Mindfulness

The Willingness Day

August 25, 2016 By Cara Lumen

What would happen if you spent the day being totally willing – willing to try something new, willing to simply be? What would that look like? What would that feel like?

Why is willingness important?

If we’re not willing, we’ll never try anything new. We will miss everything! There are often reasons why we are not eager. We may be afraid, we may not know how, or we may not have the self-confidence to even try.

When you’re willing, the world opens up to you.

Willingness is being eager

Curiosity leads us to the most exciting places. When we take a moment to look, to explore, to consider, we begin to see how the opportunity fits into our life and we move eagerly forward into the adventure.

Wiliness is being flexible

Practice being more willing in your interaction with others. Go along with what the others want – as long as it’s in line with your values, of course. Allow others to lead the way. It can lead you to fascinating places you might never have considered.

Willingness is being amenable

Be open to suggestions. Listen to the others’ ideas and viewpoints. New worlds of adventure and opportunity open up when you stay open to the natural flow of events.

Willingness makes you ready, eager and prepared to do something

A willing person is curious and eager to go exploring. She is the person who is ready to expand her ideas and prepared to do whatever it takes. Wouldn’t you like someone like that on your team? Wouldn’t you like to be like that?

Is that you?

Or do you need a little work? What happens if you decide to have a Willingness Day?

Today I’m willing to listen and absorb what the other person is saying before I respond. I listen to the concerns that are hidden behind the words. I will be open to hearing things I didn’t expect.

Today I’m willing to try something new. I will simply allow an idea to emerge and go exploring. I will even push past my apprehension and uncertainty. I will go two or three steps further than I though I could.

Today I’m willing to trust. For the whole day I will trust Tao to provide exactly what I need, whether I think it looks like it or not. And I will trust that I have the wisdom and self-knowledge to make the right choice.

Today I celebrate my willingness. I’m going to dance and play throughout my day in celebration of my open, receptive willingness to immerse myself in the natural flow of the day.

Happy Willingness Day!

To Sing a Deeper Song:

Why Unfolding Works
The Power of Non-Action
The Power of Exploring the Unknown
Allow the Right Action to Emerge
Just Chose
The Reward is in the Journey
34- Use Labels to Expand Your Possibilities
29-Are You Wiling to Move Beyond Your Comfort Zone?

Message from a Rainbow Mother

August 23, 2016 By Cara Lumen

I wish I’d known it 60 years ago. I wish I’d known I had the choice. I was born in 1932. There were not many of us because of the depression. Women had only had the right to vote for 22 years. Young men from my generation returned from war when I was in high school. In college the only ambition of every female was to get married and have children. We didn’t know we had a choice. I was nearing 40 when the Women’s Liberation Movement began. And finally, when I’m 83, we may have a female president. As the saying goes: “We’ve come a long way, baby.”

The two aspects to the feminine energy

I was gratified to recently learn that in the Shamanic tradition there are two kinds of feminine energy. First there’s the great “Nurturing Mother” who takes care of everyone. That’s the role model I was certainly brought up with and one that, even with a shift in consciousness, still prevails as the more desirable one.

However, it’s the other expression of the feminine energy that fills my heart, that makes me make peace with myself for my unconventional ways. That other aspect of the feminine energy is the “Rainbow Mother”, the poet, the writer, the dancer, the one who doesn’t fit in. Oh how I wish I’d known that 60 years ago. I am a Rainbow Mother, a full fledged, card-carrying member of the Rainbow Mother band. And I had to break out of the mold to do it.

Do you understand your choices?

Here’s my message to the young women coming along – you have a choice. In this moment in time you still have to work to give yourself permission to be a Rainbow Mother, you have to go against the grain a bit to do it; but you do have a choice. The Rainbow Mother is a valid aspect of your feminine nature.

When I was divorced and found myself in my mid-40s needing to get a job to support myself, nothing I’d ever done as a stay-at-home mom counted in the world of work. Today, wise young women know how to educate themselves and develop a profession even if they do choose to marry and become a parent.

When I was working, women were not executive, they were only working versions of the nurturing mother. There were no rainbow mothers in the corporate world!

Rainbow mothers have great adventures

If I hadn’t honored my “Rainbow” self, I would never be in a position to share what I give today. I would never have known my own capabilities, my own gifts. Because I’m a Rainbow Mother, I know my passion, I still have impact at my advanced age, I have active plans to help change the consciousness around our fragile earth. I have work to do. And I’m loving it.

If you are a Rainbow Mother, go for it

The Incas think in terms of 500-year cycles. We’re just entering a cycle of the feminine. We’re coming from the aggressive, warrior, masculine energy into – well it can go both ways – soft and nurturing and the individualist, the explorer, the leader, the philosopher.

Honor your gifts and follow them. Be the leader, the inspirer. Follow your calling as a Rainbow Mother. The world needs you!

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:
The Length of Your Reach
The Many Faces of Your Calling
How Do You Nurture “Different”
Learn to Honor Your Inner Rhythm
35—How to Hold the Space for Change.
27 – Why Have You Been Chosen

Balance and the Flow of Living

July 19, 2016 By Cara Lumen

It helps me, as I move along this winding, sometimes bumpy, but always adventurous life, to try to be more like water – flowing, adapting, trusting.

Flow like water

I love living an unfolding life. I simply see what shows up and shape things as they come. I can change course. I can go faster. I can rest in a pool for a while. Like water, I adapt to whatever shows up.

Seek balance like water

Water has the awesome ability to adapt to any shape. It easily changes with the situation. It can go rushing down a mountainside or find stillness in a gently flowing stream. Water adapts. It accepts.

We can learn to flow though life. When I have to move rapidly, I do. I work to stay balanced during my day. I try to maintain a steady flow, whatever the speed. I keep the balance between my physical-plane activities and the harmony of my inner self. Balance keeps me flowing.

Be nourishing like water

The image of water is often used to describe Tao, that indescribable, whatever-it-is that is, that “All-That-Is”. Water is nourishing – in so many ways. It nourishes us. It nourishes the planet. I’m comforted to know that I’m surrounded by the care of nourishing water.

When I allow the flow of life to move through me, letting it fill me, and nurture me, all is well in my world.

Be still like water

Even when water rushes down a hillside, it eventually finds a place of stillness. Once there, it simply savors the stillness. It rests in stillness. It lives in stillness.

I mindfully choose moments of stillness. Whether it’s seeking a deeper stillness in meditation or simply a thoughtful pause to look out my window. When I consciously acknowledge the moment of stillness, it nourishes me. Be aware of the moments when you are still – and serene.

Water is powerful

Water wears down hillsides. Water smooths rocks. It does that by being consistent, by steadily flowing forward. Its nature is constant. It flows. Flowing though life is a powerful way to be.

Water is unafraid

Water knows it can adapt. Water knows it can flow into any situation. Water knows it can flow out of any situation. When we trust our “water-ness” we become fluid and adaptable. We are determined, yet we are flexible. We are resilient.

Water is flowing.

Every drop is both fluid and flexible.

Water never fears being divided, because it knows it will flow back together in time. It is eternal.

Water is powerful, its nature is constant. It is true to itself at any extreme.

Let your life flow like water, bringing you balance and flexibility.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider

On Coming to the End of a Cycle
Learn to Honor Your Inner Rhythm
The Power of Non-Action
Can You Control Your Own Destiny?
30 – The No Plan Plan

Mindfulness as a Path to Self-Awareness

July 4, 2016 By Cara Lumen

Mindfulness is a path to self-awareness. Self-awareness is a path to aligned choices. If you don’t know what you want and need, you’re not going to get it. Self-awareness expands your possibilities.

Choose mindfulness in caring for your body

I realized how powerful mindfulness is for developing self-awareness when I got serious about eating mindfully – chewing each bite longer and taking time to explore its flavor and texture. I turned off distractions like television. I took time to offer thoughts of gratitude to the people who helped get the food to me and to the crops for growing and the sun for shining and the rain for dropping. (I’m vegan or I would thank the animals, too.) Mindfulness is awareness. Eating mindfully lets me become aware when my hunger has ceased. Mindfulness tells me when my body is tired or needs exercise. Tune into your body and make the changes it requests.

Bring mindfulness to your self-talk

We say the most harmful things to ourselves – “I can’t, I’m not good enough, they don’t like me.” We do more damage with the thoughts we direct to ourselves than any other person could possibly do. Start thinking and speaking in the present tense. Say “I am”, not “I will”, “I have”, not “I want”.

Make a list of the good things people say about you and absorb them until you believe them. That is the reflection you offer others. Believe it. Change it if you don’t like it. Trust your reflection to give you guidance but teach yourself to give you praise.

Bring mindfulness to speaking

As you begin to monitor your self-talk, take time to be mindful of the words you speak aloud. Think before you speak. Watch the reaction you get. Listen to the words the other person is not saying and respond to those unexpressed feelings. It takes practice to speak mindfully but the rewards are heart-warming.

Use mindfulness for your spiritual expansion

When you spend mindful time in contemplation, you hear the inner voice of All-That-Is. Whether you journal, write poetry, draw mind maps, write songs, or read wise words, use some form of mindfulness to continue to expand your spiritual practice. Explore new concepts and bring into your life the ones that resonate.

Bring mindfulness to your service

How do you want to serve? Where do you want to serve? Whom do you want to serve? Go exploring. Find where you are needed. Find where you are the most effective, and get to work. Find a community that needs you, people who are traveling in the same direction whom you can help. Take time to share your light with them and walk beside them for a while.

Mindfulness leads to positive choice

Mindfully practice mindfulness. It leads to self-awareness and self-awareness leads to positive choices that are aligned with your passion and your purpose in life.

How will you be mindful today?

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

Embracing Tao
Live in the Nowhere That You Came rom
The Freedom of Not knowing
Why Unfolding Works
The Power of Non-Action
35—How to Hold the Space for Change.
23 – What Are the Truths You Live By?
17 – Exploring The Village of Nothingness

Can You Learn to Do Everything Through Being?

June 22, 2016 By Cara Lumen

“Do everything through being” means we must develop a still mind, encourage quiet moments, embody an ever deepening awareness of who we are, what we have to give, and how we want to serve. “Being” means we except the light that we are and feel content with our unique expression of self.

“Being” means pausing before you think, listening to the voice within before you act. It means developing patience and compassion. Being means a presence so complete, so profound, that we feel our connection to Tao, the Nowhere That We Came From. It is the deepest state of spiritual connection brought forth into life.

Learn to simply “be,”