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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