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How To Design Your “Next” 

February 18, 2023 By Cara Lumen

How To Design Your “Next” 

Living Our Deeper Song

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

I had been living in Santa Rosa, California for 17 years and in order to afford the house I rented, I needed to have a housemate. One was not showing up this time. I suddenly knew that it was time for me to move and begin a new phase of my life. My daughter had said that when I needed physical help, I needed to come to Kansas City where she lived and worked.

I got online, looked at apartments near where my daughter lived, called her and told her I was coming. She checked out the apartments I had found and I rented one.  Within a month I was on my way moving from California to Kansas. 

What I didn’t know was what would unfold next. My daughter took one look at me and said I need knee replacements which I had never even heard of. In the process of doing that, I stopped earning my living as a Content Development Coach and it became evident that financially I needed to move into subsidized independent living where I could live on just my Social Security. This happened in the space of a year.

Give some thought to your   aaging process. Understand what you can afford. Anticipating how much help you need to manage physically is a whole other challenge because it definitely sneaks up on you. Then actively start designing the next part of your life. 

It was hard for me to give up my car as my eyesight diminished. It was a strong loss of freedom and independence. Then it became hard for me to walk to do my laundry or take out my trash. Notice your physical changes and be prepared to make a major change in order to have the physical help that you need. Find the people who are trained and willing to do that. 

Although I needed a lot of help to make this move, I have never wanted to be dependent on my daughter. Taking care of an older person requires physical stamina and a definite degree of skill. The people that are caring for me now are professionals who chose this line of work. Don’t leave the physical care you need as you age to your children. Keep on being responsible for your own life including your aging process.

See if you can identify what is important in your life and try to keep providing it. It was important that I get to bring two live plants to my new space. And if someone would give me a third plant with maroon leaves, I might even cry. Having that life around me is that important.

Explore all types of communities for seniors to determine the type of support you need and the social life you have in mind. My computer supplies so much learning and entertainment and connection with my friends that it is a cornerstone of my daily life. I am a loner so my computer is more important than any social activities a place may provide. Just know those kinds of things about yourself and honor them when you make your choice of a new place to live.  

Don’t try to stay in your home when you are no longer capable of taking care of yourself. My daughter and her husband live in a split-level house which is going to get harder for them to live in as they both age. 

Be clear about what physical support you need your new environment. I am being more productive with this extra physical support than I have in the last five years without it. 

They are not building very many more of these subsidized independent living facilities in the US and the waiting list can be as long as two or three years so make your choice and get on the list before you need it.

Decide what is really important for you and keep in your life as long as possible but not at the expense of your family. 

My sense is that there is subsidized housing everywhere but because the Boomer population is coming up, there will be a scarcity unless they build more. Go exploring and see what will work for you. The waiting list can be several years, particularly as the older population proceeds to grow faster than the community is being built to support it.

Take a close look at what do you want to have in your life during this next stage of your life. Then go exploring until you find the perfect place for you to move to next. Design your own future living experience and make sure you have the assistance and care that you need as you age. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I go exploring to find new living opportunities and thoughtfully design the next phase of my life.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Do some very specific assessments of your current physical, emotional, and financial situation to begin to assess your future housing needs.  
  • Literally make a list of what you want in your future life and prioritize it.
  • Begin to network with your friends and relatives to find out what types of independent living or assisted living are available. Go exploring and perhaps get on a list or two.
  • Begin to visualize how you want this next phase of your life. Do you want to be with people? Do you want to have access to learning? Do you need to be in nature? Identify the aspects that appeal to you and prioritize them.
  • Network to get recommendations. Go exploring. Check out a few places and get on a few lists if something appeals to you. Imagine yourself in these various situations and begin to select the elements that you want in this next portion of your life.
  • Know yourself. Know what you need emotionally and physically. But also listen to what your family describes as your limitations.
  • We have control even as we need more help. Go exploring while you are physically able to examine potential living spaces and then get on a few lists and see what unfolds. Take charge of your future as you age. But be honest about what you truly need.

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

How To Create A Ceremony

A ceremony can be simple or elaborate. It begins with establishing the purpose of your ceremony. Do you want to release or receive or honor? 

A ceremony begins with an intention.

A ceremony can be focused on releasing something, blessing something, changing something or honoring something.  Or a ceremony can be made in order to attract something into your life. Set your intention. What is the purpose of your ceremony? 

Create Sacred Space 

Preparations for your ceremony can be simple or elaborate. It can be indoors or outdoors. Set your intention to create a sacred space and let your inner voice help you arrange it accordingly.

Decide on the form the ceremony will take. 

If it is a ceremony of releasing what form will the releasing take? 

Will you burn something or tear up a piece of paper? Will you dissolve something in liquid? Would you blow it out on soap bubbles? What symbolic move will you make that indicates you are releasing whatever it is you choose to release? 

If it is a ceremony of honoring or attraction, what are your offering or attracting? 

Is it a blessing? Is it an affirmation? How are you going to express your intention to attract something different into your life or into a situation? 

Open Your Awareness

Choose your intention, focus your awareness and set up your sacred space. Think of this as creating a small receptive surface to focus your ceremony.

When you’re ready to begin your ceremony, place yourself in a state of receptivity. You might begin by taking calming centering breaths. You might use a mantra like AUM. You might light a candle or use flower essences. Create your own method for bringing yourself into the heart of the ceremony.  Let your inner voice guide you. As you proceed with your ceremony, trust the nudges you get from your inner voice. Whatever images and ideas that show up are meant for only you to interpret.

You can sing. You can play music. You can state affirmations. This is your ceremony. Craft it so that it speaks deeply to you.

If you move into a meditative journey, go to your Sacred Garden, trust what shows up. They are metaphors only you are to interpret. Ask for the guidance and clarity that you seek. 

Journal to Go Deeper

When you take time to write about your experience, it captures your surface awareness and allows you to explore what lies beneath it and move more deeply into the more subtle message and insights that you received. 

Before you close your ceremony, pause to review your experience and notice what has shifted within you both energetically and in your expectations.

Close the ceremony with gratitude

When your ceremony is complete, bring it to a close with gratitude. Offer gratitude to your metaphorical guides that offered you insights into the universe and large.  When you feel complete, honor the energy of the items you used in the ceremony by placing them carefully away in a sacred place. 

Create ceremonies for many purposes.

Honor the Solstice or the Equinox with ceremonies you design. 

Create ceremonies to release. Release worry and anxiety. Release energy and ideas that no longer serve you. 

Create ceremonies to attract positive energy to a situation or circumstance. 

You could create a ceremony to begin your day, to end your day, to begin or end your work,  to honor a family member or friend, or to attract positive insights and ideas to help you move forward. 

Ceremonies can be simple or elaborate. Set your intention, create your steps, and conduct your ceremony with strong intention. And then watch the results that manifest.

Take Time for Contemplation

Contemplation is about thoughtfully and mindfully considering an idea or topic by examining it from various angles to see if it is still aligned with your goals, your philosophy, and the path you have chosen. 

It is a good idea to thoughtfully contemplate your profession, your relationships, your health, your spiritual growth, and your role in the world on a regular basis. That means you take time to look at each of those areas from different perspectives to see if you are going in the direction you want to go and if you are taking advantage of all the new opportunities that are presenting themselves. 

As we move along our lives, we are presented with new concepts, new opportunities, and new possibilities. New objectives appear and we must make adjustments and course corrections to make certain we are aligned with our innermost awareness and goals.

Make time to contemplate various aspects of your life, to make certain that you still want to go in the direction you’re going, and decide what you can do to change that direction if you choose.

Look closely at your profession to see how it is changing, what new opportunities are opening up and decide if what you are doing still resonates with you. Re-choose and make a course correction. 

Look closely at your relationships – your friendships, your professional interactions – to make certain they are nurturing, rewarding and aligned with your current goals. Change what is necessary. Look closely to see if that change needs to come from within you.

Go exploring to see what new elements you might add to your spiritual practice that would bring you deeper insights, greater understanding and new adventures. Explore the new paths that have opened up and create and adjust until you find the right balance for this point in time.

Take time to rethink and re-choose on a regular basis. Perhaps align these moments of reflection with phases of the moon or the seasons, but several times a year look closely at where you are, what got you there, what has changed, where you want to go next, and what you need to do to make that happen.  Then re-choose, take action and move forward. 

Answers From Within

Your inner voice is your best friend. It can help you figure out what to do next. It can give you answers to a problem. All you have to do is turn within, and ask and listen. Do you do that? 

Trust the answers. Follow the thoughts and insights to receive the guidance you seek. That’s your inner voice speaking to you. Learn to interpret it. Learn to trust it.

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Surrender and Accept

Sometimes things just need to be the way they are. We have to accept that and we have to move on. It doesn’t mean you don’t try to change something but it does mean you recognize when changes are not going to happen and accept it.

That may mean that you have to change some plans, perhaps even a major focus. It may mean that you have to put off a dream or get busy and make it happen now. We do need to think big. We do need to use our imagination to explore new possibilities. We do need to vision. We need to feel our own creative ability as we move through life, but we also need to recognize when change is not going to happen and move around it or through it or beyond it.

How Well Are You Caring For Yourself Emotionally?

Emotions are subtle. They begin as small pokes and nudges but sometimes they get out of hand and we can we find ourselves out of balance. 

How do you do an emotional wellness check? I think you need to create your own system but there are certain aspects of your emotional and over-all well-being to keep track of. Here are some I thought of. You may want to add to it. Perhaps begin by rating these on a scale of one to 10 – 10 being very satisfied 

  • Overall Happiness
  • Physical Well-being
  • Feel appreciated/loved
  • Mentally stimulated
  • Interestingly interactive with the world
  • My impact in the world
  • What action steps will I take?
  • Satisfaction/Contentment

Answer these for yourself before you read on. 

Here’s what I discovered. This is what is true for me at this point in time. 

Overall Happiness – 8

I am very happy considering my body is still recovering from hip replacement surgery and my whole body is a bit grouchy. But I am in a good place to live and I’m experiencing an extremely positive response to the kind,loving, caring people around me on the staff. My mind is my best friend and entertainment. We stay very busy.  

Physical Well-being – 3-4

At this moment in time, I’m doing major body healing but there are still a ton of things that need to keep healing. I am gradually being able to stand up straighter than I have in years and that’s calling for all sorts of physical adjustments. And I still have to contend with my diminishing eyesight both physically and psychologically. It looks like there is a lot that still needed here and a whole lot of work on my part to heal my body. 

Feel appreciated/loved -10

I have a few longtime friends that I speak with regularly online that nurture and support and stimulate me. We are important in each other’s lives. My move to long-term care has put me in contact with a kind and loving and smart staff and I am having some of the most stimulating interactions of my life. 

Mentally stimulated -10

This is a very important area for me and I’m really good at making it happen.  I am going to have to get very creative in order to work around my diminishing eyesight. This is an opportunity for me to get really innovative.

Interestingly interactive with the world – 10

I’m doing the work. I keep listening to understand the overall direction our planet is taking. I know that more and more of us are recognizing the light within ourselves and are raising our vibration so others can see that soul light in themselves. This is inner awareness work and I am consciously expanding it.

Impactful in the world-10

I am doing daily energy and contemplation work to impact the world. I explore and write about ways to be in the world. I encourage others to be active, aware Light Workers in raising the consciousness of the planet. And I have a strong and fluid spiritual practice. I continue to deepen my own awareness and share those insights with others. I know I’m changing some lives but I actually don’t know to what degree. This journey of mine that I share with others is for my growth as well as to stimulate a deeper awareness of choices in the lives of others. I’m not actually impacting the world at a rate of 10 but my intentions are high and I’m giving my all. 

Satisfaction/Contentment- 8

This is all up to me. If I am not satisfied and content, what am I going to do about it? What do I need to do more? Less? Differently? I’m focused on healing my body. I’m trying not to be scared about my diminishing eyesight. I have great friends online who are loving and nurturing. 

What action steps will I take?

I have four areas of focus – my physical recovery, my mental expansion/simulation, my spiritual expansion and how I can help change the world for the better. I am active in all of these areas.

What did you discover when you took this quiz? What steps will you take to expand your life experience? 

===OUTER WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

How Thoughtfully Do You Fill Your Day?

How do you fill your days? Do you make mindful choices? You go with a spontaneous flow? Do you live deliberately in each moment? Or are you kind of a free spirit floating through your day? 

Being both deliberate and spontaneous can make for a fun day. I deliberately read my email every morning but I spontaneously stop and write in this newsletter when an idea from what I’m reading calls to me. I interrupt my day often to explore ideas through writing. 

In my depressed days before I moved to long-term care, I’d waste hours on Spider Solitaire and reruns. Now that I am happier my days are much more interesting and productive.

Continue to explore and learn as you age. Perhaps you expand a hobby that you have enjoyed all your life – maybe even turn it into an income stream. Perhaps you now have time to volunteer to help a cause that is dear to your heart. Notice how you spend your time and see how you would like to adjust it. 

What do you want to learn? Do you want to learn to play a musical instrument? I’m playing my drums and thumb piano. Do you want to study a specific topic? I want to finish the Joe Dispenza’s book and read the third Michael Newton book about life between lives. I’m taking Deng Ming-Dao’s newest Tai Chi class. There is a great deal of exciting work for me to do there. And I keep getting nudges. I’ve begun to reread some of the books I have found meaningful in the past. I’m adding more mindful movement to my day that will help my body strengthen itself. I would like to listen to more classical music. I would like to journey more.

How do you spend your time? Does it deepen your awareness, or expand your knowledge or lead you down a new path? Examine how you spend your time and see if it is producing the results you desire. How thoughtfully do you fill your day and what changes do you need to make? 

Are You Sharing Your Gifts With Others?

We have been given gifts in our life to help us live an impactful life and we have gifts we are to give to others. Are you aware of those gifts? How are you sharing them? What is changing as a result?

I have been a metaphysical explorer for a good portion of my life and that continues today. 

I feel I am at the beginning of a new phase of exploration but that’s all I know. I get little glimmers but no major light how shown up to show me the way yet. What is calling to you? And how are you exploring it and how are you turning to share it with others?

Put Yourself Out There

I have begun to sit in my wheelchair in the doorway of my room that leads into the hall. I’m doing it because I can move my legs back-and-forth to free then from the stiffness of sitting. But the benefits have been unexpected. I have begun to meet some of the residents. I’m also going to greet more of the staff who probably know me better than I know them even though I have a list going in an effort to keep track of everybody. 

Today Ruth stopped by on her way down the hall. Ruth is 94 and told me there are several people here are in their 100’s and one who is 104. I get to change my vision and start planning what I want to do for the next 12 or 13 years. That’s a long time.

Another person stopped by whose husband used to live here.  She is now leading some of the volunteer activities several times a week. I’m not a huge fan of group activities but it was lovely to see how touched her heart was by this place of service she has created for herself.  

Two of the staff members went on a hunt for my navy blue cover with sleeves which has gone to the laundry and had not come back. We have name tags on everything. Leah from laundry remembered that she had put it in the closet of someone named Carol since our names were similar. We found it. Those were some of the adventures I had simply because I chose to put myself forward and sit in the hall and speak to whomever passed by.

What small steps can you take in your life that would change your experience simply because you placed yourself in a different environment? Go exploring and see what gifts you receive. 

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

Forgiveness

Who do you need to forgive? Who would you like to forgive you?

I made an unusual choice 40 years ago that impacted my children and they have not forgiven me. However, if I had not made that choice, I would not have been able to explore and travel the deep path of service to others that I have been on for 40 years. I have been following my inner voice and have made some very dramatic changes all my life. 

Who do you need to forgive? Why? Who are the people that you wish would forgive you? 

I have followed my deepest calling all my life because it has been so strong in me. Many of the people in my life have no idea the depth of passion that drives me because my choices are not something they would ever consider doing. 

My life experience has been that I come together with people who share a current mutual interest and when those interests change so does our friendship. 

It makes sense that even family members do not all like the same things. Our job then becomes to find figure out how to love them and at the same time give them space to follow the unique path they are called to take. 

Who do you know in your life who has made unusual choices that you have not forgiven them for? Is there anyone in your life who has not forgiven you for a choice you made from the core of your being?  

Look carefully at the grudges you hold. Let them go. There was a reason that lesson came into your life. Did you get it? 

I know that my choices have been unusual but they were done with passion and commitment and a deep sense of being called along a particular path. I have a deeper song to sing and I can only do it if I am free to follow its call. 

There are people who don’t approve of me or of my choices. But I answered my own strong calling and continue to deepen my song. 

Give people space to answer their own calling.

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

What Are Your Priorities?

How do you prioritize the events of your day? How do you prioritize the tasks that you undertake? The fun times you schedule? What is the criteria by which you choose them?

Entertaining my mind is usually my top priority but healing my body from my hip replacement is a close second.  

Do you choose the task because it is easy? Because it has a timeline? Because it is more fun? All of those are reasons we give ourselves to prioritize the elements of our day.   

You have to decide. Sone people do the hardest things first. Some people do the fun things first. What are the qualities by which you prioritize your day? Give that some thought.   

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

The Upper 10%

I’d be willing to bet that everyone who reads this newsletter is in the upper 10 percentile of intelligence. That makes us responsible in this world in a way that others are not.

Sometimes that makes it hard to find friends because we have to find other ten-percenters. Sometimes it makes your choices seem unusual to the other 90%. We have special work to do, unique places of service to fill and high examples to set.

Knowing that you are in the upper 10 percentile is not about being special, it is about being responsible for holding up our light to show others the way. It is about saving our planet, exploring the higher path and marking the trail.

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

Care For Mother Earth

Our home is Mother Earth. She supplies the air we breathe, she supplies us with water and food and air to sustain us. Because we no longer live close to the land, we sometimes forget that caring for Gaia is our responsibility every day.  

What kind of a footprint are you leaving? Are you stomping around cluttering litter on the land? Or are you moving mindfully in nature?

I know what it’s like to live in a city where there is only concrete beneath your feet. I lived only a block away from Central Park but I remember walking five or six blocks to Lincoln Center to be able to see a full moon. But in California I could watch the moon from my front stoop.

I now live in a retirement center where the rooms encircle a garden tended by master gardeners and a Koi pond to meditate by when the weather is warmer. There is a bird feeder outside my window and I can watch the sunrise and feel the sun on my body all morning. A few days ago, I saw a very large raccoon walking up the sidewalk.

Find a way you can communicate with nature every day. That may mean standing at the window to observe the subtle changing of the seasons. It may mean taking a walk in the woods. It may mean taking a few moments before you get in the car to look up at the sky, to look at the trees, to listen to the sounds of nature. And of course, spend a few moments in nature when you return in order to change the rest of your evening.

Are you aware of the footprints you leave on the Earth? You know how to do this. Carry cloth bags to hold your groceries so you don’t use either plastic or paper. Convert to solar power as soon as you possibly can.  Consume organic food so you don’t support businesses that used pesticides that harm the environment. Help others to become aware of their role in protecting Gaia. Be a visible protector of Mother Earth. 

What percentage of people who you know are consciously and actively caring for the Earth? It is much fewer than those who are mindlessly harming it. See who you can educate today in a way that will help them take better care of Mother Earth. And keep doing the work yourself. 

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

Explore and Interpret the Guidance and Messages of the Divine Feminine

The Young Women of Today

The news today is that young women of today are depressed. There’s more detail about that but I want to talk about the fact that the Divine Feminine has actively begun to emerge and is this future of our world. There is much work to do and they are depressed. Does their future seem overwhelming? Does it seem impossible? Or does it even seem futile? This is not true of a majority of young women but there are enough that it made the news. 

There have been many times in our history where women have stepped forward to take the lead and make major changes to raise our status and influence in the world. This teenage population has many strong women that have already opened the path before them. There are very strong teenaged activists stepping forward – both male and female. What do they know intuitively that perhaps we do not? My belief system is that in between lives we choose exactly how we want to live and what we want to accomplish when we come out of the plant.

I’m still working to help expand the influence of women in our world primarily by writing these messages of encouragement to both men and women who are more active than I am. I see our role as continuing to explore the possibilities. I see us as a growing circle of light workers who are finding each other and are being bolstered by the presence of other light workers that we can recognize.  It’s one thing to raise your light and your intention and another thing to go out and do the work and make stuff happen. I’m at the raise-my-intention to insert energy into the world stage of participation. 

There’s a lot to overcome. And I’m sure we have more battles to fight and win. But we will win and we will continue to change the world and bring in more of the qualities of the Divine Feminine.

Where are you on this path? What is your role? And are you stepping into it?  

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

Expanding Awareness

What Makes A Friend A Friend?

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

===CARA’S CORNER===

Recognize Where You Are Now. Do Not Backtrack. 

I was truly excited over the idea for about 48 hours. I was going to turn all my books into audiobooks. Then I found out how complex it is to create an audiobook. It’s not like a podcast that you can edit and post yourself. But I sure had fun for about 24 hours dreaming this possibility. 

It’s good to dream. It’s good to dream big. Your imagination is good for you and you need to get carried away with an idea periodically in order to make sure you still can.

But here was the catch – don’t go backward. However much I might like to have some of my books in audio format, that is not where I need to spend my time and energy. I am to continue to move forward and explore new pathways and leave markers for others to follow. My job is to keep exploring and keep sharing what I discover and figure out in the present moment of my evolution. It was a huge realization for me.

How do you choose to use your time – going back over the past or moving steadily towards the future?

I know that I’ve shared this before but when I became a Reiki Master teacher in the 80s, they asked each of us what we wanted to do with the Reiki. The person who spoke before me said “I’m going to help all the poor people by giving them Reiki.” And I knew immediately with my choice was. I said “I’m going to help all the people who are already flying high to fly higher.” And that has been my role for 40 years. I had to keep going and flying higher and inviting others to join me. 

Keep your eye on your goal. The overarching core purpose of your life. I am a way-shower and I have to keep exploring. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Don’t Lose Sight Of Your Calling

The idea was so intriguing it pulled me totally off track. I even wandered down the wrong road a bit.

The idea was so intriguing it pulled me totally off track. I even wandered down the wrong road a bit. Until I realized I was going backward not forward.

The idea was so intriguing it pulled me totally off track. I even wandered down the wrong road a bit. Until I realized I was going backward not forward. But I heard the call in time. I took a shortcut back to the main road and started moving forward again. 

– Cara Lumen, February 2023

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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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!

Subscribe to this weekly Deeper Song Newsletter at www.deepersong.com

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Do You Feel The Pull Of The Unknown?

February 12, 2023 By Cara Lumen

Do You Feel The Pull Of The Unknown?

Living Our Deeper Song

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

As children we had big daydreams. There were no limitations because we didn’t know what challenges we would face. 

As we grew to adulthood our dreams and expectations became a little more grounded in reality and unfortunately, a lot less fanciful.

I’m sitting here at 90 and I still get to make stuff up. I’m not going to ignore reality but I am going to use my imagination to envision the cleansing of the world in a gentle way and the emergence of strong, loving, all-encompassing energy in which our world and we thrive.  Pay attention to the emerging opportunities and trends and insights and try to expand and explore them as they open. Pursue those wild dreams and the opportunities they present. Allow yourself to feel the pull of the unknown and follow its call. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I take time to explore the unknown and bring new opportunities into my life.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Identify an area you would like to explore for inspiration and motivation like music, writing, poetry, or friends.
  • Learn more about that aspect of life and the potential it holds for your personal exploration and expansion.
  • Add elements of that newly explored path to your life and spiritual practice. 

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Connect With What Has Gone Before You

I listened to quite a number of talks on the Ancestral Summit on The Shift Network and what drew me the most were ways to deepen my relationship with nature, with the Planet Earth as our evolving home and as a resident of the Cosmos we still know so little about.

The idea that ancient rivers and mountains and oceans were there long before the inhabitants, however small, appeals to me. I like learning that way before my lifetime, people from Asia and Siberia walked across the land bridge to Alaska and became the American Indians. I don’t have much affinity for the time of the dinosaurs. 

How do I get my messages and lessons from nature? How do I transform and adapt the offerings of nature? How do I deepen my connection with nature? How do I learn its lessons of patience and gradual change and adaptation? How do I hear our combined heartbeat? 

I no longer travel so I cannot go to sacred landscapes. I live with my view of an enclosed garden and a Midwestern sunrise. And of course, the great shape-shifting mid-western clouds.

I have two house plants to honor nature and three small pinecones I used to celebrate the Winter Solstice and a fluffy dried flower like a hair bow on my plant stand. And I have fifty or so crystals I speak with every day. Those are the tools I have in my space to create and deepen my connection to nature. I use them all to create a deeper connection and honoring of nature. 

Work with what you have. Grow where you are planted. 

I could create a nature ceremony with a container in which I place a little twig, a leaf, a rock and a shell. I could make up a song to the elements. I actually do sing to the directions each morning. When the weather changes, I will go outside and sit in the sun and meditate in the garden by the Koi pond. I have a lot of crystals but I do not have a rock that I picked up on a nature walk. I do have a twig and some dried leaves that are symbols of nature. How do I sit in a small space and deepen my connection with nature? 

I open my heart and use my imagination. I will travel in my imagination deep into the core of Gaia while it is still molten and changing to feel the power of the earth continuing to create herself. 

I can spend time with the moon even when I can’t see it from my window. I can raise my sights and expectations to the ongoing movement of the planets. And I can wonder about their interactive influences as they change positions in the sky and affect the energy of our planet.

I might watch my house plants for new leaves as a sign of Nature’s ongoing and continuous change. I just want a way to contemplate nature in my spiritual practice, to be aware of our continuous change and evolution, and experience myself as part of that ongoing change. 

I’m going to begin to reach over and touch the leaves of my two live plants every day – perhaps create some sort of a blessing or honoring. 

I have had yards where I would go barefoot in the grass but that was a long time ago. How are you going to deepen your experience of our planet earth?

Expand The Elements Of Your Spiritual Practice 

A spiritual practice should be fluid. It can be fluid in timing. It can be fluid in the elements it contains. And it can be fluid in its location. But a spiritual practice needs to be consistent in your life.

There can be elements of contemplation which include meditation and journaling. There can be elements of connection which could be in the form of ceremony. I use my drums and native flutes each day to sing to the directions and the rising sun. I also create a ceremonial connection with my crystals each day. 

Journaling is an important part of a spiritual practice because writing things down allows you to look beneath the obvious into deeper truths. I often journal at night for reflective contemplation of the lessons and experiences of my day. A shamanic journey can be part of your spiritual practice. 

The location of your meditative practice can change. Being outside adds a whole depth of sounds and experiences. Nature will add a depth of awareness to your meditative practice. 

I can’t use candles where I live but I certainly could have a small altar cloth upon which I arrange various objects that have meaning to me that become a signal that I have begun my ceremony. The mere act of setting up an environment for a meditation deepens your receptiveness.

I live in a small space but I have an altar space made in the shelves of a fairly narrow bookcase. I turn my desk chair toward the window, pick up my drum and play and sing to the elements and the directions. Then I turn and speak with and touch each of the crystals on my altar. I intuitively listen to their messages and offer gratitude for various aspects of my life. I use my Indian rattle to send a blessing to my day and my health, and my life expression. I also play my Kalimba thumb piano to bless my day.

What elements and patterns will you weave into your spiritual practice? Keep it fluid.  You might make changes at the Solstice or Equinox or new or full moon or simply in the moment.   Keep your spiritual practice fluid and relevant. 

I’m going to add a daily reading to my practice. The Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell’s translation and The Essential Rumi, Colman Barks translation are two I will begin with. I also like Deng, Ming-Dao’s work. I may choose to write something based on what I read. That helps me understand and apply the concept. Journaling helps me find ways to bring those concepts into my daily life. 

I can make up my own poems as part of my spiritual practice. I could draw as part of my spiritual practice. Bear in mind I’m a pencil and stick figure artist but that would not prevent me from recording what I see in my imagination. 

Experiment with different elements for your spiritual practice in different locations and at different times of day. But do develop a regular spiritual practice. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Acknowledge The Small Wins

It was a small step and a huge win. Physical therapy gave me permission to sit in my desk chair again and walk around my space using my walker. I was mobile again. It had been nearly three weeks since my hip replacement surgery. I was as excited as if I have won the lottery. I had a new level of work to do.

Small wins could be the source of great encouragement. Take those wins and expand on them. Let them take you to a next level. I’m doing core strengthening exercises while sitting in my chair and I can do them all standing up too. I do leg strengthening movements while sitting in my chair and I am now encouraged to step onto the hall and stand, to hang onto the railing and do more standing exercises. It gives me a great sense of freedom to have this self-responsibility back again. 

I lost my strength because of surgery. But I had spent the last year and a half losing my strength because I wasn’t doing the work. Part of that was depression but it was still my responsibility.

Whatever physical steps you choose to take to care for yourself, celebrate them. Be grateful for them. Do them with joy and enthusiasm and pleasure so you don’t lose them. 

===OUTER WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

How Have Your Objectives Changed?

When we are observant, we will see that our objectives change with some frequency. I may set out to cross a field and stop as I find a lovely rock to pick up and examine and consider. I may see a butterfly that catches my attention. It might rain on me and I need to seek shelter. Life is not one straight uninterrupted path, it is a series of adjustments and detours and course corrections. Be flexible as you move through life and let your goals change as you gain more insight and information. 

I don’t question my goals every day, but I do see if what I have chosen to do that day still resonates with my thinking and my needs and adjust accordingly. Be flexible as you take your journey and explore some side roads. Life is one big adventure. 

Continuous Learning

I love to learn and because of my diminishing eyesight I am exploring new venues for learning. I found one podcast I like to listen to. I can still manage to read e-books. I have not tried audiobooks yet but someone recently said they found audiobooks were read too slowly. I’m a very fast reader. I’m going to explore videos, particularly when it comes to learning how to do certain things. 

In ancient times there was always a storyteller who, through his or her story time, taught moral values and insights for living. I’ve never tried to craft a teaching story but I think everything I write is about what I have learned.

Is there something you wanted to learn along the line but kept putting off that it is time to take action on? Exploring is interesting. It helps you find areas of interest that you were not familiar with and invites you to take time to explore them more deeply. See if you can push yourself a little in some aspect of your learning to open a few doors and wander down a few unexplored paths. 

Monitor Your Influence

We influence others by our very presence. We influence others by our attitude. We influence others by our choices. We infuse others by the way we look at the world. Be aware that every word you speak and every choice you make is how you want to be present in the world. Be aware of the impact of your mere presence and make sure it is how you want to show up in the world. 

Do You Have A Strong Sense of Purpose?

In this new phase of my life, I am working to identify and define my new sense of purpose. 

I had a Care Evaluation meeting recently and was able to share with some of the staff how vital it is been for me to be in contact with this caring loving staff and how it has pulled me out of the depression I was not even aware I was in. It turns out the staff is really glad to have me in their lives too. That’s good.

My purpose is not about shoring us up but it may become that in the course of interactions in which I encourage someone or help them clarify their role. My purpose for this next portion of my life is still unfolding. What I know to do is to be observant and aware that my new role is gradually unfolding and making itself known. 

If you don’t have a strong sense of purpose for this phase of your life, spend some time meditating about it. Maybe do some journaling around your thoughts. Sometimes writing down one idea helps us get to the idea right underneath it. It’s like gradually peeling back layers. 

I do have one strong overarching purpose – to be in service as an explorer and interpreter of metaphysical ideas.  That seems to be a steady role that I play in my life. So perhaps my role is to go exploring and share what I learn. I like that.  Do you have a strong sense of purpose? What is it?

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

Release What Is Not Needed Through Ceremony

One of the ways we move forward is to release ideas and concepts and beliefs that we no longer need or want or hold. 

I do not have this well established in my life but one of the ways to free yourself is to create a ceremony to helps you release what is holding you in place, what is preventing you from moving forward.

What you really can change is what you believe along with attitudes and habits and expectation. The first step is to identify what is holding you back and what you would benefit from releasing. 

As my body continues to heal from my hip replacement surgery, I get to raise my expectations for myself and my body. So, one of the things I could do is create a ceremony to release all of the beliefs based on past experience that no longer serve me.

How I release it is up to me and my imagination. I could write it on a piece of paper and tear it up in little pieces.  I could write it on a piece of paper and burn it in a fire. There is dissolvable paper you can simply make disappear. The idea of prayer flags has emerged in my consciousness recently so I could create a prayer flag out of a scarf or a piece of fabric and put it out in my garden to let it release concepts that no longer serve me or send blessings to things that I want to help change. 

Experiment with the form you use for releasing what no longer serves you and perhaps create regular releasing ceremonies. You may choose times that are aligned with the new moon or a full moon or beginning of the month or any other method of marking a period of time to consciously clear out and release beliefs and attitudes and expectations that no longer serve you. 

Add a regular releasing ceremony to your spiritual practice and continue to clear the path before you. 

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Give Your All Whatever You Do

“I’m agency, I don’t know where it is and the nurse is agency too,” said the person I had asked for a snack in the middle of the night. An hour or so later, the Agency nurse came in and when I asked her for a snack she said, “I’ll find it,” and she did. A few hours later I asked the first person to help me get dressed for the day and she said, “I’m supposed to leave in a few minutes.”

Which one of these two women do you think will have the most positive experience of their life and work? 

We reap what we sow. When we move through life with a willingness to participate in and learn and grow, we have a very positive experience. 

As we choose to continue to do work that is not satisfying or rewarding, it will poison everything else that we do. 

This is not just about having a right job. This is about how you approach whatever you do. When you approach your work in the world as meaningful, helpful to others, and do your best work, it will bring you a very satisfying experience. 

If you don’t like your work, figure out what you do like to do and do that. 

How do you view the work you’ve chosen to do? Do you look forward to participating in your work life every day? Do you enjoy the people that you work with? Do you continue to learn and grow and expand your own skills through that job? 

I’m not even going to say bloom where you are planted. I’m going to say if you are not blooming where you are now, get up and go plant yourself in another field so you can express yourself by calling more deeply on your skills and insights. 

If you need to get more training, get it. If you need to change careers, do that. At any point in your life be sure how you do spend the majority of time off of work is satisfying and rewarding and meaningful. Do you need to make a change?

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

Redefine Your Purpose

I want to be more proactive in the evolution of our planet at this point in time. I want to help raise awareness of our individual potential roles and help the planet heal herself and evolve into a powerful home for light workers. The first thing I’m going to do is visualize. 

What would it look like if everyone on the planet recognized themselves as a conscious light worker – moving around the planet with awareness and conscious care, doing no harm, always preserving and asking others to do the same? A colony of light workers spreading its influence teaching others to honor and care for Mother Earth. 

We know from experience that particular awareness is not everywhere. But those of us who choose to do this work do it with purposeful devotion and others are attracted to follow. As we deepen our relationship, we deepen our sense of wholeness and oneness, others see our light and are drawn to it. It changes their awareness. They modify their choices. 

Just as you want your own home to be nurturing, you want to help create nurturing in all corners of your being. That means that we must raise our individual consciousness and do no harm to earth. No harm to animals and humans and plants. 

This is an individual quest – an individual raising of our consciousness. As consciousness we share ideas with others. Of course, we want to take action to stop harm from being done. 

Switch your intention and begin focusing on preserving our planet.

Begin by adding more ceremony of gratitude to Mother Earth. By monitoring your own footprint on the planet to be sure you are doing no harm. Share that awareness with others. So that Gaia is given time and space and care to heal herself. Do more ceremony and ask how you can help. Then do that. 

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

Keep Your Eyes On The Light

Those of us who are aware that we are here called to raise our vibration must keep our eyes on the light. We must make certain that our lives reflect what we want to see in the world. We must continue to explore and experiment to find more effective ways to keep ourselves in the space of higher vibration, to live our lives as an example of that so others see that possibility within themselves. 

Look back over your experiences to see what new awareness has opened up for you, what new friends inspire and motivate you and how the choices you make are reflected in to the world.

Keep your eyes on the light and keep moving toward it.

=== DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===

Consider This

This quote was in the homework for my Tai Chi class with Deng, Ming-Dao. I really like the images. It offers a new way to view life.  

“The supreme ultimate is born from the limitless that is the mother of the ten thousand things. They divide in movement.

They combine in stillness.

They never go to excess:

they follow, bend, engage, and extend.”

—Excerpt from “Shanxi Wang Zongyue’s Taijiquan Treatise,” Wang Zongyue (c. fifteenth century?

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

Expanding Awareness 

The Gaia Gateway and Your Soul Star

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

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

Here’s an app to identify crystals: Rock identifier

That same company also makes an app called Plant Identifier. 

===REFLECTIONS===

Where Are Your Roots?

Change your opinions, keep your principles;

Change your leaves, keep intact your roots.

– Victor Hugo

Where have you planted your roots? And how are they supporting you? 

As we grow, we extend our roots into new territories, some of which are more nurturing than others. The roots that are the most nurturing are aligned with the direction we want to grow. They help our growth be stronger and faster and more supportive of us in our lives. 

Sometimes we put out an explorer root into a new topic or a new idea only to find that it is not for us. It does not nourish us. It does not take us where we choose to go. That is when we return and put out other feeder roots and go exploring.

Cultivate only the roots that nurture you.  

===CARA’S CORNER===

Take Love Where You Find It

I’m a 90-year-old who just acquired a Care Bear in the Bingo Swap Shop at my long-term care facility. This sweet-faced orange stuffed animal brought tears to my eyes as hugged it. I guess we’re never too old for a little love whatever the source.

I am surrounded by kindness so why do I feel emotion from looking at and holding an orange stuffed bear with a compassionate smile on her face? 

We have to give love to ourselves. How do you do that? It feels like this bear is here for me. Supporting me. Cheering for me. Offering me love. She is reflecting my self-love back to me. I think I should begin to have conversations with her. Discussions with her. Get her feedback. It’s like having a really close friend in my corner cheering me on. I’m a very strong woman but today I needed cheering up by a stuffed animal. Be open to support where and when it finds you. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Feeling Love

I have to learn to feel loved. What is the barrier and how do I dissolve it?

I have to learn to feel loved. What is the barrier and how do I dissolve it? Do I feel unworthy? Or do I simply not take time for self-love? 

I have to learn to feel loved. What is the barrier and how do I dissolve it? Do I feel unworthy? Or do I simply not take time for self-love? I am worthy of love. I am deserving of love. I will do a better job of loving myself.

– Cara Lumen, February 2023 

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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What Makes A Friend A Friend? 

February 4, 2023 By Cara Lumen

What Makes A Friend A Friend? 

Living Our Deeper Song

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

I was thinking back over the friends I have had in my lifetime. I aways seemed to have at least one close friend – that person who shares your values, who for the moment is going in a similar direction to yours and someone with whom you shared equally. 

Pause a minute and think back – perhaps clear to your school days and feel a smile of remembrance come to your face.

Friends care about each other. They care for each other. And the friendship is never forgotten. You come together for a moment in time for a shared interest in which you both teach and learn from each other. 

A friendship develops organically.  It may last only as long as a mutual interest or project. But it enriches both of you.

Friendships are never lopsided. Each person receives the gift of being and having a friend.  You are each filling a specific need for the other at the same time.

I have no idea where some of my past friends are, or how their lives turned out but they were important allies and support for me at various points in time.

I have been in long-term care for three months and I continue to deepen my friendships among the staff. Part of that comes from my open friendliness and part of that comes as they get to know me and respond. There is the Med Aide who took me outside after she heard I had asked to be taken out the day before. She is the same one who helped me find and fasten fake flowers to my wheelchair. Their willingness to help me with my most mundane tasks is touching.  

I’m getting to know people better as we deepen our exchanges.

I am drawn to anther Med Aide because of how well and cheerfully she does her job.  Staff comes to me to talk about crystals and meditation and the dreamcatchers in my window. A few are reading my newsletter and looking over my website.

There are a lot of young people 19 and 20 who have already chosen this path of service and it is fascinating to get to know someone so aligned with their gifts so early in their life. 

My close friends are all at least 30 years younger than I. I do not relate to people my age, only to the younger people who are still active in their lives.

What kind of a friend am I? I started to write that I was not physically supportive of others at 90 but I am – I am mentally supportive to a lot of people.  I think I am entertaining in my uniqueness.

Cultivate your friends.  I have Zoom calls with friends in Europe as well as the States.  We are interesting, interested women living active lives and supporting and encouraging each other. 

Is there an old friend you want to call?  Is there a new friend you want to know better? And while you are at it, what kind of a friend are you?

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I develop new ways to deepen my friendships.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Make contact with an old friend.
  • Take steps to cultivate a new friend.
  • Be a better friend to yourself.

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Dismemberment And Today’s World

There is great hope in Sandra Ingerman’s February Transformational News. Just read it….

Fresh Start

Would you like to take a pause in your life and create a clean slate upon which to write the next stage of your life? What would you erase? What would you write that is new? What would you embellish? It could be a relationship, it could be a job, it could be a situation. If you could take a pause and clear out some of your emotional space what would you release?  

Go within to a quiet space and picture your life without that element. Without that conflict. Without that obligation. See what your life would be like. When you have decided what you would like to change perhaps go even deeper within and ask your inner self how to make that happen. How are you planning to make that change? How do you release a situation so that you can move on? Play with various scenarios, make some decisions and do the work. Keep exploring and create a fresh start.

Affirmations

An affirmation is a positive statement made as if it has already happened. “All of life comes to me with ease and joy and glory.” “I master this information easily and effortlessly.” “I easily recognize the right direction for my next step.” All of those are affirmations that help us manifest the specifics of our life. Notice the affirmations you are giving yourself almost unconsciously and be certain they are what you want to manifest. 

You might be saying things like “I can’t do that”, or “it’s too hard“ or “that will never happen.” Change those affirmations into “I find a solution easily and effortlessly.”

Notice the messages you give yourself and do some course correction today. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

The Silence of Change

You cannot see a leaf grow. You cannot hear a bud unfold. You cannot hear the flutter of a butterfly wing. And you cannot hear your own body healing itself and manifesting change.

These are all silent worlds that manifest continuous change. Scientists have learned to look closely at microscopic levels to understand the myriad of detailed interactions that are involved in our body. They can even fix many things when they go wrong. 

Change is often silent. We have to learn to do the work and watch for the subtle shifts that manifest because of what we are doing.

As I watch my body heal some of the changes are very small and some are fairly dramatic. I keep listening deeply to interpret the subtle messages and positive change it is accomplishing.

A great deal of change is silent. Learn to listen with your whole being.

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

The Younger Generation

I met a remarkable young woman one night who was on duty from the agency. Her name is Sophia and she is going to be a gynecological surgeon. She is 19. And she has known since she was five that was what she wanted to do. She has a full-time job at KU Medical Center but takes temp assignments when she is bored.

As I get to know these younger people, I am beginning to get a glimpse of how the world will evolve under their guidance.

As old people we have to trust the unfolding, that they are learning what is needed for the well-being of the world today and are stepping forth to make it possible. As a member of the really old generation, I realize that our way is no longer useful. We are probably outdated and out of touch. I wish the older politicians would figure that out.

Be open to experiencing younger people and their unique point of view and let it help expand how you see the world. 

Do Something Differently

I’m not suggesting you eat your dessert first but I am suggesting you rearrange how you do what you do. I try to do things differently as I explore a new experience. My spiritual practice is changing because I can’t play my native flute very well anymore because of my arthritic fingers so I’m turning to my drums to expand my spiritual practice. I’ve begun to use more protective energy elements around me in the form of protective shields. And I really like the idea of being at the altar of infinite potentials, so that when we change our energy, we change our lives. I want to explore that more and feel what it creates for me.  Maybe you try a new game or read a new book or explore a new podcast. Do something to change your routine and your viewpoint. 

Rethink The Premise

I had asked to hang my drums on the wall until Andy from maintenance came and talked to me about it and I realized it was not a good idea. He suggested I move them into a container near my desk. It was a great idea because I realized that if they were closer, I would play them more often. Sometimes we have ideas that are not as practical as they could be and we get to rethink them. 

Positioning is super important. I won’t play my drums if they are across the room on the wall but I will play them if they’re right here by my desk so I can turn and look out the window and play a few rhythms. But I hadn’t realized that. 

Explore a problem from several angles before you settle on a choice. It could be from the aspect of keeping things together, from splitting them up, where you place them or from simply getting another container. Rethink how you have the things around you and see if you can make them more assessable. 

Taking Stock

We must pause periodically in our life and our work to take stock,  to see what has changed. To see what we have learned. To see what new choices have opened up and what we have accomplished. 

Once we make that evaluation, and gain that overview, we can make new choices based on the progress we’ve made and the new opportunities that have opened up.

It’s easy to get caught up in detail and forget to pause to examine your progress. You don’t have to rethink things every day but you should rethink them frequently because as you take new steps, new insights and avenues open up to be considered. 

You may find you don’t want to continue a project. You may find a new way to do it to help make it happen faster. As you move along a project, question your process and progress many times along the path. Make room for experiments and change and growth, deeper understanding and greater insights. 

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

I’m Really Into The Frame Drum

One of the earliest forms of drums is the frame drum. The women were denied access to drums so they used their grain sieves as drums. And that was the beginning of the frame drum. I seem to be using my frame drum several times a day. I actually put my cheek on it and feel the vibration go into my body as I drum. And then I let my body talk. I let me talk to me through the drum. It is a new language I am learning. 

The frame drum I have is a 16” REMO Fiberskyn – $30 on West Music: Buy Here 

There’s a new thumb drum class on The Shift Network but I took one from Christine Stevens a few years ago. Here’s the new class: Rhythms and Myths of the Sacred Frame Drum

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Change With The Times

I watched my physical therapist use his thumbs to rapidly text a message and realized that I can’t do that. I’m from the days of the keyboard and I leaned to type on a big manual typewriter. 

I read an article about how artificial intelligence is replacing white-collar workers and wondered what people were going to do for jobs under those circumstances. Those are not the issues of my generation but they may very well be the issues of yours. 

One of the questions I have about artificial intelligence is how does morality and spirituality get built into it and by whom. My friend Thuy knows how to teach this and I’m having fascinating conversations with her about it. It’s not that I’m trying to abandon a roll of responsibility but I am not in a position to make those kinds of changes in the world. Perhaps you are. Perhaps you will. Perhaps you do. 

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

Combine Your Gifts and Talents Into A New Offering

I have had several professions in my lifetime and I’m now taking great pleasure combining them into unique offerings. I no longer teach Reiki but I use it in my daily life. I only occasionally write professionally but I use my writing all the time to explore the world in this newsletter and share what I discover. I was a licensed spiritual practitioner in the Center for Spiritual Living and that has permeated my daily philosophy of life as has my immersion in Taoism and Shamanism. 

As we add new skills and awareness to our life, we adapt and incorporate them into our offerings.

I have a good friend who’s ready to retire and is changing professions.  She is combining Reiki and Shamanism in the astrology sessions she offers. How will you combine your gifts and talents into a new offering?

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

Banishing Evil From Our World

Why is it that evil is so blatantly on display in our world today? Is it to make us aware of it? Is it to make us take active steps to eliminate it?

There have been other times in history in which evil came to the forefront and was prevalent in society. The world wars come to mind but today we see evil coming out of individuals in national and local arenas. Where is this evil coming from? Why is it manifesting? What are we to do?

As with almost any change we begin with our own self. Are you thinking thoughts of anger or hatred and revenge? Why? Are you making room for different viewpoints and different cultures? Why do you think that your way is the only right way? 

Make room for the myriad of spiritual approaches in the world and see us all as light workers for the highest good. 

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

Expanding Awareness

Do You Hold the Beat or Play the Melody?

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

===CARA’S CORNER===

Next Steps

Each day my body gets better and stronger as I recuperate from my hip replacement surgery. And that means that each day, I get to do a little more and ask a little more of myself. I have to do the work. A great deal of what I feel is joy and excitement over regaining my freedom of movement. I’m not sure I ask as much as I could or should but then I’ve never been one to challenge myself physically.

My body and I are a team working to regain my strength and my stamina. It heals and I give it more opportunity to strengthen. It is definitely a collaborative effort. 

What kind of conversations do you have with your body? Are you aware when it sends out signals did it need something different or more? It could ask for a different diet. It could ask for more movement. Pay attention and give your body what it needs. 

Because I get so engrossed in my writing and unconsciously lean forward into my computer, I am now resorting to my ladybug timer and set it for 20 minutes. When it goes off, I lean back in my chair and look out the window and take a few deep breaths and change the rhythm of my focused concentration. I could use the timer to remind me to stand up from my desk and stretch my body and move my legs and quiet my mind.

How in tune are you with your body? Do you listen to it throughout your day? Do you respond to its needs effectively? Even stopping your mental focus to turn and gaze out at nature and take some centering breaths will help change the intensity of your focus and let your body restore itself to its natural rhythm. 

Your body is there for you but it is a partnership. Do your part through the choices you make. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Ode To My Body

My body has given me a long and interesting life and I am grateful. 

My body has given me a long and interesting life and I am grateful. It is older now and needs more care which I thoughtfully and gratefully provide.

My body has given me a long and interesting life and I am grateful. It is older now and needs more care which I thoughtfully and gratefully provide. Keep going body, we have more meaningful life to live.

– Cara Lumen, February, 2023

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!

Subscribe to this weekly Deeper Song Newsletter at www.deepersong.com

My Books

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Unfolding Of A New Path

January 28, 2023 By Cara Lumen

The Unfolding Of A New Path

Living Our Deeper Song

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

When you embark upon a new path you really have no idea how it will unfold.  And you certainly do not know where you will end up. So how do you prepare? 

You prepare by listening and looking at the signs that unfold before you. You go within and listen and learn from what you are shown as your gifts and your mission. And you listen to your heart.

You will have many choices during the coming year. You will explore multiple roads and many trails, always assessing where you are and where you want to go. You have no idea where you will end up because you have no idea what choices you will make at any point in time. You can set an overarching goal and then keep making course corrections as you discover new options and make new choices. 

In all your planning, leave room for the unexpected. The unexpected choice. The unexpected detour. The unexpected realization. 

Make the coming year an adventure, full of unexpected surprises and insights. Enjoy the experience.

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I am open to many options and adventures in my life. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Look at the things you were drawn to as a young person (I was editor of my high school paper and wrote for it a lot. My writing has been a strongly expressed gift throughout my life.) Is there a thread there of some aspect that you should bring forward now? 
  • Look at what topics interest you right now and see if there is a place of service there for you.
  • Can your hobby be made into a business?   
  • Is there a group or cause you want to support?
  • My son-in-law Ron, a retired high school teacher, got great satisfaction in teaching a woman about fractions so she was able to measure ingredients for her cooking. He also volunteers for Boy Scout camp, an organization he’s been active in for years.
  • Look for the group you want to help and find a way to work with them. 

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Listen To Your Inner Voice

I checked with my inner voice to see if I was missing anything, if there was some role or some gift I had not fully explored. Nothing popped up but I’m keeping that door open to help me explore my opening path. 

Sometimes you find your next calling easily – sort of falling into it. Other times you discover new aspects in your own unfolding process that you need to explore more deeply.

I have had many professions that I no longer pursue but the one I like the best is helping people focus their business on their website. I was this in the first Certified Book Yourself Solid Coaching class with Michael Port and I helped people focus on their offerings and next steps really well. And I like doing it a lot. 

I’ve been in a position the last 13 years that if I earned money, it would mess with my Social Security. It’s a lot easier to do something for free –  it creates a different joy to simply help someone because you can and you want to.

I’m going to write some articles for a magazine here and for the Evergreen website and it will be fun. I no longer have money for online classes so I will go exploring and find more free classes and more instruction online. I have podcasts to explore and audiobooks.

Look back over your skills and see what you acquired along your journey that you may reposition now. I was a Reiki Master Teacher Fourth Degree and I’m not doing that anymore except for myself.  I was a Certified Bach Flower Counselor and I’m not doing that anymore. I was a Licensed Spiritual Practitioner in the Center for Spiritual Living and I’m not participating in life that way anymore either. I am an on-going student of Taoism. I have added elements of Shamanism to my spiritual path. I could take parts and pieces of all these experiences and turn them into a new role in the world. I could mix and match my skill set into another format. I could make something up from a combination of things I know. Go exploring and try unusual combinations of talents and ideas just to make them work and see what new doors open for you. 

Right now, I’m staying open. I am looking over the gifts I have explored and developed in my life, and I’m listening carefully to the world around me to give me new insights about the direction to explore next. It may be a whisper or it may be a full-blown message that shows me the unfolding of my next place of service

Go exploring and let your inner voice show you the Way.

A Shield Of Unconditional Love

I have not thought to do this until I read the words “build a shield of unconditional love.” I really resonated to the idea. I put up a shield of protection every day and that transformative shield helps me dissolve my own worries as well as protects me from other influences. But I have never before thought to place myself in a shield of unconditional love. 

What would that feel like? It would mean that I would feel OK about myself in all areas of my life, my physical appearance and the interaction with the depth of my degree of work in the world. 

Look at how you nurture yourself. What do you need? What do you do to nurture yourself? What would you like to add? 

What does a Shield of Unconditional Love feel like and how will you give it to yourself? 

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Journalling For Self-Healing

Journaling is a bit like peeling an onion – with each layer you explore there is another layer under it that keeps going on and on. A major part of journaling is to peel back the layers. Write down the most obvious insights on a piece of paper and leave space between lines for additional interpretations to see what has been revealed. Keep repeating as you understand that the layers of discoveries are safe and you can go deeper beneath them. 

I remember once being taught to interpret dreams by writing down the dream with spaces between the lines and then going back and writing what those lines brought up in order to go deeper in my understanding. I might try that with writing. Make my lines triple spaced and re-read them and see what shows up as a deeper perspective. How will you journal for self-healing?

My Self-Healing Progress

I continue to adjust to sleeping in the reclining chair. There are two buttons on the control which should be pretty easy. But I’m still learning. The other place I sleep is in my wheelchair. I just got off oxygen but I’m sitting at my computer quite a few hours every day this week to get out this newsletter and keep up with mail.  I need to walk more and stand more and be more active. But I need permission from Physical Therapy. It’s time for me to add a movement routine to each day. I can do that. 

It’s going to be more Qigong and more walking. I’m the only one responsible for how fast I get well. It’s up to me to follow the rules and ask the limits of myself and experiment with what I can and cannot do. It’s totally up to me to do the work. I have not been asking enough of myself. 

When you are expanding your physical ability, ask a bit more of yourself each time and maintain that extra effort. Do the work. Expand your goals even a step or two. But most of all consistently do the work. You are the only one who can. You’re the only one who can get the results you want. Do the work.

Reset Your Energetic Boundaries

Do you pay enough attention to the flow of your energy field? Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that ask us to give more and more and more of ourselves and we do not notice or know how to call a halt to that drain. 

Build in some hourly pauses. Look out the window at the clouds and close your eyes for a minute and take a number of deep breaths to center yourself. Staff workers take breaks regularly. Executives do not. 

You can recenter yourself while walking down the hall by quieting your mind and focusing on your breath.

You can pause by shifting your focus to look at other elements in a room including the persona of the people in the room. 

You have control of the physical energy in your life. Use it to reset your energetic boundaries.

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

How Consciously Do You Fulfill Your Obligations?

First of all, what do you think your obligations are? We’re talking obligations and commitment here. If you have children, you have made at least a 20-year commitment.  Jobs are flexible. Relationships need nurturing and shape shifting. Careers and jobs are fluid.   

What do you see as your obligations and how do you set about to fulfill them?

How Do You Show Your Appreciation?

Next time you talk to someone, look them in the eyes long enough to make a heart connection. That means you look into each other’s eyes to convey the message of gratitude.

Look for acts of thoughtfulness you can spontaneously offer another, then do them with your whole self. The energy and awareness in which we offer gratitude and acknowledge others will enrich our lives – and theirs.   

Encourage Your Dreams

Are you a dreamer? Do you sit around making up scenarios about how you would like things to be? It’s a good idea to dream big when you dream. Let your imagination help you try out new scenarios to see how they feel and how they might work out. Then go exploring to see what kind of reality you can make those dreams. Let your dreams try your ideas on for size and then go make it happen. 

Do Only Work You Love

I need help to get out of my chair – two people need to help me for now – more a safeguard than a necessity. But finding two people can be tricky and periodically I get someone with what I can only call an attitude. 

Your attitude about your work shows in everything that you do. If you think the work is beneath you it shows. If you don’t like the work, that shows. If you love the work that definitely shows. Don’t dismiss the natural dislike of something that you have to do. But do take steps to change it.

If someone is annoying to you, try to figure out why and perhaps change your relationship with that person or simply avoid them. If you seem to be annoying to someone else, perhaps do some exploration to find out what the cause is. You don’t have to change it but at least you know what to change if you choose to change. 

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Evolution Is Based on Connection

We are wired to be with other people who share a common interest. We are wired for communities.

Communities come together to build things. They may have a community garden. Trading goods is how we learn about other cultures. The community is how we learn from each other through our interaction with others. Our participation in the group in general allows us to pick up ideas and new ways of doing things from one other. As interaction deepens, so does our own understanding of ourselves.

For me, learning is the most exciting aspect of interacting with others. As I share ideas and responses to my plans, it expands my horizons for what is possible for me. I like that.

Pick one thing you really like to do and go find a group that is doing it and see what they’re up to and how you might help through participation. 

With me the most valuable aspect of community is like-mindedness. We are interested in the same topic. We probably each know different kinds of things about that topic. When we share what we know, we each expand our own base of knowledge.

I find myself in a community of healers. I’m not sure what my role is yet. One of the things I do is spread a sense of joy and humor as people come and go within my room. My role will not be as a fellow healer in the sense of being in service. It will be more in the philosophical broadening of awareness and insights I can bring to any conversation.

Being in a group offers mental stimulation and deeper emotional connections with people who are mindfully supportive of each other. This newsletter gives me a strong feeling of touching lives all over the world. I have a small group of friends from various parts of the world with whom I meet regularly on Zoom and I have individual calls with many of them. My friendships are all over the world. You don’t have to be in close proximity to find like-minded friends that you need and want. Go exploring and have a great adventure!

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

Clear Your Internal Clutter

My sister worried a lot in her lifetime. She probably still does but she’s got Alzheimer’s and maybe there’s no more worry for her. She worried if she could do it right. She worried if someone would like it. She worried a lot. 

We need to learn to do the best we can and let that be OK. Let the chips fall where they may. Learn from the results – the success and failure and response. 

One of the ways to learn is to trust. Trust that you have the right insight. Trust you will take the right steps. Know that the right steps for this moment in time are there and just make your choices, see what unfolds and gain your insights. Life is one big experiment – one big leaning platform.

A really powerful way to live is to find a peaceful place within yourself and reside there. Sometimes it’s a matter of trust. Sometimes it’s a matter of experimentation, sometimes it’s a matter of taking a step to see what happens and learn the lesson it offered for the next time.  

Trust the learning process and keep an eye out for emotional clutter that is blocking your path and take steps to clear it away.

A Change In Habit

First of all, I’m not very good with money. And I get very excited about taking classes. The long-term care arrangement here is to take all of my Social Security except $62 a month and provide food and shelter and medical care. And you can’t do too much on $62 a month. I have my website to support and that’s important to me. A new drumming class has shown up that interests me but remember I’m a sucker for classes.

So I began to look online for the teacher and other things that she offers as free introductory sessions and I will have to get better at learning through introductory classes. 

I have to admit I’m a sucker for learning and an easy mark for a class. And I get to get over that. I have other options like e-books and audiobooks and podcasts and group meetings in which I learn. I just need to identify the ones that call to me. Learning I will always do – now to learn how to keep on learning for free.

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

Explore and Interpret the Guidance and Messages of the Divine Feminine

An Old Warrior

One of the spirit guides that I discovered when living in New York City was an Amazon Warrior named Alexandra. She was my fighting side. I didn’t call on her very much because I was mostly having a really good time so I was really surprised when she showed up recently 50 years later. She is older and wiser and stronger. We’ll see what we accomplish together and why she is showing up again after all of these years.  

How are your spirit guides evolving? What are they teaching you? 

When you journey to your Secret Garden, your guides are there waiting for you and only you can interpret the messages they bring. So go within and ask your spirit guides to show up. Ask which ones you are to work with now. And ask whoever shows up what you are to do.

I have a feeling my Amazon Warrior Alexandra is here for the world, the well-being of the whole. I will pay close attention to her guidance. I feel strong energy bubbling up. 

An old worrier is a wise warrior. It will be interesting to work with her.

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

Expanding Awareness

The Magical Power of an Affirmation

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

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

===REFLECTIONS===

I am having a blast with this PAVILIA Deluxe Fleece Blanket with Sleeves. It is a blanket with sleeves and a front pocket.  It is great for sleeping in recliner chairs while being totally covered up including your hands by the long sleeves which makes them accessible. 

===CARA’S CORNER===

Accepting Help

I’ve been an independent woman all my life and it is very hard for me to need help right now. I have some restrictions on my movements until I get stronger.  I am learning to sleep in a recliner rather than the bed because of my hip replacement. It lets me sleep on my back. I need to get back to better than normal walking. But first I have to have permission to do the work. I can now stand up straighter than I have for years. My right leg is a good 3 inches longer than my left which makes walking a bit odd and I will get fitted with a shoe with a lift. I need to cultivate better posture through mindfulness and practice. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Accept The Changes

My body has changed. It is a good change, a change for the better.

My body has changed. It is a good change, a change for the better. It will open new portals and opportunities and ways of being.

My body has changed. It is a good change, a change for the better. It will open new portals and opportunities and ways of being. I have turned a corner and begin my new journey. 

– Cara Lumen, January 2023 

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!

Subscribe to this weekly Deeper Song Newsletter at www.deepersong.com

My Books

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Expand Your Vision

January 21, 2023 By Cara Lumen

Expand Your Vision

Living Our Deeper Song

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

If we create our world by using our imagination, we have some serious work to do. I’m not exactly sure where to start. 

Before I can envision for the planet, I have to vision from my own small world, my own sphere of influence, my own actions and choices. Begin with yourself and your expression in life to make the changes you hope to see reflected in the world. 

I have a great start on the kind of people I want to be with because of the kind and caring staff here at Evergreen long-term care. I can actually use them as a place to begin my vision for this New World. I envision a world full of kind, caring, smart, people who are very deeply in service to others. So much will change in the world if all of us are in service to each other.

I envision our planet as a place where all of the products we use are very environmentally friendly and nothing, absolutely nothing gets dumped on Mother Earth to hurt or harm or destroy her. That means that a lot of human hearts and minds have to change.

So I have envisioned caring people caring for our the planet. What about me? What about my vision for myself? 

First of all, I’m 90 so I can vision for 10 or so years ahead but I won’t put a time frame on it. How do I need to change? How might I be a service? What do I need to do to make all that happen? 

How do I need to change? I watch meaningful and impactful interactions with kind, caring people in service here and I seek to copy them even in the few months I have been here. And I know that following their example is going to make a huge difference as I move forward.  So choosing to be around the right people is a primary place to start defining your place of service -real life, aware, thoughtful, kind people. Are they living successful lives with some degree of calm certainty? How are they doing that? Are the activities you choose to do nurturing you and expanding your awareness and supporting your work in the world? That’s a lot to get from a day’s worth of living. 

How might I be a service? You can go deeper into your place of service at any age. Look around at how you are helping people right now. It may be that your support of others is simply through positive thinking and ever-deepening contribution to others.

What do I need to do to make all that happen? 

If I spend contemplative time visualizing peace everywhere on the planet, I can work with communities of people or herds of animals or individuals.

I get to imagine what clear, sparkly water looks like and feels like and that it is everywhere. I get to envision forests growing safely without the destruction of a fire. I’ve been a vegetarian for 50 years so I’m not a part of that process of killing animals for food.

I will envision my life as projecting positive, inclusive energy full of health and balance.  

Each of us has a place of expression. My physical plane seeks some answers through self-healing. I have my eyesight to work on and not worry about.

Where do you need to change? What do you need to change?

Be creative in how you expand your vision and make it become a reality. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

Expand your vision of what you see for yourself. and raise your expectation of what is possible.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • How do you envision the survival of the planet? Become more aware of what is happening and create your own very strong spiritual practice focused at least in part on the survival of our planet.

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Add More Elements To You Spiritual Practice

I am drumming more in my spiritual practice since my flute playing is less than stellar with my arthritic fingers. I use several of my rattles to bless my work and send energy to heal my body. I make up songs to heal my eyes.

I like to do my spiritual practice as the sun rises and sets.  I have a ceremony before I sleep to focus on releasing and restoration. I could do better about offering gratitude for my meals. I will make up a song of focus for my computer and the ideas it helps me express.

I haven’t done this yet but I will start thanking my two plants for their wholing energy when I water them.

How will you expand your spiritual practice?

Water Meditation

 I live in the middle of the country in Kansas and have no real way to do a water meditation in person so I will have to find a recording that speaks to that particular form. Sit quietly and listen to the innate rhythm and flow of the tides as the water and the waves help us find a soft, ongoing, nurturing sound. Find a water sound that you like and begin to meditate with it and see what journeys it takes you on. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Do The Work

As I come to the end of my eighth Qigong class, I realize that I am not doing the work.  Part of it is that I can’t stand up very well – yet. But the other part is that I am not doing the work.  I’m not practicing.

Where are you falling behind simply because you are not practicing or have not added it to your daily routine? Rearrange your day until you find the right sequence.

Your Body’s Response to Fear

I’m experiencing a shortness of breath and my PT facilitator Maggie said she noticed it when my hip replacement surgery was scheduled. Hummm.  I have never felt less in control of my own destiny as I do now when I have to depend on so many others to get me ready and get me to the hospital and back again. I have been an independent woman the majority of my life and I don’t like how it feels to have that not be within my capacity anymore.  I need to make some creative adjustments both in the form of self-empowerment and beliefs. I’m not sure where to begin but recognizing the need is a good place to begin my exploration.

Self-Care

I am so well cared for here at Evergreen, things I can no longer do for myself are done for me but I have to make certain I do my part – exercise that only I can provide for my body, the food choices that only I can make, the rest that only I can give – these are still totally my responsibility.  Don’t give up your role in caring for the well-being of your body. It is your temple for you to live in.  Care for it wisely. 

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

Try New Things

What do you want to do in the coming year that you’ve never done before? It may range from trying a new food to going rock climbing.  It’s good to experiment. It’s good to try new things. 

I’ve recently begun to read Joe Dispenza’s book Becoming Supernatural and it is going to change my life. It is taking me in a direction I never dreamed possible.  I’ve had the book for one year but now is when I need it.

I have a role to play here at Evergreen and that is unfolding.  I am eager to participate more. 

What new things do you want to explore? What new paths will you go down?  Keep trying new things, it makes life an adventure. 

Explore Other Cultures

There is a fairly diverse population among the staff here at Evergreen. Two people have come over from Africa in their teens one of them worked her way through college as a long-distance runner. I have been exposed to more diversity in population and cultures in the last three months since I have been here than I have in my entire 90-year life. I’m loving it. 

Where do you go to expose yourself to diversity?  As a young girl I remember having dinner at a neighbor of my grandparents and we ate squirrel. Only in later years did I realize that was what they could afford to eat. 

In New York City I had a Jewish friend invite several of us for Passover where she explained the ceremony. But other than eating at restaurants that serve culturally specific food I have not done much exploring and have had no chance to get to know people from other cultures. How will you broaden your world view today?

What Do You Miss Doing?

I used to walk all over New York City, now I use a walker. I used to garden, now I have two philodendron I need help watering. Music has always been in my life. With my arthritic fingers making my native flute playing a bit odd, I have turned to my drums and my voice to add music to my spiritual practice. But I keep the elements I love in my life in some form.

We let slide all manner of favorite nurturing things in order to make our living or raise our children or…

Get that old band instrument out of the closet and play it again. Find time to do things that you used to love to do. Whatever you miss doing, find time to do it again now.

One of the big lessons I learned about moving into a smaller place is to start with an empty space the size of the space you are moving to and put in it only what you really want to keep around you. The rest you leave behind. Sometimes that is hard to do but necessary. 

We can apply that principle to the agenda you choose for yourself for the coming year. If you were to begin again with a clean slate, what top three things would you put on it? 

I would put exploring and writing about what I learn in order to clarify it for myself and others. Oddly my spirit practice is third on my list but when I was downsizing, it was my spiritual items that I had to cut down on the most. 

I realize that there are two vital elements to my life – my spiritual practice and my writing which are deeply entwined with leaning. That’s good to know. 

Make a list of what is important for you and prioritize them. Are you doing what you really want to do? How do you need to change to make room for your priorities? Start with a clean slate not a full slate and consciously write what you want in your life.

Love Your Work

Life is too short to not do work you love. We spend a huge portion of our time at work. We deserve to have it be something we love to do. 

It is very important that you really like your job because that energy shows through in the smallest thing you do. 

Do you need a new job? Look around for what that might be.  Are you even in the right field? 

Ask for an information interview from some in a field you are interested in.  I did that in New York City – asked for an introduction to film distribution. The sole proprietor had a great time telling me about the work he loved and I learned that it was not a field for me. Network to find what interests you and what skills and talents are required to be successful at it.

Don’t settle, keep doing only work you love.  

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

Create a Nightly Ritual

There are several steps to creating a night ritual.  One is to offer gratitude for what has unfolded during the day. When you reflect back over the events that unfolded, you can see the gifts and the lessons and the insights it brought. Contemplate the new possibilities they suggest.

I always set up protection for the night. Mine is in the form of a song and I also experience myself being tucked into a transformative sphere which not only protects but transforms any negative energy I might emit or encounter during the night. 

And of course I clear that sphere once I’m awake in the morning and set it up as protection for the new day.

I do refresh the protective sphere in my room each morning because there is a lot of traffic in an out during the day.

I am now up early enough to watch the sun rise and play my drum and sing greeting songs to the directions and offer my services. How will you expand the rituals you use for opening and closing your day?

I Got My Drums Back!

I had given away a drum that I made 40 years ago two times – It just came back to me which is perfect. I didn’t know I get back my big blue djembe drum which is a pretty funny thing to own in a nursing home. They have already suggested drumming circles but I’ve never even been to one. Since my arthritic fingers are making my flute playing less than delightful, I can certainly improve my drum playing. The drum that I like the best is the frame drum. It has no ties in back. A long time ago women were not allowed to have drums so they use their grain sieves as drums which is why it’s different than other ones. You use your thumb to hold the frame. I can play it softly and look out the window at the world. I have six drums in a collection as a resident of a long-term care facility.  But the world wanted me to have a way to celebrate life and I have it. 

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.

Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.

Because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

— Rumi

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Build Your Leadership Skills

As I watch the mess the US Republicans are making, I once again see a self-focused group who are only interested in power. 

I understand when people are self-focused because of survival but I do not understand the need for power. It is an ego driven need and if I were guessing I’d say part of it was a need to bolster their ego because of feelings of insecurity. And I guess I also have to leave room for it to be part of a “mean streak.”

Examine your willingness to compromise. If you are in a leadership position – in work or in your family – do you listen to those you lead? Do you encourage them to contribute? Do you help expand the ideas they bring to the table? Do you take time to explain the strengths and weaknesses so everyone in the group can learn?

Strong leaders help build other strong leaders by encouragement and mentoring. How are your leadership skills? 

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

Expand Your View Of World Community

I have not been around this diverse a population since I walked the streets of New York City and even there, nationalities had a tendency to congregate in their own neighborhoods. But here at Evergreen I have met several people who came from Africa in their teens and a nurse/executive who says she is the only Asian, named Nancy. One Med Aid plays the viola. Another put herself through college doing cross-country running. Our chef started out in finance and after ten day was told to go find another field.  His brother owned a restaurant so he found his calling. 

There are so many stories from so many cultural backgrounds. I have expanded my view and experience of our world community.

What happens when we do that? We begin to see the lives of others from a more inclusive viewpoint.  We learn of the richness of many cultural heritages and we experience ourselves as members of the planet rather than of a specific country or race or religion. And once we raise our gaze and become focused on the survival of our planet home, we unite in caring for it.  

What changes for you when you experience yourself as a citizen of the planet? How does your responsibility change?  Get to work on that.

=== DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. 
– Mother Teresa

Pay attention to the ripples you send out.  Fill them with compassion and love. 

===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 / Googleand the
Deeper Song Website

===CARA’S CORNER===

 I Had Surgery Last Week

I’m not going to write a blow by blow but I am sitting here at my computer at 4AM having just taken my third anti-bacterial soap shower and I am dressed and ready to go in an hour for my hip replacement. It is 5 AM and I am the first surgery patient.

I have sent energy ahead as have a few of my reiki friends, to the space, to the doctor and staff who help him and for my body’s response to this adjustment as well. And I get to trust.  An aide will come get me in an hour. She will be given a packet of information by the nurse to convey to the hospital staff. A van will come pick me up and load me and my wheelchair “Pearl” into the back. It is 33 degrees so I had a warm poncho I got in Mexico years ago and lap robe. I will spend overnight in the hospital tonight.

I have to trust a lot of people to do their jobs really well. And they will.

Later: I stayed in the hospital six days.  My big discovery was that I’m going to sleep in a recliner from here on. They had one waiting for me at Evergreen.  So I am tucked in, sitting in my wheelchair at my desk back at my computer again. The hip surgery went fine – it was just other things like my oxygen levels that kept me in the hospital for a while. And I can stand up straighter than I ever have. All is well in my world. Cara

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

The Year Ahead

There is fog on the road ahead. I do not know what it will reveal.

There is fog on the road ahead. I do not know what it will reveal. There may be a choice to make and what I choose will determine my destination. There may be a detour I take to go exploring. But I will keep going. 

The is fog on the road ahead. I do not know what it will reveal. There may be a choice to make and what I choose will determine my destination. There may be a detour I take to go exploring. But I will keep going. I am an explorer and I am an adventurer. Bring it on!

Cara Lumen, December, 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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