Search Results for: Start Where You Stand

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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My Books

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.

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

   

How Has Your Path Widened With Opportunity?

Living Our Deeper Song

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

You know the saying “When one door shuts another one opens.” So how has your path widened with opportunity lately and have you even noticed?

Slowly and gradually give yourself more space to move in and you may also discover all sorts of interesting off shoots that invite you to go exploring. You always have a choice. But first you have to notice what changes have presented themselves and what you want to do about them.

I’m a writer and I have dry macular degeneration which means I am gradually losing my eyesight. There is no known cure.  I’m working on it metaphysically but I also know I have to work on my own belief system of what is possible and what I deserve.

There is a reason that I have been given this opportunity (I’m not going to call it a challenge) because I have some serious work to do and my calling is to share what I learn with you. And I have begun to find ways to adjust to this new opportunity.   

When we hit a bump in the road one of the first things we ask is “why me?” And if you think about it you will ask “What is my lesson here?” 

If I were to make a guess about my own situation it would be that this is a really strong challenge that I must move through and share my process with you in order to encourage you, perhaps give you ideas for your own solutions, and maybe even alleviate some fear as I hopefully and successfully move through this process.

So my first largest lesson is to trust that I have the strength to work through it. I know I do. I’m a very creative person and I will find creative new ways to work around or with this “opportunity” as I choose to call it.

Because so many people have written me in response to my series of shares on downsizing and moving into long-term care facilities, I know that sharing this process around my eyes will offer some solutions and encouragement to others. 

What new opportunities presented themselves to you in the form of what could be viewed as a challenge? And how do you plan to move through it? How has your path widened with opportunity? Where is it leading you?

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I look closely at the doors that open and the opportunities that unfold before me. I go exploring.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

• Sit down and make a list of the opportunities that have presented themselves in the past year.  
• Choose one or two that really resonate and go exploring. 

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Follow The Nudges

I was never much of a dreamer. My opportunities seemed to open up spontaneously as I enthusiastically and perhaps impulsively took a lot of different classes in   New York City.That impulsive, in-the- moment pattern has continued most of my life with seemingly impulsive but on-target choices.

I’m not as much of a dreamer as I am an impulsive responder. And I think I’m an easy mark because I love to learn. 

So I’ve really never had a grand plan or an unfulfilled dream. I resonate strongly in the moment of choice and follow my inner calling. I guess that makes me more of an adventurer than a planner.  

I never had a dream. And I’ve been handed a great many positive things in my life. College was simply an expectation. For that matter, so was getting married and having children. But then I hit the 80s as a single woman in New York City and began adventuring. That’s when I became a metaphysician.

And even now I trust my life to simply unfold. I follow my nudges and hunches and go adventuring. 

Do I have a dream or a plan? Not at 90 I don’t but I do recognize the path is opening and I have a strong calling to follow it. And I didn’t expect that to happen at my age. But here I go exploring – again. 

What Do Pagans Believe In?

“Pagans believe that nature is sacred and that the natural cycles of birth, growth and death observed in the world around us carry profoundly spiritual meanings. Human beings are seen as part of nature, along with other animals, trees, stones, plants and everything else that is of this earth.”

I am a pagan.

“Pagans have been broadly defined as anyone involved in any religious act, practice, or ceremony which is not Christian. Jews and Muslims also use the term to refer to anyone outside their religion.”

That still makes me a pagan, a follower of nature and a caretaker of our planet.

Are you a pagan?

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Set Up Protection

I now live in a long-term care facility. That means there is a lot of unbalanced energy coming from the residents. I set up protection around me and strengthen it even day. Each morning, I clear out any negative energy that was released during the night through my dreams and sleep. I set up a transformative sphere that keeps negative energy out and transforms my own energy to keep them positive.

I can use the Transformative Sphere in any situation – from being alone to being in a group of people. The Transformative Sphere is there in an instant to transform any negative thoughts or energy you come across.

Offer gratitude for the protection and proceed along your path.

Be aware of the times you need protection. You can put it up in a second.

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

What Do You Need To Release?

The Winter Solstice December 21 was the beginning of a time of release that extends to March 21st. This is a time of release, to let go of the old self, and to prepare for new beginnings—the new growth of spring.

What beliefs do you need to examine and which ones do you need to release?

Since I’m no longer living alone and now have this great group of support people around me, I need to  change my beliefs and intentions around how I want to participate in the world now. This is a perfect time to let go of the old and to bring in the new.

What do you want to bring into your life? What choices and habits do you need to change for that to happen?

I need to be less anti-social. I have recently begun to sit in my wheelchair in my doorway and speak to anyone who goes by. It makes me feel a tad social and helps me to know who is here too. 

What do you need to question? What do you need to release? Do that.

What Is Missing From Your Life And What Steps Will You Take To Correct It?

Sometimes you don’t know you’re missing something in your life until it shows up again. I thought I had an abundance of friends with whom I talked on Zoom on a regular basis until I moved and suddenly had a great deal of in-person interaction with vibrant younger people in deep service on the staff here. It was this dramatic change that made me realize what I had been missing in my life. It has brought out a different aspect of me that I haven’t shown for quite a while, as in I’m kind of wise-cracking funny sometimes.

Fixing something is not as hard as figuring out what is missing in the first place because things just gradually disappear or are replaced in your life and you don’t notice they’re gone.

I had several things I should leave out – like watching too many reruns of Diagnosis Murder and Murder She Wrote and playing Spider Solitaire. I have not done any of those in my eight weeks over here. And I’ve been a lot more productive online writing on my computer. And I’ve had more in-person conversations than I’ve had in the past 13 years.

I think the hard part is that whatever is left gradually changes and you’ve made subtle adjustments all the time as it just snuck away. If something left abruptly, you would probably notice it. 

I can truthfully say that physical activity was pretty much missing from my previous life but now that I have access to the recumbent bike in physical therapy. That’s a three day a week bit of exercise that I get to do. And I’m counting sitting in my wheelchair Pearl and exercising my legs to rock back and forth but I want to increase my daily practice – by quite a bit. I am the only guy that can make that happen.

You get busy and don’t take time to see your friends. Or you make a new friend and leave some of your old friends behind because you don’t have time for all of it.

Life is like a river flowing. It moves around and over but progress is up to you because you always have choice in your life and the things that are important to you. Do that.

What is missing from your life and what steps will you take to correct it?

How Do You Offer Comfort?

I actually have no business writing this because I don’t think I’m particularly good at offering comfort to anyone. I walked this world alone for far too much to know how to accept comfort let alone give it. That’s because I know that my response to my feelings are totally up to me. So I guess my version of comfort would be to help people find their own inner strength to keep going. Not to say “I’m sorry” but more to say “How can I help you regain your balance?”

That’s an interesting idea actually because people are given a problem and are looking to regain their balance so they can continue on with their life. What steps would I take to help someone regain their balance? 

I don’t have a clue. Because on one hand the person has to have time to grieve what she’s gone through. To help someone in grief is to help them regain their balance and tread a new path without whatever has gone away. So I suggest that in a very gentle fashion you help someone look to the path ahead and make some choices around how they want to continue.

I haven’t been in that situation many times in my life. How would you like to the comforted?  Do that for someone else.

Mindful Eating

I don’t eat mindfully but I wish I would. There was a scene in The Wedding Planner where Jennifer Lopez who obviously lived alone, very mindfully brought her TV tray to the couch, and carefully laid her napkin in her lap and set about to eat alone. She was a wedding planner making people happy but she was also taking care of herself even in her aloneness. She was treating herself with love and dignity.

On the other hand, I continue to watch the alarming and depressing news as I eat. I have a better choice and I need to make it. I will turn and look out of my very large windows to see what changes I can observe in nature I can see. That’s pretty simple – actually turn my view in a new direction. Will you join me? 

The People We Serve

I recently had the most fascinating conversation with a nurse from the agency who works for the jail in Jackson County, Missouri which is a tough neighborhood in Kansas City. She has worked there for five years and is the most no-nonsense woman I have met in my life. She is young and seasoned and likes working there because the doctors give her a fair amount of autonomy.

It was interesting to hear her talk about people repeating their offenses simply because they were mean. That’s an interesting take on it.  I don’t know anyone who is mean and I’m glad I don’t. I guess the opposite of mean is kind. I started to write that I’m too self-focused to turn and be kind but I have certainly been open to meaningful conversations with many of the staff here and in filling my own openers and curiosity I am undoubtedly filling a need of theirs.

Are you aware of how you serve others? It may be as simple as your presence with your upbeat view of life and your motivating work ethic. Know that your mere presence has an effect on others. Be a light in the world.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

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

Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice is a major turning point. The explanation I needed to hear and pass along was in Nick Polizzi’s newsletter. (Founder of The Sacred Science)

“Ancient cultures like the Egyptians, the Maori, the Maya, the Celts, the Druids, the Inca and so many others – all celebrated Solstice. 

In the Chinese Taoist tradition, winter solstice is considered the most yin (dark / feminine / damp) day of the calendar. Energy comes to a momentary point of pause, before it gives birth to yang (light / masculine / heat).

Yin and yang form the basis of Chinese medicine and according to this school of wisdom, one cannot exist without the other. These two seemingly opposite forces are intimately connected and complementary.”

Winter Solstice is a time of deep change. What do you want to create in the coming year? How are you looking to expand your place of service in the unfolding new year? What changes will you make at this energetic point in time?

My current path is new and unfolding. The person who gave me a shower today is James and he came over from Africa at the age of 18. He likes to listen to African music and I showed him my Kalimba (thumb piano) and Djembe (drum) and made a new friend.

My path widens. And deepens.

===DEEPER SONG DISCOVERIES===

Insights and Resources to Explore

The Top 10 Guided Meditations of 2022 from Mindful Magazine

===GUIDANCE FROM OUR COSMIC COUNSELORS ===

Listen Beyond the Voice Within 

How Can We Deepen Our Place of Service?

My Journey to The Cosmic Counselors:

I find myself in the misty circle in the center of the forest. I stand in a circle of light workers.  We are there to be placed in service. There is a humming noise. It is the sound of the gentle flapping of the wings of a lot of butterflies. They fly around us. We understand that we are to take flight and go beyond the familiar to seek our place of service. We are to climb the nearby mountain and view the entire valley. We are to contemplate on our choices and select one or two to explore to see where we most resonate and how we might serve. We make our decision based on what we observe, what we feel, and what our inner guidance tells us.

It may be an entirely new place of service or it may be a deeper expression of what you were doing now. Explore the possibilities before you make your choice. We, as butterflies in service, understand and fly off to find our next adventure.

I find myself back in my Sacred Garden. The Directors sit by my side. “What did you discover,” he asks. “That I have found my next place of service – the staff here at Evergreen. And that form is unfolding. I am to follow my inner guidance and go exploring to find the most impactful place and way that I can serve.” My journey ends. 

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Participate

We had a Christmas party for the residents here. Many people had a staff member bring them. Maggie brought me. I met more staff – the manager of the website to whom I immediately offered to write a couple of articles and the CEO who asked if his daughter, who is into crystals, could come visit me. I guess I’m getting known for my different ways. 

My lessons are two-fold.  Do you own thing and reach out in service where you feel called.

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

In Honor of Winter

In the depth of winter, 
I finally learned 
that within me there lay 
an invincible summer.

― Albert Camus

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

Expanding Awareness

The Backpack Journey

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

===CARA’S CORNER===

My New Helper

My newest helper is a wheelchair. She is sleek and black and tells me her name is Pearl. She was measured to fit me and she has a bag on the back to carry the foot holders. And she is going to be a great new place for me to sit during the day. She’s very comfortable. And she will take me on adventures too. I mentioned to a nurse named Stephanie that I wanted to have some flowers for her and she said “We have lots of flowers around, let me go look for some.”  She soon came back with a perfect purple fake flower and promptly put it on the front of Pearl’s arm.  It is a jaunty effect. 

So now I have another friend and helper to get me where I need to go.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

The Helper

Help comes in all forms. We just have to learn to recognize it and accept it. 

Help comes in all forms. We just have to learn to recognize it and accept it. It may be an idea or something physical that helps us move forward.

Help comes in all forms. We just have to learn to recognize it and accept it. It may be an idea or something physical that helps us move forward. Stay open to the pathways that the Universe opens and go exploring.

-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.

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

Do You Have Moral Clarity?

Living Our Deeper Song

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

The reporter was talking about how in the January 6 committee, the women were the ones who stepped in to report the misdeeds. The consensus was that women had a greater sense of moral clarity than the men did. I stopped to consider what it looked like and felt like to have moral clarity.

Moral clarity is about knowing right from wrong. We each have our own moral values. Where do they come from? How do they evolve within us?

I am watching many Republican politicians say one thing on a personal level and expressing an entirely different opinion to the news. They totally defy what is showing up as truth. 

What makes some people recognize and talk about a moral truth and others brush over it in denial? A lot of it in the US seems to be political ambition.

And so it is the women who have reported on the gross immorality that had taken place in the United States government under Trump.

Morality is about knowing right from wrong. The problem with the US situation is that those male politicians who know the difference between right and wrong are consciously choosing only what will forward their own political ambitions. And this is causing a crisis in the United States politician because Republicans seem unwilling to acknowledge the truth.

Too many people in the States are overlooking our truth or history. Others are trying to eradicate that truth from schools and laws and books in an effort to what? Eradicate history in this country by not telling how immoral the white population in particular was. 

How do you gain moral clarity? You look for your answers in a variety of resources. Learn about a topic from a variety of resources. Get clear about your own moral code. Be clear about what you believe and make certain that it is founded in truth.

When women stepped forward for the January 6th Committee, they had great moral clarity about what was right and what was wrong and their testimony blew the lid off the January 6th Committee reporting.

Be very clear about what is right and what is wrong. Develop your own strong sense of moral clarity and live by it.

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I will work hard to stay on the right side of moral clarity 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS

• Look closely at what you see as right and wrong and make sure it is based on truth.
• Keep strengthening your moral sense of what is right and wrong.
• Live by those standards.

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Path Corrections at the Winter Solstice

December 21st is Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the beginning of a new season. It is a good time to make corrections to your path.

First see how your path has changed. With hip replacement surgery scheduled, my goals have changed – walking better is now at the top of the list.

Notice what new doors have opened and which ones you wish to walk through. There is a whole new group of healers to work with in some form that is gradually revealing itself. I have to go exploring to find what path suits me the best right now.

What has changed and what new opportunities are opening up new possibilities? Examine your choices to male certain they are still rewarding and fulfilling ones. 

Keep exploring!

Give Yourself Permission To Follow Your Heart 

Sometimes we get so caught up in our worldly existence that we forget to follow our heart. Have you stopped recently to talk to your heart? To know what it wants for you next and know how that feels? Do you know what it’s telling you to do?

Perhaps write it down on a blank sheet of paper and begin to prioritize by simply listing your passions. Then look over the list and begin to prioritize them. What did you discover? How do you need to rearrange your time? What new choices do you need to make?

It helped me to identify a large umbrella that holds a lot of my activity. It’s been tricky to identify because I love to write, I like the mental stimulation. It is all of those things. And probably more.

I have a dry macular degeneration and am gradually working with diminished eyesight. So I really have to understand what lies beneath this need and desire to write to see how I can continue to address it even if the form has to change. 

What does your heart want? What does your heart need? And what new forms can you find to express that in?

Put aside the world you have created and sit with your heart. Make certain that you listen to it. Make certain that you express your heart in all that you do. How will that change what you have in your life right now? Give yourself permission to follow your heart and do some rearranging of your life choices. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Being In Nature Is Healing

I haven’t been outside very much in the last two years so it was really great when Nathan, one of my care partners, put me in my wheelchair and wheeled me out into the garden that is actually right outside my window. There is a koi pond and Master Gardeners take care of the garden. I told Nathan that anytime he had free time, I would go outside. I mentioned that to Stephanie, a nurse’s aide and the next day she came and took me out too! I got here with two types of philodendron but maybe this next summer I can get a red leaf coleus for summer and bring it inside in the fall. Do you have enough nature in your life? Go buy a plant and talk to it…

===OUTER WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

On Being Resourceful

Imaginative, intuitive, creative, bright – being resourceful is all of those things. It means thinking outside the box. It means looking around corners, it means exploring new paths. Sometimes it means taking chances. Go explore the unexpected or the unusual. It is that moment when you draw on your inner wisdom, your practical experience and your free-wheeling imagination with a deep knowing and a healthy amount of trust in order to make a decision and try something new or different or unexpected. 

How often do you do that? Are you an adventurous type who goes exploring at every opportunity? This is not about bravery, it’s more about having fun and trusting your instincts and insights.

Notice when you respond from your inner wisdom and learn to trust it as a wise guide and creative innovator.

Being resourceful is about using what you have at hand to move yourself forward in a unique and unexpected way. Do more of that and see how your life changes. 

Choosing A Life Of Service

Service takes many forms. It can mean helping people who are helpless and it can mean helping people who are strong. It’s your choice, your place of service.

In the 80s when I became a Reiki master teacher we stood in a circle and were asked to share how we would use Reiki in the world. The person before me said, “I’m going to teach all the poor people.” I knew then what I was to do. I said, “I am going to help people who are already flying to fly higher,” And so I have. 

Choose your place of service – helping people reach their own potential, helping people overcome a setback, helping the environment or a cause. Go exploring to see what calls to you and then do the work.

On-Going Learning

Over the past seven years, I have depended heavily on The Shift Network for the on-going education that I wish to receive. Beside their paid classes, they have free summits on all sorts of topics that allow you to explore a topic and make informed choices. I have extensively studied Shamanism and Qigong. I have studied the Native American Flute and the drum and sound healing. As I understand the topics better, I found other teachers I wanted to study with.

Sounds True is another resource for interesting classes and books. I need to remember to explore TED Talks more regularly because there is great information there. They give away a lot of free information in order to draw you into their work. Go exploring more to find new topics to explore. 

My problem is that I don’t know what I want to learn next. I looked into sound healing but it’s not a deep calling for me although I have some tuning folks and use sound in my spiritual practice. 

What topic do you want to explore next? What do you want to learn next? Do some research and find some free introductory classes to take you more deeply into a topic so that you know what you want to commit to learn next. 

I love to learn. I hope I never stop. Right now, I don’t know what I want to learnnext so I guess I’ll just wait until something knocks on my door and calls out to me. Keep exploring, there are great learning opportunities out there. Get on Google and find them. 

Be Present At Work

I become so absorbed in writing that I disappear into my work. It is rewarding, exciting, stimulating and satisfying. I totally lose myself in the process of creating and capturing and responding to an idea I want to explore. 

How do you feel when you are at work? Are you fully present? Are you having a good time? Do you leave your work with a feeling of accomplishment? Do you leave with a feeling of satisfaction at work well done? 

Perhaps pause before you leave your place of employment to offer gratitude for being able to do work that is rewarding and satisfying and provides a good quality of life for you and your family. 

If you can do none of those things, you deserve to find yourself new employment. 

First list your passions – those that interest you and have called to you throughout your life. What kind of profession allows you to work with those passions? I have volunteered to write newsletters for assorted organizations for free because I love to organize ideas into written form. I have written radio content. I have written television commercials. I have written poetry and books and podcasts and newsletters. Writing is at the core of the majority of my jobs. But I’m also a really good organizer so sometimes I have had jobs that call upon that skill more than any other. 

Identify the skills they give you the most pleasure. Identify the skills that are the most marketable. And keep an eye on your overarching passion as you find the perfect place of employment. 

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Shared Vison

I’m working on my vision for the world and I’m having a hard time because there sure are a lot of places that need help. 

I think my vision should start with the planet or we won’t have a place to live. One solution would include eliminating all the fossil fuels and using the many remaining replacements that have already appeared. In my vision I will raise the consciousness of everyone to individually take mindful steps to care for our planet by way of the products we use, what we recycle, how we care for the earth around us. So raising our collective consciousness about preserving the planet would be high on my list.

Then we have the people who hate other people. The vicious eruption of hatred in the US is my first thought because that’s where I live. But there is hatred and suppression going on in way too many places in the world. I don’t understand evil or purposefully doing harm to another so I think my vision will include an opening of hearts and a sense of a peaceful world community. That’s a big one. And it’s going take some doing even to imagine that. But it is our imagination and visioning that are the core creator of the creative process to make change happen. 

So part of my process needs to be actual visioning. I have to visualize a peaceful, whole, healed, vibrant planet. I have to envision people coexisting peacefully. I have to envision those people mindfully caring for the planet and for the animals on the planet and for each other. And somehow I have to envision everyone caring about the well-being of everyone else. 

If our imagination is one of the ways we create change, what kind of world are you imagining? 

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

Nothing Happens Without A Purpose

We may not like this, but nothing happens without a purpose. It is a lesson, a door opening, an opportunity knocking, but whatever it is, it is something we need to examine and consider and explore and learn from.

And sometimes if we don’t get the lesson, the lessons just keep coming back at us. It’s taken me three years of semi-isolation that included two years of gradually increasing physical impairment to get that I needed to move into long-term care. That was a long lesson. When I got here, it took me about a day to figure out that my new friends were among the staff and they were younger people who were joyously and deeply in service and it turned my life around. So some lessons take a while but others can be pretty instantaneous. 

I think pretty much everything is a lesson. A casual encounter with someone who inspires you and motivates you to take a next step. A meaningful relationship that shows you how to be steady and compassionate and caring. A failed project is a wonderful lesson. It frees you up to open new doors and have new experiences. 

I had to get pummeled before I made the decision to make this move. But that was because I didn’t get the message sooner even as my physical condition began to change.

My previous major cross-country moves were all done quite impulsively and the decisions were made in a matter of minutes if not seconds. The need for this move across the street has been beating me on the head for over a year. 

Nothing happens without a purpose, we just have to get the message. What message has been trying to get to you?

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

Expanding Awareness

Journey to the Sacred Feminine

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

===CARA’S CORNER===

What Are Your Expectations For Aging?

Granted this is long-term care but in talking to the staff, they can only identify one other resident that is looking for mental stimulation. I will try to meet him. Why do we give up our minds as we age?

One of the reasons I got so isolated over a year or two was there was no one interesting to talk to. It was a senior community and I was the only person being active in worldly things. I had one good in-person friend who was the social worker but the rest of my friends were all online and we still meet regularly on Zoom. Therefore I had only one person to have an in-person informative conversation with, so I unknowingly and gradually became quite isolated.

So why are all these old people sitting around being old? What happened that they gave up their personhood in order to just be old? 

Is that an expectation we hold for ourselves? Is it our expectation we hold for others? Is the way of old people to sit around and just be old? Uninterested in much? Never learning anything new? 

Now I admit that I am behind on some technical things because I don’t have occasion to use them. And now I have this eyesight thing that makes it all a bit tricky. Do we get behind because we stop exploring or stop pushing ourselves a bit? Probably. I think aging is like any other point in our life, we have to keep pushing ourselves and stretching ourselves and exploring and trying new things. 

I’m one of five people in this whole community that will keep up their maintenance physical therapy. Five people out of 30 on this wing. I watch my suite-mate sit in her wheelchair all day and make no effort to restore her strength as she watches reruns of 50-year-old game shows and western shows. She refuses to go to physical therapy, she allows herself to be lifted in and out of bed. She’s quite a bit younger than I am. 

We have to do the work. We have to do our version of whatever it takes to keep moving, to keep our brains agile, to maintain our relevance in the world. 

I maintain my feeling of relevance by writing this newsletter. I write it because it helps me learn what I need to learn next and it opens my heart to share it with you. I don’t exactly see myself taking any more online classes because the money is no longer there but I sure will find other ways to learn.

What are your expectations for aging? Are you raising the bar high enough? 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

On Raising The Bar

I have to set my own goals. I have to raise my own bar. I am the one in charge of my destiny. 

I have to set my own goals. I have to raise my own bar. I am the one in charge of my destiny. Do I expect enough of myself? Do I continue to challenge myself? Do I continue to expect the best for myself? 

I have to set my own goals. I have to raise my own bar. I am the one in charge of my destiny. Do I expect enough of myself? Do I continue to challenge myself? Do I continue to expect the best for myself? I am the only one who can do that for me, I must do the work.

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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