crystals, oils, journaling, gongs, toning – or let the simple act of writing down an affirmation be enough.

• Write your affirmation in the present tense.

• Experiment with being both non-specific and specific in what you propose to release.

• At the end of each day, review what happened and notice the changes.

• At the end of the week, decide how you would like to continue this ceremony of releasing.

To Sing a Deeper Song

On Coming to the End of a Cycle
When Do You Let Go?
Learn to Honor Your Inner Rhythm
The Power of Your Personal Path
41 – How to Make Decisions When Your Let Your Life Unfold 7
22 – Create Your Own Spiritual Journey
Steps to Deepen Your Spiritual Awareness
What is Your Truth?

What Makes You Feel Valuable?

By

peron huggin tree

We all want to feel valuable. We want and need to feel that we count, that our presence is appreciated, that we contribute to life. Sometimes we simply try too hard. The fact is, what sets you apart, what makes you valuable are your strengths – those qualities and attributes that are so much a part of you that they make you stand out.

Your strengths are the things that make you unique and valued.

Even the un-positive strengths have value

What if people regard you as “stubborn”, for instance? It’s easy to think up some negative connotations for stubborn. But what if you turn that into interpretations like determination, tenacity, a person who follows through. That’s a slightly different take on a quality. Now it’s true that being stubborn may benefit from a little flexibility, but see how you can turn a potentially less-than-desirable character trait into a strength!

You strength will make you seem unique

For a time, I believed I was too self-absorbed and self-focused. Until I realized that all creativity comes from within and the only way to get to it is through introspection, i.e. self-absorption and self-focus. It’s the artist’s way. We have to listen within. So my desire to be alone and contemplative sets me apart from a lot of people and makes me unique but it’s all exactly what makes my work valuable, it’s how I contribute.

You strengths may be subtle

I’ve always been a good organizer, but it was years before I realized that I was also a good organizer of ideas. I then put that ability to work as a coach and as a writer. What strengths do you have that would benefit from being applied in a new venue?

You have to see yourself as valuable

The very uniqueness, the very qualities that make you different, are what make you valuable. Stop comparing yourself others. They have their own unique combination of passion and talents, just as you do.

Begin noticing what people ask you to do. That is your strength. Notice what you love to do. That is your passion. Notice how you are different from others. That is your uniqueness.

Make choices to honor your path

No one walks the same path. Although we walk alongside others for short periods, we’re on life’s journey in our own unique way. We learn from others and move on. We share ourselves with others and move on. We are always alone on this journey. Always striving to be more, to give more of ourselves, to honor more of our gifts.

What makes you feel valuable, you do. Only you.

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider

Take Time to Explore Your Talents
How Being Different Makes You Special
The Responsibility of an Artist
Share From Your Soul
Stoking the Fire Within
44 – How to Define What You Do So Others Get It
40 – Who Do yo Want to Serve?7

Leave No Trace of Yourself

By

fire - campfire

When we give everything we have, we have nothing left. When we participate with our whole heart, we are both empty and fulfilled.

Zen master Shunryu Suzuki said, “When you do something you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.” And I wondered if I did give my all in every situation.

Immerse yourself in creativity

It’s easy for me to get lost when I write. I, as a person, simply watch as the words flow through me onto the computer. I’m not even a middleman anymore. I’m like a cord plugged in, simply conducting current from one place to another.

When you truly lose yourself in your work, you disappear and the only trace of your presence is in the work you create.

Immerse yourself in learning

Hours go by when I’m trying to learn something. It may be a tutorial or a set of instructions. It may be when I’m practicing a chosen craft or figuring out a new way to apply what I know. The energy of the idea is there, but I don’t feel my own presence. When I immerse myself in learning, there’s a feeling of being a conduit that produces a result that can then be shared.

Immerse yourself in the present

I’m getting better about allowing life to unfold. I simply observe what shows up and make a choice in the moment. The Suzuki quote above appeared in a post that crossed my desk with the interpretation of not leaving a trace on the planet. My take is about immersing yourself so deeply in the moment that you are not there – only the energy of Tao and what has been chosen to be shared is active.

Mere minutes passed between my reading the quote and my beginning to write this post with my own interpretation. The connection and translation was almost immediate.

Embrace the state of not-doing

Wu wei means not-doing. In “Do Nothing and Do Everything”, Qiguang Zhao says, “Wu-wei is a behavior that arises from a sense of being connected to the world. Your inner voices, the voices of nature, and your intuition are your connection to the Tao.”

To get out of the way, to leave no trace of ourselves, we have to rely on our inner voice to share its message, the voice of nature to show us how to live in the moment and our intuition to show us what to do next. Then we disappear and the communication is complete.

Give yourself completely to whatever you do. Lose yourself in the creation, the process, the emergence of the ideas. Get out of the way and simply allow things to happen.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

Live Like Water
Stoking the Fire Within
The Length of Your Reach
Mindfulness as a Path to Self-Awareness
Can You Learn to Do Everything Through Being
45-How to Become a Mindful Presence
35—How to Hold the Space for Change.

Take Time to Explore Your Talents

By

Dancer

There are big “in-your-face” talents that sweep you along with them. And there are gentle, subtle talents that will add great meaning to your life once you uncover them.

What are your in-your-face talents?

I’ve been writing since I was the editor of my high-school newspaper. It was an interest and skill I’ve used in many forms in my life – copywriter for radio and television, a variety of organizational newsletters, ebooks, posts. Writing is how I sort myself out, how I figure out how to apply interesting concepts to my life. It’s how I share my ideas with others. It’s an ingrained part of me.

A major talent often shows up as a skill that’s so easy to use that it doesn’t even seem special. You may have no idea that not everyone can do it or that you are particularly good at it.

Music, art, mathematics, logistics, organizing, leadership, connecting with people, nurturing others, enthusiastic participation in whatever you do – these are some of the ways your major talent is recognizable.

What are your subtle talents?

It was always clear that I’m a good organizer. What took me years to figure out, though, was that I’m also a good organizer of ideas. I can see the overview, the complex, and explain it to others in easy-to-understand terms. That is an obvious talent with a subtle use.

My enthusiasm is a gift. It’s infectious. It’s also inspiriting, because it helps me get a lot done. Who would have thought of enthusiasm as a talent!

You may have a physical attribute that’s a talent

It turns out that people like my speaking voice, so I enjoy using it in videos and podcasts.

Take a moment to look for the subtle gifts and talents that you might find more ways to use.

Make your talent distinctive

Finding how to make my writing distinctive took some time and practice. Now I automatically think in the subhead style for a post. It’s how I organize my thoughts. It’s how I share my ideas. It’s my distinctive version of writing. And it simply evolved.

How many ways can you use your talents? Because I write like I talk, it’s easy to create narrative podcast scripts. My ability to organize ideas allows me to see connections and curate pieces of posts into the backbone of a new ebook. My enthusiasm keeps me exploring new platforms – like videos and audiobooks.

Look at your talents and find other venues where you can use them.

Explore your talents

When you find a little-used talent or desire, go exploring. I’m not a particularly good artist, but in my senior year in college I had space for some electives and I took two art courses – 5-minute sketching and composition. Though I wasn’t very good at composition, I got an A in the sketching class simply because I went from stick figures to a decent quick sketch.

I have taken other art courses along the line – Chinese brush painting being a favorite. There’s something magical about taking a blank space and filing it with your imagination, whether this is through drawing, or writing, or composing music.

Explore different media and see what new experiences, opportunities and insights appear.

Use your talent as a conduit to your soul

When you use your talent enough so it becomes second nature, the next step is to make room for the flow of your unconscious. I used to be surprised at what showed up as I typed. It felt like it was coming from outside myself. Now I know it comes from deep inside, from my thoughts, my interpretations, my soul.

Practice your talent until it becomes only the vehicle for your innermost expression.

What talent would you like to explore?

As long as it’s something creative, as long as I can explore what calls to me and interpret what I discover, the conduit doesn’t really matter. I’ve started to record an audiobook because I know I have the skill set for that. I’ve done lots of courses, but not with as many videos as I want to now. I’m a spiritual philosopher and I want to explore what that means to me and discover new ways to express it. I’m also a mapmaker because I explain to others what I figure out.

Look at what you’re already doing. Look at what talent you’d love to expand, and go exploring. Take some classes. Simply go practice whatever it is. Give thought to how you’ll bring that talent into your life. And just do it.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

What to Do When You Are Between Teachers
Lose Your Attachment to the Outcome
The Art of Mastery
Your Art Must Originate Within Yourself
How to Develop Your Distinctive Voice

35—How to Hold the Space for Change.
34- Use Labels to Expand Your Possibilitieses
32 – How to See Your Work As Art

How Being Different Makes You Special

By

3 young animals

If you’re “different”, you have a unique job to do. Being different means you honor your own values, follow your passion, lead the way, and blaze the trail. You are a leader perhaps not in the traditional sense, but in the way you follow your own calling. Being different means you have the courage to explore new venues and push beyond the boundaries you encounter.

Go exploring

For me, being different has meant always being on my own. I love to explore. Currently I’m exploring my own spirituality and deepening my connection with Tao. Being OK with being different has meant not caring what other people think about how I dress or the choices I make in my life.

If you’re exploring deeply on a specific path, you’ll find yourself alone because you’re following your own unique calling.

Leave a Trail

As you explore, you can do two things: you can forge ahead and leave a trail or you can walk beside someone and shine your light where they need it. You’ll do both within your service.

My writing explores the esoteric concepts that call to me, and my work is to translate what I discover into applicable ways to bring it into your life. I do both – leave a trail of insights, and shine my light with specific steps.

Lead

You may actively lead people forward through teaching and coaching or you may lead by example.

Sometimes your very enthusiasm is contagious. Sometimes the extent of your accomplishment or the difficulties you’ve overcome are enough to inspire others.

You’ll probably use a mix of actively leading and passively leading by example. Find the combination that works best for you.

You are special because of what you have become

When I was in high school 65 years ago, women were expected to get married and have children. That was it. But I was fortunate; my mother made certain I went to college.

I was an independent introvert who liked to think about things. A comparative religion course opened up a world of possibilities for me. And I was a rebel.

All my choices are reflected in each moment of my life today.

Begin different bears a responsibility

There’s still time to do more with your different-ness. I’m 83. I’m going for 114. There’s much work to be done.

Technology is going pretty fast for me but I can record podcasts and videos and put ebooks up on Amazon. Pick the places you want to explore and learn what you need to learn.

Then do your work and leave a trail of strong, empowering ideas to light the paths of those who follow.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:
The Many Faces of Your Calling
How Do You Nurture “Different”
What Do You Do for People That They Can’t Get Elsewhere?
The Power of Your Personal Path
35—How to Hold the Space for Change.
27 – Why Have You Been Chosen