Spiritual Expansion

I don’t know the head count for people living alone, but we all have the same problem—we have no one to hug us, to touch us, to give us an encouraging and comforting pat on the back.

Babies die from lack of touch. What about grown-ups? What do we need? How do we feel love when we seem to be alone?

We learn to give ourselves a Cosmic Hug!

Here’s how it works. Simply wrap your arms around yourself and allow yourself to feel held, comforted, loved, cared for, supported, and cherished.

Experiment with which arm should be on top. See what feels better, you hands on your shoulders or you hand on your upper arms. But most of all, feel from the inside, accept the embrace, allow it to nourish you. Let it soak in and replenish you.

Another thing I like to do is hold my own hand. It may be a woman thing, I’ve been doing my strong woman number a long time, but for me when I take the outer part of my left hand in the grasp of the right hand I can imagine someone encouraging and loving me.

You have to put yourself in the mindset of the recipient, not the giver.

The left hand is the receiving hand. The left shoulder is the quelling shoulder. If you feel upset, hold your left shoulder. It calms you down. This works on other people too.

A long time ago, in a group of fellow Reiki Master Teachers, I learned to really hug. We embraced another, then stood silently in that embrace until we could both feel our energy merge and there was only one of us. Next time you hug someone, take your time and feel the mingling of your energies.

Are you a hugger? Do you offer to hug friends when you see them? Even a friendly arm around the shoulder feels good to both give and receive. Or take their hand in both of yours and spend a moment sending and receiving love.

You can consciously improve your hugability by being a hugger yourself.

We are never alone. We are an integrated aspect of a universal, all-encompassing infinite energy. It’s only when we forget that, that we feel alone, lonely, depressed, forgotten, or any number of untrue emotions.

Next time you start to falter, hold your own hand, or give yourself a big Cosmic Hug. And allow yourself to feel the serenity that infuses you. You are never alone.

c 2006 Cara Lumen, www.caralumen.com

Energy is amazing. It can feed and nourish you or it can crowd and depress you. The energy you allow in your home environment is crucial to your well-being, productivity, and happiness.

I have an extra bedroom and bath in my home and have rented it out for years—because I don’t need the space and it bring in extra income. But basically, I’d rather live alone.

It’s tricky to choose someone to share your home on the basis of one interview. I have to rely heavily on my intuition. This last time I choose wrong. The energy of the occupant turned out to be one of defeat, of not trying, of withdrawal, judgment, and of not taking self-responsibility.

And of course, it affected my entire environment.

The person didn’t stay long and actually, he chose to leave, which brings me to another point. When you hold steady to your vibration, or raise it through new awareness, often some of the people currently in your life organically drop away because they are not comfortable with the level of your vibration. That seemed to have happened in this case.

When he left I invested time in cleaning and clearing the room. I washed the walls, I gave it reiki attunements, I brought in green plants to clear the room and added some crystals. I held a blessing for the space to help it heal.

Within days, I felt the result in my own life. My days are now filled with a creative flow that is incredibly productive, satisfying, and rewarding at a level that I have experienced for a long time. I looked at my journal and it has been amazingly smooth for nearly three weeks. I’m sleeping less as if I no longer am being dragged down. I’m happier. And I’m joyously productive.

Who we allow in our personal space can affect every aspect of our life.

Who are you hanging out with?

What new boundaries do you need to set in order to honor yourself?

What changes do you need to make to bring serenity into your space and your life experience? <br>

It may be a change in people. It may be a change in things. It may be a change in attitude. It may be a change in expectations.

When I had to move everything out of my home to lay new carpet a few months ago, I didn’t put everything back in and I rethought where I placed things. My office alone improved 1000%.<br>

Do you need to clean more to let your environment nourish you (or hire it done)?

Is your environment as neat as you’d like it to be?

Do you like everything you have in it or do you need to toss or replace some items?

Does your yard upkeep reflect the energy you want around you?

What new friends can you encourage?

What non-nourishing friends can you discourage?

After I started focusing on how much I wanted my home environment to take care of me, I got a surprise. A charming Frenchman who is a computer consultant, offered to rent the space for his home office! I get the income and I get to basically live alone.

You can have it all when you ask for it!

What do you want?

c 2006 Cara Lumen

Isn’t it funny how something that seemed hard in the beginning is really easy once you know how?!

I watched myself wading through yet another set of software instructions with the feeling it was a big mountain to climb. I wondered why I do that. Why I sometimes really have to gear myself up to tackle a new program. Yet I love to learn—ideas—not steps.

Where does our resistance to learn something new come from? Is it lack of self-confidence in our ability? Is it fear of failure? Is it an unwillingness to make the effort. There is a natural, innate resistance to change that we need to overcome as we approach any and every new possibility.

What tricks can we play on ourselves to help us keep moving forward? Is it the reward of knowing how to do something new? Is it the variety of things we’ll be able to do and create once we learn it? What carrot can we dangle in front of us to help us move forward?

I find that taking small steps and then creating something small from the knowledge spurs me on.

For instance, learning to edit sound in Sound Forge seemed enormous to me. I recorded a series of visioning experiences and was so proud when I edited a small glitch out of the first three-minute introduction. Yeah me.

Recently I recorded my first podcast—again only three plus minutes. I easily edited it and quickly and easily added music to it. Then I posted it to the internet and viola! I’m a podcaster!

When something seems hard, take one step at a time. Learn a new step, use it so you “own” it, and then learn to make another new step. Isn’t that the way we learn as children—one step at a time?!

As Leonardo da Vinci said, “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”

Go happen to things! Be willing to attempt new things. Don’t be afraid something will be too hard for you to learn. Figure it out one piece at a time and put yourself back on track with each step you take. You’ll soon find yourself an expert instead of a beginner.

PS. You can hear my first podcast at www.thesuccessmagnetspodcast.com