Cara Lumen | Sing a Deeper Song

Sing a Deeper Song

Spiritual Expansion

Keep Your Meditation Creative

By

Keep Your Meditation Creative

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

Sometimes we get so excited about new ways to meditate or concepts to contemplate or consider that we end up with this huge, bulky obligation that we then cease to do because it’s gotten too big. This is not about streamlining your meditation but it may very well be about changing it up periodically. You might choose to focus on one meditative practice more than another for a while in order to develop your skill and your experience of it.  I’ve had some breathing techniques I have frequently added and I have to watch it doesn’t make my meditation period too long. Perhaps I find a different place in my day that I practice breathing. 

I play my flute sometimes longer than others. I haven’t played my drums much recently. They are fun to do. I could have a whole separate drumming meditation. Like drumming down the sun. 

There are affirmations I used to say at my window altar that I have put off for a while. They are very nurturing strong affirmations. I would like them back in my life. 

So what do you do when you have so many ideas for your spiritual practice that you don’t do any of them? You get creative. You adjust. You modify. You may have a week of one focused type of practice to deepen it and also find the key components to include daily. 

You may have a few days in which you write affirmations on dissolvable paper and put them in water and watch that disappear. You may read a Tarot card for the week rather than one for each day. Do you see where I’m going with this? Have you by any chance overburdened your meditation practice with too much detail? 

The point of meditation is to quiet your mind and bring your attention inward and stay there for a while, allowing that stillness to heal and balance your body and your emotions and your mind. Even a pause for a period of consciously releasing exhales helps to bring you back to center. 

I have some songs I wrote that I play with my drum while looking out the window at nature. That could just be one form of meditation. I am learning more Qigong for self-healing and I might want to make a whole meditation using those practices. I have a singing bowl I haven’t used in a while. See how this goes? And let’s not even discuss the number of crystals that I have not held for quite a while. Those are deepening experiences unto themselves. It’s not a matter of routine, it is a matter of tuning into the moment, the day, the current need, to create a meditation segment that does what you need to have done in that moment. Do you need healing? Do you need centering? Do you need encouragement? What is the purpose of your meditation, the result you want, and what are the best forms of meditation to use?

I’m not doing nearly enough of my Transcendental Meditation. It doesn’t fit if I add in all these other things that I do. So I have to get creative.  New times. More sessions. Different days. Can you see where I’m going with this? Keep your meditation practice flexible and creative.  Create, experiment, explore, be flexible and notice what shifts. Keep your meditation practice fluid and responsive to your life.

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION
I examine my meditation practice and find ways to make it more flexible.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS

  • What are your favorite forms of meditation? Begin with one of those and perhaps do only that one in your meditation practice. Then move on to explore another one for a week or so until you deepen the practice and find what the results are.
  • Explore different times of day to do your meditation. I have one after I’m showered and am ready for my day but using meditation as a shift from a workday to an evening of personal time is a good place too. Create a flexible meditation practice.
  • Experiment with length. You’re not going to have a lengthy meditation every day so pick a length that works for you. 20 minutes was the recommended time for Transcendental Meditation. I don’t do that much.
  • Notice what forms of practice speak the most to you. I find my Qigong practices are very soothing. I would like to lengthen my TM practice. I would like to play my drums more frequently. Do the work and make your own meditation practice creative, individualized and perfect for you. 

===INNER WORK===
How to Help People You Don’t Like

I have a problem here. I know that I am supposed to send love and light to everyone but there are some people and situations and actions that are taking place in this world that I can’t bring myself to send light to.  Their deeds are too horrendous. And they are the situations that need it most. What do you do, what do I do when we see people expressing anger and hatred and evil and we’re supposed to send them light. How do we do that?

I have to back off from thinking in terms of individuals and individual actions and send wholing energy to the whole. Send peace to their hearts. In my cynicism I’m not sure it could get in. I can send energy to a situation, holding for the highest good for all of us. I only know to help a situation by sending light and holding my own vibration as high as I can manage. And hope they see it and recognize it in themselves. 

I am not to drop down into human emotions of anger or hatred. That hurts only me. It does not touch those I am focused on. Work on your own vibration. Work on elevating it. Work on keeping it the highest frequency you can manage. And keep on walking the high road. Make sure that your thoughts and your actions and your choices are all on the highest possible level you can manage. Stay on the high road. Shine your light. Show a different way. And know that others will see it. 

===SELF-HEALING===
Learn from the Past

Everything we’ve ever done has contained a lesson for us. Sometimes we get the lesson, sometimes we don’t. But if we pause to reflect and look at the overview of the path we have traversed, we will begin to see a pattern. A pattern of choices. A pattern of responses to those choices. I have a strong pattern of having written all my life starting in high school. I have a strong pattern of being interested in spirituality since my comparative religion class in college. Those are trails that have blazed their way through my life. Look to see what patterns you’ve been drawn to, what choices you have continued to make. And see if you like what you’re doing and where has taken you. Then see how you might change it to have a different outcome. Learn from the past. Use it to create your future. 

===OUTER  WORK===
Partner With the Univers

Letting the universe handle the perfect unfolding of our goals strengthens our confidence and reinforces our belief that anything is possible. We release our need to control and intentionally invite the universe to co-create the perfect outcome.

What are you forcing into being? What are you trying to rearrange that makes you go in the wrong direction? Are you listening? Are you observing the outcomes? Are you continually making positive choices?  

Slow down. See what you are creating in your life. Decide what you would like to create in your life. And partner with the universe to make it happen.

Have You Fulfilled Your Dream?

Did you have a dream as a young person? Gifts you wanted to expand? A path you thought you would follow? And did you do that?

Looking back, it wasn’t so much following a path as honoring my passions and interests in the moment. I did a very good job of that and there has been a pattern of flexible, spontaneous, in-the-moment choices. I seem to have a very strong need to share my discoveries and observations and lessons.  I do that in these newsletters.  But at the core of my path, I think it has been about being an explorer. An explorer of meditation, an explorer of yoga and Qigong and Tai Chi. An explorer of metaphysics. Always learning new concepts, always trying on something new to see how I like it or how I can adapt it to my life. There’s been a strong pattern of exploration. Underneath it may be the simple joy of learning. But as I have grown older, the calling has become a demand that I constantly explore something or learn something or share something or absorb something or apply something to my life. I am an explorer. Which also means I don’t stay with one thing for a particularly long time. I learn what I need and then build on that, rather than become extremely efficient at one particular step. Jack of all trades, master of none. Except in the broader sense of focusing on my spiritual practice.

Two friends in my life are entering into retirement and have the opportunity to structure an entire new 30 year path. It will be interesting to see what they keep and what they let go. 30 years is a long time. Do you know what you’ll move into when it’s time to retire, to stop working your regular job?  

Is there something you want to learn? Something you want to do? Someplace you want to go? What dreams do you still want to fulfill in this lifetime? Do that next.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===
Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

We are like musical notes in a cosmic orchestra. Each of us has our own tone and timber to contribute to the overall symphony. So on one hand we want to make sure we’re playing our tune right, and on the other hand, we want to make certain we are enhancing the entire symphonic piece. We wanna play our part right. We want to play our part well. And we want to support the collective effort as we do so.

So part of that work is how we think. The positive thoughts we hold, the positive expectations we have, the positive steps we take. All of those add to the uplifting of the all-encompassing energy. 

Another part of our path is our beliefs in what is possible. That light is fairly dim in the world right now. How do we counterbalance the negativity that is prevalent on so many levels today?

We are guardians of our own light. That’s our job. We are to hold our space with the highest level of awareness and expectation we can possibly manage. We must make our choices out of that centered, focused universal space.

What are you saying? What are you thinking? What are you doing? Make certain your choices are for the highest good of all. And keep holding a vision of oneness.

===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE DIVERSE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEINGs===
Let Your Light Shine

Does your inner light need polishing? Is it bright enough to change lives? Show others the way? To guide your own steps? We’re not on this path alone as humans, we are light beings working with the highest vibration that exists which is within all of us, to express ourselves in this life in a meaningful and impactful manner. That means we have to move deeply within ourselves to find out the gifts we are to share, the goals we are to achieve, the way we are to serve.

Is there some gift tucked away that you haven’t thought about for a long time that you would like to share? I’m thinking of something like a love of singing. Are you to sing in the choir, or a quartet or a choral group? I’ve done all of those things along the path of my life. How am I now expressing my love of singing? Get creative when it is time to reposition your gifts.

You never know when or how you will touch the lives of another person. One of the staff here who sweeps the halls on Thursdays told me that every time he hears me play my native flutes he stops and leans up against the wall and simply listens. I didn’t know that. I was just playing my flutes because I need and want to play my flutes.

I write in this newsletter because I need to figure things out and anchor them in my own life. And it is exciting to share what I discover. With you. I don’t always get feedback from you, but sometimes I do and that’s supportive and welcome and encouraging. I have to share in my excitement of what I discover. So you’re going to get this newsletter whether you write me back or not.

What gifts are you neglecting at this point in your life? If you used to be a runner and are kind of old, try walking. My fingers wouldn’t work on the piano anymore and my eyes are not able to read the music but I sure can tune into the classical music channel and hum along and remember melodies I know and listen more deeply. What kind of substitutes for a love or a gift or a talent are you making in your life now? And what gifts have you been neglecting? Do something about that. 

===BROADEN YOUR HORIZON – EXPAND YOUR VIEW===
The Eagle’s Eye

One of my earliest spirit guides is an eagle. His name is Sampson and in my journeys I get on his back and he takes me to see the overview. The beginning, middle, and end. The possibilities.  I can’t see them from my human life. So I get on his back and we go exploring to look for a new potentials, new possibilities, new insights. 

How do you keep an eye on the overview? How do you see it? How do you explore it? Are you constantly looking for new possibilities? Or are you sort of mired down in the detail of whatever you were doing? Keep your eye on the broader possibilities and potentials. Be like the eagle – soar high, look for and plan from the overview. 

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===
New Opportunities to Live Longer

Every day in science something new is discovered. Things that make us live longer. And better. And more productive. And new ways to extend our lives. It’s not easy to keep up with the dramatic changes.

I haven’t read this, but Brian Clark suggested this. “In the new book The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology, the authors envision a scenario based on today’s current research and advances that has human aging reversed within the next 10 years — just as the eldest Gen Xers cross 65.”

“Which brings to mind some questions:

  • What’s your purpose that keeps you going?
  • What would you like to change going forward?
  • What do you want to do with the rest of your life?”

It may give us an opportunity and a need to rethink our potential and possibilities.

I find out about a lot of new discoveries by subscribing to Good News Network. 

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===
Expanding Awareness
The Vibration behind Your Beliefs

Listen to my 
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Google
and the Deeper Song Website

===CARA’S CORNER===
Do Something You Have Not Done For A While.

I have begun to play my skin drum again recently. And yet I am applying some of the techniques I learned when I learn to play my synthetic Remo drums. I’d like to say I made the skin drum. However, it was a workshop 30 years ago in which what I really did was weave the skin onto the frame. I had nothing to do with obtaining the deer skin or cutting it in a circle or poking holes around the edges of the rawhide. Nor did I make the round frame that it went in but with help, I wove the skin onto the frame to make my drum. And then I didn’t know what to do with it.

I bought a hide beater from the woman who held the workshop. When I started studying shamanism ten years ago, I began to play it more. I have created my own songs to the different directions. I just let them show up and evolve until they are what I want to sing. But I’ve been playing this drum with my hands in the manner I was more recently taught by Christine Stevens in her Shift Network classes. Funny how things come in cycles and you get to revisitg amd reexplore and refame an  experience. Interesting how we combine various phases of our life into the present moment.

What do you need to bring forth into your life today? I have so many crystals I have not held and talked to for a very long time. I have several shelves that have special items on them that could host many ceremonies if I chose to do so. What have you put aside that you want to revive? And when will you do it?

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===
My Drum Calls

My drum said, “Pick me up, play me, let me sing again.”

My drum said, “Pick me up, play me, let me sing again.” I lifted her into my hands, turned to look out at nature, and let her speak again.

My drum said, “Pick me up, play me, let me sing again.” I lifted her into my hands, turned to look out at nature, and let her speak again. I play better now. We talked for quite a while. It was good to get to know my friend again. We have both gotten better with age.

Cara Lumen, April 2022

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.  Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song  
I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.

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Trust Your Intuition – Follow Your Inner Voice

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Trust Your Intuition – Follow Your Inner Voice

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

Our intuition is the first sign of our inner voice speaking up. It comes as a subtle feeling, an awareness and when we pay attention it opens up a new pathway.

Do you follow your hunches? Do you listen to your intuition? Check it out. See where it leads you. Test it to see how on target it is all the time. Learn to trust those subtle thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere.

I use my intuition to make choices. Sometimes it’s as simple as what I’m going to eat and other times it’s more complicated – like what I am going to write. And sometimes my inner voice talks so fast I can only sit here and dictate what it says into my computer. 

The more you listen to your inner voice, the louder and more clearly it speaks. When change is going to happen in my life I get a feeling, a hunch, an awareness. I don’t know what is going to happen, I don’t know when it’s going to happen, I just know that there is a change in progress.

So I keep listening and I keep considering and I keep exploring whatever shows up to see if that’s what I’m supposed to be doing. And then one day it’s totally clear. My next step is right there in front of me. My next project, my next pathway, my next offering, my next place of service. All right there as clear as day. My inner voice has spoken.

First, learn to listen and then learn to trust. Notice the hunches, notice the thoughts, and pay attention to the gradual unfolding process. If they unfold. When they unfold. How they unfold. Keep tuning in as things progress. Learn to trust your intuition. Follow your inner voice. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION
I explore my hunches, my nudges, my intuition as they appear in my life. I learn to trust them.
DEEPER SONG PROCESS

  • Learn to pay attention to those random thoughts that are not actually random but are simply not noticed. Notice them, consider them, and see how they unfold. 
  • Listen, explore, and learn to trust.

===INNER WORK===
Do Not Second Guess the Future

It’s a natural tendency that when you get really old you start to think about how you might die. And you hope it doesn’t hurt. In fact, you very much hope it doesn’t hurt. But in a recent journey, I clearly got that it’s not time for me to consider that right now even though I am rather old. I am to get on the ball and do my work and make every day a meaningful and loving experience full of joy. I could keep really busy doing that. 

What are you anticipating with some dread and how is it sapping your energy and spoiling your present moment? Take life one day at a time. Savor it. Enjoy it. Do your best work in it. And expect the best!

I realize that I’m counting pretty heavily on this new self-healing Qigong class I’m taking to help me make changes in my body. But there are subtle changes for the good taking place even now. I just have to notice them and build on them and encourage the subtle changes.

For instance, it hurts very much to get up out of a chair. And I was beginning to sit there and rock back-and-forth in anticipation of the pain, which only makes it worse. And yes, it hurt to stand up. Then one day it didn’t. And I had to teach myself not to anticipate that it would. Do not anticipate, particularly in the negative. And if you can’t hold a vision of ease, at least hold a neutral space in which the action can unfold organically.

Remember that what you get is what you believe you deserve and what you believe can happen. So if I believe I can stand up easily and effortlessly that’s what I can create. That’s what I am creating. That’s what I have created. Stay positive and expect the best.

Come From Your Spiritual Center

It’s easier to get pulled off track – by a situation, by an interaction with a person, by something not working the way it is you want it to. Whatever shows up in your life, take a breath, pause to return to your spiritual center, and rebalance. That moment will change how you view what is unfolding and will also greatly focus and enhance the way you respond. Keep mindfully coming from your spiritual center.

===SELF-HEALING===
Don’t Give Up

I get discouraged sometimes when my body takes its own sweet time getting better because it hurts. And yet, there is progress.  Small steps in the alignment of my body. There is progress but it sure is slow.  I have to keep holding my vision of wholeness and give it time to evolve.  I get discouraged but I know I must keep focused on the successes. When you get discouraged, what do you do?

Create a Self-Healing Segment in Your Spiritual Practice – The Wide Reach of the Vagus Nerve
As I continue to take more and more responsibility for self-healing my body, I’ve begun to look at the meridians. I know very little about them and I want to learn. Somehow I’ve started with the vagus nerve and there are two ways that I’m really attracted to stimulating it. One is the Lower Dantian Breathing Technique with Grandmaster Chunyi Lin. I do this one many times a day.

The other practice I’m going to establish is to massage the vagus nerve manually. As part of my self-healing program, my intuitive healer friend Christina Gerber is going to teach me about the meridians. She says the vagus nerve runs the length of the body so Kegel exercises help the vagus nerve reset. Also, moving your tongue in your mouth side to side to reset it and massaging from your clavicle upwards along your neck to your temples front and back of the ear resets it.

The vagus nerve has a huge impact on mental and gut health. It’s known as the “wandering nerve” which encircles the digestive system, lungs, and heart and as a result, impacts nearly every part of the body. From immune to inflammatory response, to fight or flight, the vagus nerve plays a major role. As a result, stimulation of the vagus nerve is important for both physical and mental health. 

Keep adding self-healing techniques to your spiritual practice. You and your body deserve it.

Imbalance as a Lesson

If I work to heal various parts of my body, I am very aware that the imbalance that I experience is meant to be a lesson for me. A lesson of correction. A lesson of self-healing. Perhaps even the doorway to an entirely new path.

It’s not my favorite way to get a lesson. But there are messages in any imbalance and an opportunity for you to create change in your life. 

Along with my hip adjustment, my dry macular degeneration is also a lesson that is kicking in. Something for me to heal. Even though there is nothing Western medicine can do about it. I know the acupressure points around my eyes and massage them every day. I know I will learn more ways to help it in my Qigong self-healing class, and I look up exercises for the eyes online and go exploring. What prompts me to keep exploring is the belief that my health, my well-being, my self-responsibility and my choice of actions can create positive change. If I don’t, I sit here and just let stuff happen to me. And I’m a victim of this whole aging process. I’m not gonna do that. I keep adding self-healing practices to my self-care. I am taking a course on Qigong self-healing. And I am putting specific self-healing segments into my day so that I consciously stop and pay attention to these areas of my body and life that need to have adjustments made. And I get to work on it with my own energy and my own intention. Don’t just accept an imbalance in your life. Do some research, choose the steps that call to you and do them. Take responsibility for self-healing and expand your spiritual practice to include a regular self-healing time. Pay attention to the results and adjust your self-healing practice as those results unfold. How is your self-healing practice shaping up?

===OUTER  WORK===
How Do You Make Your Choices?

Some people make their choices based on an in-the-moment response and their instinct. Other people spend a lot of time weighing and considering what their options are and where they might lead. Where are you on the spectrum?

The choice of what to eat might be made out of instinct in the moment. Many of the things I write about come in the moment. I find a couple of words or a phrase that calls for explaining and I sit down and write about them. It happens pretty fast actually. I’m not one to spend a lot of time considering the options but perhaps I should be. How do you make your decisions? How do you find the balance between logic and emotion? Or do you?

It’s fine to make a choice between what kind of cookie you want to eat but you need to take a little longer when you’re making a choice between some major change in your life. We do need to consider options. At the same time, we don’t want to overthink them and make ourselves not do anything because we’ve got too many things going on in our minds. How do you find that balance between what your heart wants, what your instinct says to do, and what your mind says is a reasonable and logical step to take? It may depend on your personality and it may depend on the type of decision you’re making.

I write in the newsletter all the time. I find an idea and I write about it and put it in the newsletter draft. However, when I review it, I can just as easily take it out depending on what else I have written that week.

Noticing results is one indication of how your choices are working out. For instance, I had some fairly obvious body responses to some Qigong moves I started doing. So I continue their practice and increase the frequency I do them. That choice was made from the observation of a result.

Some of your choices will depend on how much you trust your inner voice. How much do you trust it to be on target for you? I knew in an instant that I was going to leave Kansas City and go to New York City. No questioning, no wondering how it’s going to happen, not even concerned about what that meant when I got there. It was just instinctual I knew I was going to do it. That sudden, instant knowing decision came two more major times in my life – when I moved from New York to California and when I moved from California to Kansas City.  In each of those huge decision-making moments there was no questioning, only a complete knowing it was what I was to do next. 

In looking over my life I’m pretty much an in-the-moment let’s-do-it person. That’s not necessarily a good thing. Sometimes examining the options might’ve been a better choice. But these were all wonderful moves.

How do you make your choices? Do you lean too much towards deep analysis or do you instinctively and intuitively jump on anything that calls to you? Both are extreme responses. Find balance in how you make your decisions. Whatever that looks like to you.

Adjust as the Situation Changes

I’m having a hard time playing my native flutes. Some of the tones are not clear. My fingers feel like they cover the holes on the flute correctly. But then I noticed the end joint on some of my fingers are being bent to one side by arthritis. So even though I feel like I am still bringing my fingers straight down to cover the hole, in actuality the ends of some of my fingers are not covering the hole completely to make the pure tone. That’s disturbing and I’m not sure what I do with those jauntily curved fingers but I am learning to adjust my fingering now that I know why the unclear notes are occurring. It is easier to play my wider double flute than the round single flute.

What physical changes have come up in your life? Make adjustments in order to continue forward. Stay flexible and creative and keep going…

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===
Add Music to Deepen Your Meditation

I play music as part of my daily meditation.  My native flutes for certain but I get a lot of pleasure from myKalimba Thumb Piano. It is soothing and easy to play.  It is also an inexpensive addition to your meditation practice.

The Kalimba is an African musical instrument consisting of a wooden board with attached staggered metal tines played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs. Here’s what it sounds like: Kiss the Rain

It is believed that the thumb piano was invented twice in Africa; one version originating on the west coast using wooden or bamboo tines around 3000 years ago, and the other version originating on the southeast coast using metal tines around 1300 years ago.

It can be a solo instrument or as an accompaniment to singers, musicians and dancers. I use it for meditation and my cat, Sebastian, is particularly fond of its sound. Here’s the one I have Kalimba Thumb Piano

===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE DIVERSE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEINGS===
Stay Balanced

I’m trying to stay balanced between me and the bravery and the horror stories of the Ukraine while keeping my spiritual focus on the higher vibration that embraces all of us. I’m not always successful.

I wish I had an attention thermometer. It would help me stay on track. It would make me notice when I was focusing too much on the physical plane and need to go spend more time on the spiritual plane. I just have to teach myself to recognize that in myself. I could listen to less news and spend more time reading books and looking at videos that help me raise my own vibration. What kind of balance are you maintaining in your life and how do you need to change it?

===BROADEN YOUR HORIZON – EXPAND YOUR VIEW===
Self-Healing

I started my Qigong class on self-healing this week. And it certainly is an interesting concept to know that you are responsible for what your body presents to you in wellness or sickness. And it is through energy, because we’re all energy, that we can change how it is manifesting. That’s really neat, and it’s also a very sobering responsibility. I don’t want to blame myself for what’s going on in my body because I know in fact it’s a healing of a past life experience because that’s where it started- in a healing session around a past life experience. I have to look closely at this very subtle change toward wholeness that has recently taken place. And trust that more signals and results will follow. Because I am the guy responsible for getting well, I have to stay open to the nudges and clarification that comes with what I am to do. I’m getting results.

When you undertake a self-healing process or self-correcting process, keep track of the steps you take and the results that occur when you do. I have two simple breathing exercises that have begun to make more shifts in my body. Look at what you do and look at what happens when you do it. Then adjust. 

I’m probably gonna take a second Qigong class about ceating longevity because as an old person Qigong seems to be a very powerful way to change and support my physical body. Keep exploring, keep practicing, keep changing.

I’m taking Heal Yourself & Others With the Power of Qigong and the class I will probably take is Live Long QiGong with Robert Peng. Here’s a free online event with him: Premiere: Saturday, April 16, 10:00AM (PDT) 
Encore: Tuesday, April 19, 12:00PM (PDT)

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===
Why Are We In Each Other’s Lives?

How did you find me? Why are you reading this? Why am I writing this? We are in each other’s lives for a reason. Do we know what it is? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Trust the fact that we are connected.

Why are certain people in your life? What gifts are you giving each other? What lessons are you offering each other? Sometimes the exchanges are uncomfortable. And sometimes they are full of joy. Know that with every interaction with any individual there is a gift exchange involved. You give something to them. They give something to you. Be aware of this lovely gift exchange.

Why are we walking this part of the path together   I’m glad we are.

===THE UNFOLDING DIVINE FEMININE===
A Dramatic End of an Era

The era of the old white male is coming to an end and they are fighting like a flounder on a hook. The very worst of male dominance is in evidence in our world today. A stark contrast was given with the hearings to install Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court of the US. The bullying techniques exhibited by some of the white male members of the senate were reminiscent of high school bullies. Those insecure people who had to pick on the people they see as stronger and potentially more powerful than they are. Do you know any of those?

And this lovely, gracious, extremely smart, extremely well-educated woman, who happens to be black, sat there with grace and integrity and patience with the bullying and childlike actions of the men who were theoretically there to infirm her. 

Could you do that? As a smart, educated, proven professional woman could you and would you sit there and let anyone try to bully you? She has to in order to gain the position she is so overqualified for. I would’ve lost the job because I would’ve had something to say about their behavior. But then I’m white and she’s black and she’s smarter than I am. She just stayed calm and centered and polite and the belligerent senators were taking the their last gasp at trying to feel relevant. 

Are you experienced enough and confident enough to know your own worth? So that no one and no circumstance can rattle you and make you move off of that focused centered position? I may have to practice that. 

Know your own worth, believe in your own value and trust that knowledge. 

I wonder what the world will be like when the Divine Feminine sets the tone. 

My Two Favorite Books

There are two foundational books that always strengthen my spiritual awareness when I read them. One is The Prophet by Khalil Gibran which I discovered in my 30s and actually provided me with the name of my current business.

On the last page. in the next to the last paragraph, it says, “And I shall return and you will sing to me a deeper song.” I caught my breath because I knew I wanted to sing my deeper song. And so I am. And so are you.

The Tao Te Ching is the other book that is foundational for me. I like the Stephen Mitchell translation the best. It is so much about how to live a spiritual life, a mindful life. I have read them both many times. Do you have a life-changing book that you return to throughout your life? If so what is it? Is it time to read it again?  

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===
Spiritual Practice
How too Build a Launching Pad for Your Inner work
Listen to my 
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Google
and the Deeper Song Website
==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===
Save The Animals

Spring is the time of year I take time to donate to organizations that help save animals: World Wildlife Fund, National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy,Sierra Club– whatever way you want to support the nurturing and growth of nature.  

===CARA’S CORNER===
When You Are Ready the Answer Will Appear

I’m into self-healing. My collection of skills is expanding. My holistic friends offer me insights and skills of their own to add to my own physical growth practice.

When you make a major shift the key is to keep an eye out for the results it produces. Or doesn’t produce. I am feeling shifts in my body and it still hurts. So I will continue to explore additional options to help it rebalance.

Part of allowing change is to realize the changes to be made. I’m getting extra help on the physical plane as my son-in-law drives over to take out the trash which was becoming quite a challenge for me. My dry macular degeneration is kicking in and I have to get creative working around that too.  I’m not sure how that’s going to work and look like. What kind of adjustments are you making in your life to accommodate the changes that are showing up? Do you want those changes? How do you want them to unfold? Do you have a great deal of choice in the outcome? Get to work.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===
My Work

I am the only one who can fix this. I’m the only one who can make change. I’m the only one.

I am the only one who can fix this. I’m the only one who can make change. I’m the only one. I explore, I experiment, I make choices, and I do the work.

I am the only one who can fix this. I’m the only one who can make change. I’m theonly one. I explore, I experiment, I make choices, and I do the work. I keep exploring and experimenting and change keeps happening.

Cara Lumen, March 2022

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.  Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Come Sing a Deeper Song  
I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.
Please forward this newsletter to a friend and suggest they
Join the Deeper Song Community
Past Issues of this newsletter are being curated on my site on a page called Insights.
Our Global Deeper Song Community
Our Deeper Song Community extends throughout the planet. Welcome new Deeper Song Explorers. I’d love to hear of your experiences –  caralumen@gmail.com or let’s discuss on the Deeper Song Explorers!

Weekly Deeper Song Newsletter Subscribe at  www.deepersong.com

The Power of Our Aura

By

The Power of Our Aura

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
 The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

I have been fascinated by the idea of our biofields. They are our energy fields. I first began to hear the word used in relation to working with tuning forks. I thought it was something new until I was on a healing summit and realize that the biofield is the aura I’ve known about for over 50 years. I can feel the edges of a person’s aura. I can interpret the energy of a room, or a person.  I can interpret the energy of a crystal. As can you when you listen. 

Everything is energy. Which means it has an aura, a biofield that we can feel and experience. Have you ever walked into a room and suddenly felt it was a great place to be?  That’s the aura of the room. Or have you been in a situation in which the tension was so great that there was not only negativity but a thickness about the aura? You couldn’t wait to leave the negative energy. Learn to listen to those intuitive nudges. 

Sensing an aura is about teaching yourself to feel subtle differences. Stand 30 feet away from a person and slowly begin to move closer to them. Be aware and tune into any energy change. Sometimes further away but around 6 to 8 feet you will actually feel this field of energy. It is the aura of the person. You just have to practice experiencing it

Why, you ask. Why should I learn to sense the aura of another person? Because it is a profound form of communication. It is energy speaking to energy. Our thoughts have energy but when you start reading the energy of a room or the aura of a person, there is a deeper feeling of understanding and connection.  Use your intuition to interpret the aura, the vibration of another person, animal, plant, rock, or place. Learn to feel, experience, and interpret the biofields around you. 

Remember the last time you came across somebody whose presence immediately made you feel happier and more joyous because of the energy they put forth? That was their aura. Do you ever wonder what kind of aura you put out? I’m not sure that you have many people in your life that you can ask what your aura feels like but if you do, by all means ask.  If not, take a guess. What is the energy you’re putting forth at any given time? 

When I walk down the hall to get my mail, I could purposely send forth positive energy into every apartment door I pass.  When I walk outside to take the trash, I can make certain to pause and feel the energy and aura of nature. When I send out my newsletter, I will more consciously add energy to it even though positive energy goes into every word I write and every step I take in producing it.

When I was writing my small books, I put a book blessing in each book to share my energy with those who read them.  Even today I add a vibrational blessing to this newsletter when I send it out. 

The energy we put into our work stays within what we put out. It is our essence. It is our aura. What kind of message are you sending because of who you are and what you were thinking?

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I am now aware that my aura extends far beyond my body and I work daily to make certain it is a positive expression of my center. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Begin to experience and explore energy fields – the energy of a person, the energy of a situation, the energy of a tree, a rock, or your pets. Learn to feel the edge of an aura.
  • Work with your consciousness to raise the vibration of your aura, the energy that emanates from your being. 
  • Set the intention to have it always be a positive experience for those who come in contact with it. 

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Meditation Practice

The benefits of meditation are so great that perhaps you want to pause and see how you might expand or improve your meditation practice. If you don’t know how to meditate, find a quiet place to sit comfortably and focus on your breathing. In and out. In and out. Keep focused on your breath and continue to teach your mind to be quiet and still. It is in this inner stillness that your inner voice can speak with you and give you guidance and insights and messages.

You can use a mantra if you want – Om, pronounced aum, is often used. You can use a mudra which is a hand position to deepen your mediative experience. For instance, palms up, one hand resting in the other. Work your way up on the length of time you can meditate. 20 minutes might be a goal.

When I learned transcendental meditation in the 80s, it was suggested that we meditate when we come home from work so it made a clear space between work and home. Some people will meditate when they first get up. You’ll find your place. Experiment. Meditate daily so you get in the habit. I have placed a meditation chair in my living room to look out the window at nature. My meditation begins and ends with a connection with Gaia.  

Experiment with when you meditate and where you want to do it. Perhaps bring meaningful objects into that space – crystals, a candle, a plant, a bell. Create a space that allows you to consciously move easily into the stillness within and be present. 

A New Centering Practice

In the recent Shift Network Qigong Summit, I learned a hand movement that is a fabulous way to begin meditation. If you are seated, with your hands facing each other at hip level, bring them up as in drawing up a column of energy from Gaia – deep healing and wholing energy. When you get your hands up beside your head, turn your palms down and take hold of your thumbs, raise your elbows so your arms are parallel to the floor and begin to slowly bring the energy down again. It’s this last move that blew me away. For me there was huge power in lowering my arms with my thumbs folded into my fingers. 

Bring the energy up with the palms open and facing each other on either side of your body, at the top close your fingers over your thumbs, turn your palms down and bring the energy down. There are many powerful qigong moves like that but this one is one of my favorites. Enjoy. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Allow for Natural Reset

To reset is to return to a state of balance. We can learn to do that consciously as we move through our day. Take a conscious pause to reset your physical body. Take a deep breath. Empty your mind. Take another slow inhale and exhale. Relax your shoulders. Look out the window. Empty your mind and be present. You can do this sort of reset wherever you are. It’s as simple as a focused conscious breath, a conscious relaxing of your shoulders and body and a stilling of your mind. Do it often.

Find a place in your day that is a good reminder to pause and reset your focus and your intention. I could use the moment I sit at my computer before I start to log in. I could take a few deep breaths, relax my shoulders and consciously empty my mind with an exhale. I can do that when I walk into my home from the hallway – pause to reset my energy – take another deep breath and consider the energy I am bringing into my home. I definitely want to reset my focus and my consciousness before I go to bed to release all the thoughts and considerations and even the events that I experienced and find a way to move consciously to turn the mundane into rest and restoration and sleep. What kind of reset buttons are you going to use to consciously focus a moment and reset your direction?

Be Patient With the Self-Healing Process

It’s tricky not to get discouraged when the self-healing process seems to be a lot slower than you had in mind. How do you stay strongly optimistic rather than fall into discouragement? It may help to keep track of your progress with an actual date written down somewhere. You may need to journal the smallest of shifts. Noticing change for the positive is one of the easiest steps you can take to keep aware of the progress you are making.  Record your wins – today I did one more step than yesterday. But also stay open to how and what you need to change to continue your self-healing process. What new steps do you need to take? I have added some new Qigong moves to my spiritual practice.  I need to encourage myself to walk more. You are the only game in town. You are the only one that can encourage yourself, or cheer yourself up. We constantly set new goals and set about to achieve them. It’s tough being the only person in charge of this particular process pf self-healing. But that’s how it works. It’s our body. Our responsibility for our life. Our unfolding. Our choices. We create our reality. How are you doing with yours? 

===OUTER  WORK===

What is Your Relationship with Nature?

I love the shape-shifting clouds in the Midwest.  They nurture my imagination.  There were not many clouds in California and who knows what was in the sky above the tall buildings in New York, but here I can raise my gaze and enjoy.  

As a child, I remember that when it rained, I loved to play on the wraparound porch of my grandparent’s house.  I was sheltered from the rain and yet an integral part of it.  It was me, my imagination, and nature. 

When was the last time you stopped to listen to the sound of rain on the window and watch the drops meander their way down the closed window?  Or watch the snow build up on a branch, or pick up an acorn that has fallen to the ground?

I remember sitting at the edge of a sandbox in New York City watching my granddaughter play and I looked down and saw this incredibly beautiful seedling coming out of the sand.  I looked up to see where it had come from and there was a huge oak tree.  I admired the seedling for its tenacity and wished it luck…  

When was the last time you took a meaningful pause in nature and when will you do it again?

One Step At A Time 

After watching Sharon Stone in the Shift Network Qigong Summit offer a standing qigong practice designed to strengthen my body, I decided I would add that to my life. It’s as simple as taking time to pause to stand straight, shift your weight to stand on one leg and rotate your ankle or open your hips.  The whole series was about standing on one leg at a time to let all the muscles do their job and get stronger.

Strengthening my body is as simple as consciously standing straight for a focused period of time, engaging my core, straightening my spine. Sharon has one move in which she hugs a tree while standing on one leg. Her arms are in front of her hugging an imaginary tree. I love that image to stand there and hug a tree. And you are strengthening your shoulders and your arms by holding them in that outstretched position.

Can strengthening my body be as easy as regularly standing consciously in an aligned posture to allow my energy to flow more freely? I can do that. Add more moments of  conscious standing in which  you hold a weight-bearing posting on one leg as you straighten and  strengthen and allow the Qi energy to flow to your body and see what changes. 

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Conditioned Space

We can condition our space to make it more welcoming, more receptive, more supportive in how we want to live in it. I have a meditation corner. It has a chair that is turned to look outside at nature. My native flutes are within reach and I play them every day. I use my Kalimba Thumb Piano and Spolum Drum – the musical instrument of happiness   (There are much cheaper ones but this explains it well.) There is a flexible structure to my morning meditation and ceremony. My space in that corner of my living room has the intention of being a sacred meditation space. It has a purpose. It is furnished for that activity. And it supports my meditative practice.

What space do you need to condition in your home? Is it your sleeping space? Your food preparation space? Or a meditation corner? Set an intention for the space, set it up so it supports the activity, and condition it to make you welcome.

===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE DIVERSE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEINGS===

Hold High Watch for Our World

The negative eruptions on our planet are so blatant, it is hard to understand the lessons we are learning and what steps we are to take. I do know that everything is vibration and with our conscious focus we can continue to keep our vibration raised. That doesn’t mean we don’t take action. It doesn’t mean we don’t take steps and help. It simply means that we keep putting out into the planet the higher vibrations so that others can see it and raise their own.

===BROADEN YOUR HORIZON – EXPAND YOUR VIEW===

The Power of Energy

Everything is energy and we can make changes in our lives and in our world by working with energy. Part of the work is visualization, but most of it is simply raising your own vibration. Before each meditation, I bring energy up from Gaia and energy down from the cosmos to become a pillar of light. (Become a Pillar of Light podcast) I move into my Transcendental Meditation as part of my spiritual practice. I play my native flutes and drums and kalimba and gongs as part of my daily meditation practice. It is easy to connect with nature through the window I face. Take those pauses. Take conscious pauses while walking down the street. Hug a tree and connect with its deep roots and soaring branches. 

When I lived in New York City, I was a block away from Central Park which was great but otherwise, I had to walk five or six blocks to Lincoln Center in order to see the full moon. So I spent a lot of time imagining Mother Earth beneath the concrete. Now I can look out the window at the tree and the earth and the clouds and watch the sun set. That works for me. How are you enriching your meditation practice this week? 

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

What Really Matters in Your Life?

I’ve been thinking about the Ukrainians forced to leave everything behind. What really matters in your life? What would you bring with you if you could only bring what you could carry?

I would bring my cat, Sebastian. And then I saw a news clip of a man whose rather large dog was so frightened that he lay down in the road and wouldn’t move. Ultimately the man took him back to his apartment where he felt safe and left him behind. That would be super hard. 

A 17-year-old boy was scared because all the men had to stay behind and fight. A kid, a young person. A male person. Had to learn to fight to protect his country. The women move on alone bringing their children with them. Peaceful people learned how to use guns and are prepared to do so.  One day you were having breakfast and suddenly your life totally changed and you are protecting your life and your homeland. 

Then imagine being in a new country with perhaps a different language, no place to live, no way to earn a living. How do you even begin? It doesn’t matter that you were an executive in a company because the company is gone, the job is gone, the friends are gone, the income is gone, your home is gone, your life is gone. What would you have left to begin again that you would be grateful for?

Your gifts. The things you’ve learned in your life, the skills, the ideas, the beliefs, the wisdom. You are grateful for the Foundation of Self you begin to build on again. Step-by-step. Perhaps in a way you’ve never considered before. Yes, some doors have closed. But others will invariably open. Be receptive and ready to act. We don’t have to be forced from our homes in order to be aware and grateful for the gifts of our talents and our mind and our strength of character. 

Help the Ukrainians any way you can. Some people are providing shelter, some are providing food, others are helping people relocate.  I just know that as an 89-year-old woman who uses a walker, my cat Sebastian and I would simply stay here and do the best we can with what is handed to us.

What are you grateful for? And how are you helping those who are in need? 

Google Ukrainian relief and see how you can help.

Despair In The Young

A friend of mine is a narrative coach in France, and she seems to have attracted a lot of teenage clients which rather surprised her. But she reported there is a lot of suicide among teenagers because they cannot see a path forward.

What keeps us going? What keeps us looking for new paths, new ways through, new solutions? And what makes us give up?

If you cannot see your path forward, that’s a tough one. I’m sort of hoping that as the changes in my body keep happening for the better that my path will become clearer.  But I’m an optimist. So I keep believing.  We get what we believe we deserve and what we believe is possible. What if we don’t see a possibility for ourselves? How do we change that? I don’t have an answer here, I only have a question. How would you turn to help someone who cannot see a path forward?

How do we come to believe in ourselves and our gifts and our potential and our future? 

For me, part of it was the expectation of my parents. They expected me to go to college. Unfortunately, I was in an era that mostly expected women to get married. I did that and didn’t work out so I’ve got to go exploring in wonderful new ways by myself.

There are a lot of new jobs evolving in technology but if you are interested in arts and literature, where do you turn? I have no idea how much fiction is being written today but I know there are a ton of self-help books that people are reading. So how do you evolve your life when you cannot see a future? I don’t have an answer. But I do invite you to turn to the teenage people in your life and see how you can help them move forward. 

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===

Expanding Awareness

Our Ongoing Journey into the New Consciousness

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Google

and the 

Deeper Song Website

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

This Technique Makes a Difference

I have recently experienced a major healing in my body. And I have only added two processes to my self healing curriculum. One of them is this Lower Dantian Breathing Technique with Grandmaster Chunyi Lin.

It has had a positive affect and has created a major physical shift that has been in progress for over a year. I do this simple technique five or six time a day and in 10 days or so it has helped create a major healing shift.  Heal Yourself & Others With the Power of Qigong is the online class I begin next week taught by Master Chunyi Lin, Creator and Founder of Spring Forest Qigong. It is a powerful approach to self-healing. We will be guided through experiential journeys in which we will refine our body’s reservoir of energy — aligning our breath, movement, and awareness — and direct it to facilitate increased energy and the capacity to heal ourselves and others. If you are looking for self-healing, his websites are springforestqigong.com and chunyilin.com At the very least add this breathing technique to your daily practice

===CARA’S CORNER===

Self-Responsibility

We create our life by what we believe we deserve and what we believe is possible. That puts pretty much everything in our own laps. How is your life unfolding?

If I’m lonely, it’s up to me to reach out to someone. If I’m sad, it’s up to me to honor that sadness and yet release it. We are totally responsible for our own well-being in our own life experience. How are you doing with your life?

As I decide to take total self-responsibility for the well-being of my body, I have some work to do. Not so much in the belief that it is my responsibility because I accept that. But I’m now looking for ways to work with energy in order to create those changes. For me, it’s through intention and qigong moves. 

It’s a tad scary to be 89 and feel like you’re the only game in town as far as healing your body. I got lots of ideas in the Qigong Summit. One is as simple as doing standing exercises to strengthen your ability to stand up. I have to do the work. It is my responsibility and if I want results, I have to take the actions that are needed to get those results. Self-responsibility and self-healing – how are you doing with that?

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Mine to Do

It is all mine to do – the strengthening, the healing, the expanding – my responsibility. All mine.

It is all mine to do – the strengthening, the healing, the expanding – my responsibility. All mine. I want this. I can do this. I deserve this.

It is all mine to do – the strengthening, the healing, the expanding – my responsibility. All mine. I want this. I can do this. I deserve this. I take one step at a time – with perseverance.  One step – then another. I walk the path to wholeness.

Cara Lumen, March, 2022

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.  Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song  

I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.

Please forward this newsletter to a friend and suggest they
Join the Deeper Song Community

Past Issues of this newsletter are being curated on my site on a page called Insights.

Our Global Deeper Song Community

Our Deeper Song Community extends throughout the planet. Welcome new Deeper Song Explorers. I’d love to hear of your experiences –  caralumen@gmail.com or let’s discuss on the Deeper Song Explorers!

Journaling as Meditation

By

Journaling as Meditation

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
 The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

It is important to quiet your mind and sit in stillness and meditation. It is equally important to take time to contemplate what we discover. Journaling captures our insights and anchors  

When you safely capture one idea, you will find it frees your mind to remember the insight that lay right beneath that idea.  Journaling allows you to move deeper into greater understanding.  

Journaling allows us to trace our journey and see where we have grown, what lessons we have learned, and what mistakes we may be repeating.

There is a releasing factor to journaling. You store the insight in writing rather than have it bumping around in your mind.  Writing down one layer lets  you look at the layer below it. 

Journaling helps you uncover the missing pieces that can bring clarity or right action or deeper understanding. Journaling releases the clutter of the mind and leaves space for inspiration and creativity.

Journaling captures guidance and inspiration that might otherwise whip by so rapidly in our busy lives we miss its importance.  It anchors those ideas for deeper reflection and contemplation. 

Whether you write by hand or keep a journal on your computer, take time to review the insights you have received during your day.  It will help anchor and clarify and make room for deeper meaning. 

Open your heart and your mind and use journaling to converse with your higher self and the wisdom of the universe. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I establish a spiritual practice of journaling. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Look for the time of day you feel like journaling.  It might be right after you meditate, It might be at the end of your day as a review, or both. 
  • Decide how you want to journal – in writing, by hand, through sketches, or on your computer. 
  • Journal daily. 
  • Periodically review your journal to notice your progress and growth and deepening insight. 

===INNER WORK===

  Stillness

Do you take time for stillness – like sitting outside on a quiet evening and listening to the sounds of nighttime? Or sitting outside and watching the clouds slowly shift into new patterns? Pause in the stillness before moving into your spiritual practice  and savor the moment when you end your day by offering gratitude for the experiences that have passed. Wake up with a deep awareness of the stillness of the early morning to offer gratitude for the clarity of the dreams of the night. Pause in stillness to bless your food. Pause in stillness to bless the work you just completed before sending it off. Sit in stillness to look around your home and appreciate what you have gathered around you. Sit in stillness with a friend, a loved one, and savor the connection.

How will you create more time to experience stillness in your life?

===SELF-HEALING===

Use Tuning Forks for Gentle and Powerful Self-HealingTuning forks help you retune your body, bring it back into balance, and help it self-heal. 

I have three tuning forks that I use daily – twice a day along with my acupressure and Guasha tools.  It is soothing and balancing and helps in the self-healing process.  You only need to use tuning forks three or four minutes a day to begin to feel the effect. You can apply the tuning forks to pressure points to affect the healthy functioning of all main organ systems. You can use them to deepen your states of consciousness. Here’s the beginner set of Bionic Turning Forks I use and recommend.

===OUTER  WORK===

Expectation

Is there a difference between what you expect of yourself and what others expect of you?  We all change and as we do, how we respond to input and experiences also changes.  Are you stuck in an old pattern of what is expected of you versus what you now expect from and want for yourself?

We all change and we must make room for our own responses and roles to expand and for that same change to happen for those around us. 

Mutate and Thrive

In her September  Newsletter Sandra Ingerman pointed out “Covid mutations work together. The virus creates mutations which help it survive and only grow stronger.  Viruses don’t fight about what color they are and if they agree with political policies. They work together and thrive. Covid was brought to us by the power of the universe to be a teacher in learning about unity, oneness, and the power of cooperation and mutual support.”

Mutate means change, evolve, transform.  

Change is about being flexible. It is about being in the moment. It’s about responding based on the wholeness you feel in yourself right now. It is not about holding onto past beliefs or past habits. We need to question everything. Everything we think. Everything we do. Everything we expect. When we change our expectations, we change our experience. What does mutation mean to you in your life and how will you allow yourself to evolve into this next role in the unfolding feminine?

Trust Your Intuition

Over time it becomes more than a hunch or an urge, it becomes a knowing. When you learn to trust your intuition, it can guide you in unexpected ways and in unexpected directions. But first, you need to learn to trust it. Notice the idea that becomes a reality. Notice the feeling that leads to an action that is unexpectedly effective. Practice with your intuition. Practice listening to its nudges Practice following where it leads and you will soon learn that it is a fascinating guide to new adventures.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Let Go of What is No Longer Needed

It is important to let go of what is no longer needed in your life. It is like clearing out a cluttered closet or an overstuffed garage. We need to clean our inner home periodically and we can do that with a small releasing ceremony.

The idea is to choose a form that represents what you no longer want to keep in your life and destroy it, change its form, symbolically release it.  Burning is good. There is a kind of paper that dissolves in water upon which you can write what you want to release and watch it simply melt away. You can blow what you want to release into a candle flame. The idea is to let go of what you no longer want in your life. 

First you identify the belief, the habit, the fear you want to release, then you decide what form you want to use to release it. Then you create a small ceremony of releasing.

We want to release beliefs that no longer serve us.  We want to release fears that are holding us back. Creating a symbolic gesture of releasing is one way to let go and move forward. 

===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE DIVERSE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEINGS===

An Odd but Deep Relationship

Her name is Connie.  She is the Social Services Director here at my Senior living and she is retiring.  She is my closest in-person friend and we have beliefs at opposite ends of the spectrum.  She is a conservative Christian. I, of course, am a constantly exploring metaphysician.  She got Co-vid. She did not get the shots and I have had two shots and a booster.  She is very conservative. I have recently realized I am progressive.

The interesting thing about her leaving is how we will continue our friendship.  I don’t expect to see her again after she leaves.  I write about things that are far from her belief system so she will not be drawn to the ideas I share.  

We don’t talk about our belief systems but we love each other and I will miss her. 

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

We Need to Create a New Vision

It’s not easy to create a new vision but that’s exactly what we need to do. That means we have to look beyond what is showing up. That means we need to look at how we want our world to be. What our role in it might be.

It’s hard to imagine a new world when there’s so much dramatic tension and conflict going on. But we can purposely set our goals for the higher energy that we want in our world. The energy of inclusion. The energy of compassion. The energy of the highest good for all.

Upgrade your vision. Check what you think is possible against what you want to be possible. And hold that vision of positive potential strongly, surely, and passionately. 

What if? What if we began to embrace the more feminine qualities of inclusion and compassion and love?

As a normal human being, I’m not sure how to do that because I get mad at the people who endanger others by not being vaccinated. I get angry at politicians who seem only to want power not help their constituents. Getting angry doesn’t help. I just need to notice that it’s not the kind of world I want to help build.

So what do I, an 89-year old woman sitting in her apartment in the middle of the United States, do to change the world?

We’re talking energy here. I can vision. I can discover a unique and positive approach and write about it here in this newsletter. Someone else may read it and take up that banner. I’m not helpless here. I’m just not on the streets marching in protest either. 

We don’t have to figure out the details. We don’t how to figure out how peaceful coexistence works. But we do need to vision and expect peaceful cohabitation of this planet and conscious caring for the well-being of our world. Imagine our New World into being.  We can all do that.

===INTENTION BLESSING===

May we hear and heed the call of the Divine Feminine. 

May we expand our hearts and our expectations.

May we walk the Path of Light with a sure foot. 

May we keep our gaze on the summit.

May we take this journey with a full heart. 

I entwine my light with yours and we move forward to guide the way.

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===

The Magical Power of an Affirmation

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Google

and the 

Deeper Song Website

DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION

The first talk I listened to on the recent Shift Network Healing Summit was Donna Eden.  I was drawn to her talk because what she teaches is so simple. Here is an introductory video.  I’m going to start doing this work daily. Free energy class  and Day 1 of Daily Energy Routine

===CARA’S CORNER===

My Best Work

I’m 89 years old and I just wrote the best website content of my life this week for my good friend Christina Gerber! Pretty spectacular. I guess mastery takes time…

Years ago I learned to trust my inner voice and simply write down what it was seemingly dictating to me. I learn a lot through my writing. I get myself out of the way and listen to my inner voice and write down what it says. I do that a lot. But even though I was approaching writing this web copy as I used to do, I also have known that it was time to find a new way to write about ourselves on our web pages so other people are drawn to our energy and our offerings. And I did. 

It was not about the concrete physical plane things that Christina does in her work as an intuitive healer. I wrote about the energy, the love, the intuitiveness, the depth of caring that she brings to her work. No credentials mentioned. Only love and healing.

Is that the message I’ve been looking for in my own life – that it’s not what you do but the intention with which you do it? Could be. I’m gonna look into that. Meanwhile, I just wrote the best website copy of my life in my very old age.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

You Never Know

You never know when the time is right.

You never know when the time is right. You never know when it will all fall into place.

You never know when the time is right. You never know when it will all fall into place. You just need to be ready to step into the opening.

-Cara Lumen, February 2022

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.  Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song  

I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.

Please forward this newsletter to a friend and suggest they
Join the Deeper Song Community

Past Issues of this newsletter are being curated on my site on a page called Insights.

Our Global Deeper Song Community

Our Deeper Song Community extends throughout the planet. Welcome new Deeper Song Explorers. I’d love to hear of your experiences –  caralumen@gmail.com or let’s discuss on the Deeper Song Explorers!

Are You in the Right Place of Service?

By

Are You in the Right Place of Service?

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
 The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

My daughter’s job is making her sick – literally.  It is a big job that she created in a reorganizational move at the company she has worked in for twenty years and it is working very well. But it is a big job and it is making her sick.  I don’t know why. It may be that she cares too much. Maybe because she met with some resistance to change in general as they reorganized departments and combined some.  It’s never very easy when the people you are trying to help resist and make it harder on themselves. She has had to fire some people which was very hard for her to do. Her job is literally making her sick. And at the same time, she keeps getting large raises because management recognizes the value of what she is doing. 

Here’s the other catch.  She is just a few years from retirement and the insurance coverage she needs. Plus, they keep giving her more money. There is motivation to hang in there. When I asked who she was grooming for the job, she said, “No one else wants it.” That says a lot. 

Does your work still make you happy or are you simply hanging in there until retirement?  Is your work rewarding and satisfying?  What will you do if it is not?

We deserve to be happy and productive.  Are you making choices that provide you with the depth of life experience that you want and deserve or are you locked into one facet of your life so deeply that you are giving more of yourself than you are receiving?  That’s called burnout.  And it sneaks up on you.

My work is certainly changing rapidly, not in what I do but in what I explore and share, the direction my exploration is going, and the new insights that are emerging.  With the rapidly changing technical world, I think a good majority of people now working may not be able to change directions partially because of the unknown skills and knowledge that are needed in the new industries. 

I don’t have an answer.   

But after we retire, we have another 30 years to be proactive.  Are you looking ahead?  Are you learning what you need to know?

For instance, I have come to realize that the training and reasoning behind internet marketing that I have worked with for a lot of years may very well be not as effective today. Only a few digital entrepreneurs are actively exploring to discover how to build entrepreneurial businesses in the current environment. On top of that, we the people don’t know what is possible let alone what we want to choose from in this new smorgasbord of opportunities.

I don’t have an answer here, it’s more of a question.  Are you still in the right place of service and if not, where do you want to be, and how to you plan to get there?

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I look more closely at where I am, where I am headed, and where I really want to go and I make changes to take me there. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Notice how your work has changed. Is it still something you want to do?  
  • What new cause, industry, or need is calling to you?
  • Go exploring and see how to do that work.

===INNER WORK===

Life is a Series of Options

In every moment you have a choice. Do this or not. Think this or don’t. What is the standard that you hold that helps you choose from the options presented to you? Do you choose what is easiest? Do you choose what nurtures your mind? Do you choose what nurtures your inner world? Life is a series of options. What are the standards by which you make your choice?

I Don’t Pray, I Connect

When I was in my 20s, I met a man who said he was an ex-priest and I said, “If I believe that God is within me, what do I do when I need help?” He said, “Dig deeper within yourself. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” That was a game-changer in my life and has made me a very self-sufficient person all my life. I am responsible for how my life unfolds.  I am the one to make the changes I desire.

My belief system says that we are all one huge interconnected web. So I see everything as one energy. That means everything I need is within me. There’s nothing out there to pray to. I am responsible for my own outcome. What I do is go within to my Still Point and connect. And listen. And ask questions. And get answers. All by sitting still, going within, and listening. The guidance you seek lies within you.

===SELF-HEALING===

Release, Realign, Restore

In my own self-healing, I realized there were three steps I needed to take – release, realign, and restore. It looks like a pretty good pattern for life. 

The first thing you have to do is release. Release all the layers. Release the damaging thoughts. We have to make room for new growth and new possibilities and new potential. How do we do that? 

We stop doing whatever we’ve been doing that has contributed to the condition we wish to restore.  What is crowding your life? What is keeping you from doing what you want to do or need to do? How can you release that? Or devote less time to it? We have to make room for self-healing. 

The example that prompted this is my body which is slowly realigning. It is restoring its alignment, restoring its strengths. Slowly, but steadily. And not very comfortably. But it is realigning and that makes all sorts of things possible that were not possible before. 

The second step is realigning.  Have you ever emptied a room with the intention of rearranging it for your new needs?  If you empty it out you have room to observe each new placement, each new choice of what to include. And you leave a lot of stuff out.  Do that with your self-healing process. Examine the basics of your self-care and be choosy about what you bring back in.

Gradually, over time, the space you have changed is restored – not to the way it was but to the way it needs to be right now in your life to keep you moving in the new direction you have chosen. 

What do you need to release in your life/body/relationships? What does that newly cleared space allow you to realign and make room for? And what balance is gradually restored in the new space you have created? 

===OUTER  WORRK===

See The Gifts in Others

Pause a moment and think of someone who adds to your life.  Three that immediately come to my mind for me are the staff here where I live who keep the building and grounds repaired and clean and organized. It is a lovely place to be. The second is my new friend and homemaker Shelly, who loves to clean and is making my life possible at this point. The third is my cat Sebastian who is my friend and companion and cohort. So my question is when was the last time you thanked or acknowledged or even thought about the people that add so much grace and beauty and thoughtfulness to your life? Look around. Offer your gratitude to those who are making a difference in your life.

What Are You Avoiding?

It’s easy to put off the hard things for another time that has yet to be decided. But all that does is keep the hard things staring you in the face. What are you avoiding that you need to handle that would make room for a whole new door to open?

I could use more movement in my life. My body would be happier if I did. So I have to think up clever and entertaining ways to move my body. I may put on some jazz music and wiggle. I can put in pauses to stretch as I move around my apartment during the day. I can walk the halls more often and go on a little further. I can practice and get better on my four-wheel walker “Adventurer” so when the weather gets nice again I can go outside more. Then there’s always room for more Qigong. 

What do you need to do that you are avoiding? And what steps will you take in order to move forward?

Meet the Challenge

I had really been putting it off. It was hard to do and I know it was good for me. The day I pushed through it all sorts of positive changes happened. What are you putting off doing that you know would be good for you?

I have a small set of portable rotating foot pedals that I can sit in a chair and pedal that would be good for my hips. However, it is hard to lift my legs to get my feet in the pedals. I’ve tried several methods.  I finally figured out a way to use a strap to lift my leg into the stirrup. Once I was paddling, I was aware of how much good it was doing my hips. The result was pretty immediate as far as how I felt and how I was able to stand. And still, I keep putting that off because getting started is hard for me – a bit of a physical challenge to get my feet in place. But the change and the gift it brings is tremendous. What are you putting off that is a bit challenging but you know if you do it it will have a major impact on your life? Do that.

Qigong Video Recommendation

Qigong for LongevityVideo with Robert Peng. Easy- quick effective. Everyone can do Qigong.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Keep it Simple – Sit in Silence

We can get so enthusiastic in our exploration that we clutter up our spiritual practice with too many choices. Pause in your spiritual practice and pick the one thing that moves you the most. Try simply doing that one thing for a few days and see how you can deepen the experience. Experiment with form.  Experiment with timing.  Experiment with intention. Focus on one aspect of your spiritual practice at a time. It could be meditation. It could be vibrational work.  It could be Qigong. It could be reading deepening material. Do one spiritual practice at a time for three days, see how it deepens and how it resonates. Explore another spiritual practice by itself for a few days to expand your awareness of its gifts. Continue to explore and experiment to create the most balanced spiritual practice for you right now. Be flexible in your spiritual practice and keep it simple.

Find Stillness

It takes just a second to take a deep centering breath and move into stillness. You just have to remember to do it. As you move through your life, notice when you start getting rattled or too busy or stressed, and pause, take one deep slow breath, and let stillness seep into all parts of you. Move into that stillness of your mind, take a second breath, and anchor that centeredness.

===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE DIVERSE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEINGs===

Are “What-If’s” Stopping You?

The interesting thing about trusting your inner voice is that you learn not to question it. You learn to trust it. You learn to explore what it suggests. You may want to imagine how it will play out, but make certain the “what if’s” are not stopping you. What if this happens? What if that happens? What if they don’t? We don’t know how something will play out until we step on the path and explore it. I can’t tell if I’m going to enjoy a book until I start reading it. I can’t tell if I’m gonna have a good time at a party until I go and start interacting with people.

I am diligently and actively looking for my role in the unfolding of the Divine Feminine. What will I miss out on if I don’t explore that next option? I would miss out on a whole adventure. Know that in each moment there is a door opening and step through until you see what it leads to.

===BROADEN YOUR HORIZON – EXPAND YOUR VIEW===

An Informative Interview

Years ago in New York City I learned about an informative interview. You literally call up a business and say you would like to understand your business better and the opportunities it contains and its requirements. May I please have an informative interview about your business? It works will small business owners. 

I had an informative interview with a film distribution company in NYC. Well, it was more of a film distribution person but it was his company and he had a really good time telling me about how his business works. I learned, he shared, and it was a good exchange. I left knowing I had no desire to go into the film distribution industry but that was my gain – I had new knowledge that would guide me on my career path. 

I think we could do the same today with the new industries that are unfolding. I would think that the person in charge of hiring new employees might be a person to ask for an informative interview about the demands and needs of their business so that you might better assess if your skillset has a place in that field and what new skills you need to acquire. I wonder what you would learn. You would learn the skills you need. You would learn the functions of the various jobs. You would learn the culture of the company. And who knows, maybe you’ll get a new job. Go exploring in this day of change and see if there’s a new path for you to embark on. 

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Dismemberment

Sandra Ingerman had an interesting idea in her latest newsletter – The February Transmutation News.  She suggests that this is a time of dismemberment for us so the Sacred Feminine can emerge. “For dismemberment happens by some destructive force breaking up life as usual so something new can be reborn out of the death of the life we once knew.”

So this is a healing process we are going through, but just as a boil must erupt and a wound must drain itself of the infection, it seems as though the negativity and divisiveness in our world are making sure that we know that negativity is there so we can choose not to let it be there anymore. Awareness plus choice equal change. This is a time of becoming aware and each day we must make conscious choices for the highest good of all in order to manifest the change we desire. Look for the healing. It is there. Nurture it. 

======THE UNFOLDING DIVINE FEMININE=== ===

The Divine Feminine in History – Sekhmet

There are not many female role models among the Gods of Ancient History, Sekhmet is a great one to begin with. 

The Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet was depicted with the body of a woman with a lion head wearing a sun disk. She is best known as the Eye of the Sun, the violent, dazzling, and protecting aspect of the creator god, Ra.

That’s a very big, responsible job. She was seen as the protector of the pharaohs and led them in warfare. When she was in a calmer state she would take the form of the household cat goddess Bastet. Sekhmet was associated both with disease and with healing and medicine.  

She seems to be a woman of eclectic interest and powers. A good example to explore. 

I have begun the book Sekhmet: Transformation in the Belly of the Goddess by Nicki Scully

I plan to connect to Sekhmet through shamanic journeying to gain insights on our role as guardian of our planet. More to come on this new adventure. 

=== DEEPER SONG  PHILOSOPHIES ===

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===

Spiritual Practice

The Two Vital Sides of Your Spiritual Practice

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Google

and the 

Deeper Song Website

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

Changing of the Godsis a very powerful documentary about the universal forces that effect our planet today.  Sign up to watch the documentary on 2/22/22

Shift Network Breath Summit   Free speakers February 7 -11. 

===CARA’S CORNER===

Heeding the Call

In our exchange of emails, my friend and international author Deng, Ming-Dao wrote, “If you write a book about the Divine Feminine, I would read it.”

Now I had not thought about a book.   I have been exploring the emergence of the Divine Feminine in this newsletter since for several months but one other prompt had crossed my path when a friend commented that I had already had a lot of powerful interactions with the Divine Feminine in my life.  Looking back that would explain some of the bold and unusual and dramatic choices I have made in my 89 years. 

I know how to create books.  I have a few on Amazon.  I know I like a short form.  There are tools to make preparing them for self-publishing easy although I will have to learn the new versions.  So I have begun.  And I will complete this project because writing is how I figure out things and I want to figure out my role and perhaps our role as the Circle of Light Beings in helping the Divine Feminine take her rightful place of leadership.

Listen to the nudges and calls that come your way and go adventuring.  That’s how you learn what you are to offer the world. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

The nudge was not subtle, it was more like a bop on the head.

The nudge was not subtle, it was more like a bop on the head, but it set up a resonance I could not ignore. 

The nudge was not subtle, it was more like a bop on the head, but it set up a resonance I could not ignore. I heeded the call, stepped onto the path and began my new journey.

– Cara Lumen, February 2022

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.  Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song  

I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.

Please forward this newsletter to a friend and suggest they
Join the Deeper Song Community

Past Issues of this newsletter are being curated on my site on a page called Insights.

Our Global Deeper Song Community

Our Deeper Song Community extends throughout the planet. Welcome new Deeper Song Explorers. I’d love to hear of your experiences –  caralumen@gmail.com or let’s discuss on the Deeper Song Explorers!