Mindfulness

Too Much Information, Too Little Knowledge

May 2, 2017 By Cara Lumen

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? -T.S. Eliot, “The Rock”

What do you truly know? What information have you absorbed enough to apply, reject or question?

It takes time and effort to sift through the flood of readily available information to figure out 1) what is true, 2) how it aligns with your core values and 3) if or how you want to take action.

What is true?

We have a responsibility to check the facts, particularly when it affects the well-being of our world. Identify a fact-checking source, bookmark it and run some of the things you hear through it. Find news sources you think are reliable. I love PBS News Hour for its thoughtful questions, rational discussions and in-depth reporting. I learn a lot. It educates me, expands my understanding and increases my empathy.

My practice is to write my interpretation of the situation or question in order to help me figure it out. I like to share my discoveries online. It may or may not resonate with you. That’s why we have choices. Follow people that inspire and motivate you and people who stretch your understanding of areas that call to you.

How does this information align with my core values?

Most people haven’t looked for or examined their core values. Core values are how you guide your life — honesty, kindness, empathy, exploration, inclusion, continued learning, spiritual expansion.

What’s important to you? What do you need more of? Where will you find it? From whom?

There are wonderfully thoughtful people on TED talks. There are also bloggers and podcasters who will inspire and motivate you. Listen, strengthen, expand and even question your core values to make certain they lead you where you want to go.

As I continue to embrace and expand my core values, I develop specific ideas in my work, try out new concepts, and seek new teachers. The idea for this article is based on a statement by an actor interviewed on the Stephen Colbert show that resonated and motivated me to explore. Allow inspiration to come from anywhere.

Be open. Remain curious. Question. Explore.

Is there an action I want or need to take?

Do you need to take action because of your expanded understanding? What would it be? Sometimes it’s enough to clarify the facts so that in the future your decision will be more clearly informed. More extensive information may change your mind, open up your thinking and offer new solutions.

My concern over US politics promoted me to explore the power of focused group energy and to become active in worldwide peace meditations. My State does not represent my political views but I still plan to write to my congressmen to ask them to be statesmen and Americans before they are a political party.

There’s power in numbers. There’s informed and knowledgeable action you can take. Take action and know that you make a difference.

How do you know what you don’t know?

I was deeply shocked to find that I was so unaware of the needs of so many people in my country. It was simply not in my experience to know what some people were going though. Now I find myself listening for ideas on how to train people for the new technology jobs and how education in general needs to change to prepare us all for the rapid changes in our world. I look for ways to protect our environment and to motivate others to do the same.

I take courses in what interests me. I read blogs that educate me. I listen to TED talks for motivation, inspiration and to make me think. And I watch for the nudges the universe provides that suggest a direction I should explore — either to clarify or to investigate an idea more thoroughly to see if it’s mine to do.

How deep is your knowledge?

If you’re really focused on a specific area of interest, you’re going to know a lot more about it than you do about areas that you have not explored. Know that. Identify resources you respect to keep you up to date with areas that resonate with you and keep moving deeper into your own area of expertise and thoughtfully share that.

Have you moved beyond mere information into owning it — into true knowledge?

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:
How Choosing the Right Word will Clarify your Choices
The Shedding of Your Skin
Accept Yourself as You Are
Mindfulness and the Moment
How Do You Define Success?
VLOG: Insights of a Deeper Song
PODCAST: Reflections of a Deeper Song

New Moon, New Beginning

February 23, 2017 By Cara Lumen

Every month, we have an opportunity to pause in gratitude, take stock of where we are, and begin a new cycle. The New Moon is a perfect reminder of this time for reviewing, rethinking, and refocusing.

Examine your unexpected gifts

To begin your New Moon Celebration, list the unexpected gifts you have received during the last 30 days. These will be opportunities you didn’t expect, decisions you made that opened fascinating new doors and ideas that seemed to appear out of the blue. Keep an awareness of the unexpected gifts you receive daily.

I write them down at the end of each day so I become more aware of how supported we are by Tao. Offer gratitude for the changes that have shaped your life.

Review what you’ve accomplished

Do a little back-patting. You got a lot of things done. You experienced change within yourself. Notice that. Appreciate the shifts and the new awareness within yourself.

Look at the path you’re on. This is where your past actions have taken you. What worked? Do more of that. What didn’t work? Do less of that.

Rethink how you feel about where you are now

You’ve changed in the last 30 days since the last New Moon. You’ve learned new things, gained new awareness, and maybe your goals have shifted a bit. Notice how you feel about your present situation and see what you’d like to change, what you’d like to keep and what you’re ready to toss.

Explore your consciousness

Part of your New Moon Celebration will be about listening within and worrying to bring what you discover into tangible concepts. I like to mind-map — with paper and pencil from a meditative state.

Take stock. How are you physically, mentally, spiritually? What new longing has emerged? What need has arisen? How will you address this in the next 30 days? Collect your ideas and choose the ones that call to you.

Refocus and re-choose for the next 30 days

Choose one new change to make in the next 30 days. You can develop a new habit, finish a project, take a new course, make a new friend, make a new choice. Gather some ideas of what might be possible. Leave room for the opportunities you don’t expect. Journal how you feel so you can see your progress at the next New Moon.

Create a ceremony

Begin your New Moon Consciousness Ceremony by reviewing your journal and mind map from the previous month. Move into an awareness of the present — what has manifested because of your thoughts and actions. Feel your way into the future, allowing your mind to explore new ideas, to sort, to consider, to accept and reject.

Meditate, sing, chant, light candles. Do what works for you to celebrate a fresh start for the next 30 days.

Let life unfold

Then put it all away and sit in silence like a blank slate, a cleared garden, a vessel of receptivity and simply be with yourself. Immerse yourself in feelings of renewal, restoration, and replenishment. Feel yourself refreshed and revitalized.

Then simply let your life unfold. Take what’s offered in the moment, and based on your own self-awareness and the over-arching goal you have selected for your life make choices that move you in the direction of your chosen “next.”

For current lunar movement tracking, check out
Moon Phases – Lunar Calendar

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

Let the Full Moon Help You Celebrate Cycles of Change
The Length of Your Reach
The Many Faces of Your Calling
45-How to Become a Mindful Presence
41 – How to Make Decisions When Your Let Your Life Unfold
36 – Engage the Power of Trust

Reserve Space For Yourself in Your Life

December 27, 2016 By Cara Lumen

We get caught up in the have-to’s and should’s of our life and neglect our own needs and wants. What would you do if you reserved space for yourself in your life?

You need time to find your own rhythm

If you were left alone with nothing to do except what you wanted to do, what would that be? First you’d probably sleep a lot, to regroup from your busy life. Then you’d begin to examine how in you would like to fill your time — what you would like to do, who you would like to be with.

The way you can begin to find your own rhythm even in the middle of a demanding life is to learn to let life unfold. Stop planning. Simply allow events to happen. Then respond in the moment and trust that whatever you choose is exactly right for the here and now.

You need time to understand your work-flow preferences

As long as you have deadlines and goals, it’s a bit tricky to understand your work-flow preferences. After watching and recording my patterns and feelings as I worked organically, I realized that I like to immerse myself in one aspect of the project.

So each day I focus on a particular type of project: podcast, books, videos, and even a particular aspect: writing, editing, recording. And that’s all I focus on that day. Choosing a specific focus helps you feel less scattered and more productive.

Begin to identify your own work flow by recording what stops you, what excites you, and during what hours you do your best work. Then build your work flow around that awareness of your personal work rhythm.

You need time to listen to your body

You body will talk to you and tell you what it knows — but you have to listen and help it out. I notice that when I come off of periods of intense learning, my body wants to take short naps and is not very eager for a new project. If you are working and raising a family, you’ll have to listen more acutely and get creative when it comes to ways to heed the advice or your body.

You need time to dwell within

Plan on getting up before the rest of your household to take the time for your own introspection. Some “me” time, if you will. Whether it’s meditation or journaling or mind-mapping, be still and listen to what your inner self wants and needs. The more you understand about yourself, the more capable you are of meeting your own needs.

You are the only person who will take care of you

You can’t be in service to others if you are a basket case yourself. Give up something. Change your expectations — of yourself and others. Stop. Pause. Listen. Then slowly bring in what you need at this point in your life. Not too much. Just the right number of commitments so you can reserve space for yourself.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

26-Are You Selfish, Self-Aware or Self-Absorbed?
23 – What Are the Truths You Live By?
Lose Your Attachment to the Outcome
How to Create An Empty Day
The Power of Non-Action
The Power of Exploring the Unknown

Living with Expectation

November 10, 2016 By Cara Lumen

When we live with expectation, we overlook the “now”. We are so busy looking for what “will be” that we don’t see what “is”. And that’s not a particularly good way to live.

A lot of expectation is about hope

We build our dreams around the way we would like life to be. The way we hope things will work out. And we focus on what we want, what we hope for. Some people think of that as “visioning”; but without action, it is simply “hope”.

Some of expectation is assumption

If I do this, then that will happen. If I learn this, then I’ll automatically be able to…. If I go to college, I’ll get a great job. If I spend enough time on my job, I’ll get a promotion. Those are all assumptions. Without action, none of this has any chance of happening.

Some of exception is prediction

Prediction is about making stuff up based on what you know and can see right now. It leaves no room for unexpected discovery, new opportunities or a simple change of heart. Prediction is not possible.

We must learn to live in the moment

There will never be a moment when it will not be now. This moment is all we have to work with. This moment is the only time we have to make a choice. We choose, something shifts, we choose again.

Trust life to unfold

The key to living in the moment is to trust. Trust life to unfold with the perfect opportunities and lessons you need right now in your life. And trust that you’ll make an aligned choice, one that honors your values, your beliefs and your current needs and wants.

You need do nothing in the moment but choose

Not choosing is a choice. Choose a small amount or a lot. Tweak what shows up or turn your back and let it pass by. The present moment will never return. Simply choose – or don’t.

Allow your future to simply become

If I’m not going to expect anything, if I‘m not going to hope, assume, predict or even anticipate my “next”, then what am I supposed to do?

Be patient. Allow your future to unfold, to come into being, to simply become. It will be perfect.

Whether it’s a lesson you need to master or an opportunity that pushes you forward, it will unfold in the perfect time. Accept it. Take it within yourself and choose – in the moment, in the now.

That’s all you need to do. Be present in the now.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

The Power in a Ceremony of Releasing
Live Like Water
The Length of Your Reach
Mindfulness as a Path to Self-Awareness
45-How to Become a Mindful Presence
43 – Intolerance and the Need to Be Right

Trust the Message of Now

November 8, 2016 By Cara Lumen

There will never be a time when it’ll not be now. Now is now. Not tomorrow. Not yesterday. Now is all we have. We have to trust it.

What is the now telling you?

Since all we have is now, it’s a good idea to learn to interpret it, to get its message, to feel its nudge. We do that by being still within and listening. And feeling. And deciding. Depending on where we are in our life, we’ll hear a different rhythm, a different melody, a different harmony. But it’ll all be part of the same now.

What is the now offering us?

When we remain still enough, we catch the subtle nudges and nuances that line up in a row before us so we may take our pick. What appeals to you right now, in this moment? What feels like it would be a good tool to take with you on your journey? What do you need in your life at this minute? What are good reasons for your choices? What is being offered to you now?

How will “now” affect the “next now”?

It’s not a good idea to think too far ahead, but in this “now” you may have an idea of what you’d like in a now a bit further down the road. You make a choice that will add clarity or direction or a skill that’s needed when that next now shows up.

Are we doing right in this now?

This is the easiest question to answer about a current now. When we know our values, when we know ourselves well – what we need and want, what will nurture and support us – we choose that. There’s no consideration of the future, there’s the choice of exactly what we need right now.

Why if we make a mistake in this now?

The word “mistake” means “miss the mark.” Each time you aim, you get better at the whole “hit-the-mark” process. You aim better, you choose a better target, you send your whole-self arrow off with the choice you make.

There is no mistake – ever. There are, however, choices that became lessons – ones we needed and that improved us by getting them.

Now is exquisite

Take time to live in the now. Hear the now. Feel the now. Understand the messages from the now. Be still. Be aware. Feel. Listen. Choose. Each now is exquisite. Cherish it. Relax into it. Be the now.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:
The Power of Exploring the Unknown
Can You Control Your Own Destiny?
Why Unfolding Works
The Power of Your Personal Path
The Freedom of Not knowing
35—How to Hold the Space for Change.
32 – How to See Your Work As Art