Search Results for: my three words for 2017

The Three-Year Promise

May 18, 2017 By Cara Lumen

We overestimate what we can do in one year and underestimate what we can do in three years. What do you want in three years? Are your goals about work, or relationships or health? Are you thinking big enough?

What do you want to have accomplished in three years?

Stop. What just popped into your head when you read that? What do you want to have accomplished in three years? That thought you just had. That’s it. That’s what you work on.

It doesn’t need to be particularly specific, but keep that goal in mind as we explore some ideas to make your goal a reality.

I was totally surprised to find that my three-year goal was that I wanted to recover some of my physical ability. Being a metaphysician, I don’t want to buy into the common idea that as we age our body becomes less effective. However, that’s hard because I live in a senior facility filled with walkers and stooped-over people on oxygen.

I work to see and feel my body as strong and supportive. But I have both inner and outer work to do and beliefs to change and things to learn. So I choose as my three-year goal that my body will be stronger than it is now.

What did you choose?

What would that look like?

What would that feel like?

You gotta have a plan

The first thing I realized was that I need to have a plan. A plan that I’ll stick to and improve on for three years – steps I’m willing to take, goals I truly want to achieve. I need to formulate a plan that’ll help me achieve the desired results.

You gotta have determination

You need to want this goal – a lot.

I have a friend who is sick. There’s stuff wrong with her but she is not helping. She’s not eating. She’s not moving her body. She’s not helping herself. This passiveness has been a pattern in her life. Not pushing through. Not taking charge of her own destiny.

I can’t help her. No one can. She is totally responsible for the outcome of this opportunity in her life.

As are we all.

What your life looks like now is a direct result of your choices and actions. What choices are you making in your life that are manifesting in what you see before you? What do you need to change – about yourself – about your actions? What choices will you make in order to achieve your three-year goal?

Make a plan you can follow

I gave this idea of a three-year goal a lot of thought because my natural tendency is to work my mind rather than move my body. So I had to create a plan I would follow, either through determination or trickery.

I choose the number 21. It takes 21 days to change a habit. I would do whatever form of movement I chose for 21 minutes. I don’t think I’m going to do 21 different forms of movement, but you get the picture.

Trick yourself. I can add 12 (the number 21 reversed) leg lifts every time I stand at my kitchen sink. I watch The View every day and for one 15-minute segment I will stretch and move. I walk each day but may count 210 steps or walk for 12 minutes. I could climb 21 steps 21 times. (Doubtful). There are 16 steps in the hall by my mailbox so even one trip up and down would be a positive move.

Dancing is a sneaky way to exercise. Turn on some music and sing and dance with great enthusiasm. Get creative. Sneak in small steps.

I have discovered that the most productive time to sneak in a new habit is during television commercials. When I use that time to move my body, during one hour I may get as much as 15 minutes of movement tucked in. I could also use commercial breaks to dust or put stuff away or tidy my kitchen.

Whether you sit in your chair and stretch, or get up and lift some weights, or take some other action toward your goal, look for the hidden down-time moments that are organically built into your day.

If my three-year goal was around relationship, I would work very hard on changing me.

If my three-year goal was focused on a project, I would mind-map broad steps, divide them into manageable segments and begin.

Listen to your inner voice

As I make these physical choices, I have to learn to listen to the messages of my body. I have to learn to give it what it needs in the form and amount that it needs. And I get to notice whose voice it is that says “do three more steps” and to ignore the voice that says “too hard.” They are both me, but I need to find the balance between pushing too hard so that I get discouraged and pushing just right so that I feel and see progress.

Check your progress

The only way I know to track my progress is to record my starting stats. Then I record my progress monthly. That progress may be in mental attitude, or in actual physical change. Decide upon the signals you can read that will let you become aware of your progress. Take time to reflect on this progress and make adjustments that will help you get more results.

I do a self-awareness check on my birthday. I check in with myself at the end of the year. I am also reflective at the time of the New Moon and at Full Moon. Pick what works for you but do record your progress so you can see it and you can tweak your plan.

Visualize your results every day

Each day in your quiet inner time, visualize how you will feel at the end of the three years when you have surpassed your own expectations. It’s awesome for me to remember the freedom my body used to afford me, the adventures we went on together. I want that back. When I visualize, I feel that way again and it inspires and motivates me. Your emotions are a better indicator of success than what things look like.

Allow room for change

Your goals may change as you change. As my body improves I may change my vision, my goals, even the action steps I choose.

What is your three-year vision? Will you begin working on it today? What’s your plan?

To Sind a Deeper Song Consider:

My Three Words for 2017

What Do You Need to Leave Behind

What Seeds Do You Allow to Grow in Your Garden?

The Shedding of Your Skin

Clean Your Inside Home

Why We Are Afraid of Change

Be the Story you Want to Tell

VLOG: Insights of a Deeper Song

PODCAST: Reflections of a Deeper Song

The Stumbling Block Called “Decision”

September 14, 2017 By Cara Lumen

The next steps were easy, but each one called for a decision to be made. I realized that it was the need to make more choices that was holding back my progress.

I was putting a book up on iBooks. They wanted key words. A decision. They wanted a sample chapter. A decision. They wanted…you get the picture. The steps were easy but each one needed a decision on my part.

I looked around to see where else in my life decision-making was slowing me down – or stopping me altogether.

Choose one important thing and do it

My life changed when I read a suggestion that we simply pick one important thing to accomplish each day and do it. What a difference that made! One thing. One important thing. Just one.

So if I choose to get the book cover in iBooks Author as my one important thing that meant I could look at an instruction video, again, and make my decision. Then I could read the section on uploading in iProducer. And make uploading the book the most important thing I did the next day. Each day moves me further along. And each day I have only one important thing to accomplish.

I can do that. And so can you!

Group the type of tasks

It helps to group types of tasks together. I record four videos at a time because the light is set up, my hair is combed, etc.

I write posts every day, but once a month I go through them and pull out the ones that seem to have value. Then I work on them every other day for at least three days, so I can return to them with a beginner’s mind. Then I run them through www.grammarly.com and send them to my editor. When they come back I spend a focused period of time choosing photos for all of them and bingo – I have a month’s worth of posts ready.

All because I batched my actions.

Clear space to do the work

If we’re going to focus on one thing, we have to make a decision on what we’ll momentarily put aside in order to make that happen.

If my one important thing to do this week is to edit a batch of posts, then I probably won’t record my vLog.

If my weekly newsletter is due each Sunday, I have to work on it several times during the week. I find myself inspired to write pieces of it, but on Thursday I set aside time to edit and polish it and send it to be proofed.

Keep your schedule and your choices flexible and simply go with the flow of what’s needed next.

Keep your choices simple

I was stressing out over the number of places I could/should publish my e-books. Since that technical action is not my favorite thing to do, it was even more dreaded.

Then a friend said, “Where do you buy your books?” And I said, “Amazon.” She said, “Just do that.”

Life certainly got easier just by simplifying my choices.

Wrap your head around it

That’s an odd phrase – “wrap your head around it.” There are four distinct steps to that: study, explore, reflect, choose.

Study. Study the situation to get the widest possible view.

Explore. Go a little way down the paths that call most to you and see what possibilities/potential they hold.

Reflect. Go within and listen to your intuition, your inner voice, your feelings, your knowingness.

Choose. Pick one step, one project and begin. You can always stop. You can always expand. Just make a choice and begin.

Exploration and expanding choice

The more you go exploring, the broader your choices become.

When I made my first book covers, it was based on what I knew how to do at the time. But I kept experimenting and exploring different programs and allowing what I learned to become absorbed.

And I got better.

And better.

The more you learn, the broader your choices become.

Use visioning to explore

If I were faced with a decision that required me to place myself in a new position – or not – I’d use my imagination to explore my options. I’d examine my emotions and feeling and state of happiness in the new opportunity compared with my present circumstances, and let those feeling guide my choices.

For instance, as I study shamanism I’ve become clear that I do not want to develop a big practice for individual clients. But I do want to help change the world. I’ve found a form of shamanistic participation that fits my intentions and my circumstances. Now I get to explore exactly how I’m going to live that and share that. I simply let it unfold.

Sometimes one choice is as good as another

It doesn’t really matter what form my shamanic practice takes as long as I continue to explore and expand my own understanding and find expressive ways to share what I learn with the world.

Another example is that it doesn’t matter if I stir fry my vegetables or steam them. As long as I make the healthy choice of eating vegetables.

Some decisions are important. Others not so much.

Tomorrow is good too

If something blocks our way, move it aside for the moment. For instance, I was editing a batch of posts. I make my selections from all I’ve written lately, put them in one document and start working.

I came to one that needed a lot of work. I moved it to the bottom of the document I’m working in because I’ll feel better moving through the posts that are coming together well. I can put the decision of what to do about that post that needs work until all the rest are ready. I can make it the first thing I do tomorrow. It’ll be one decision and I’ll feel good about what I’ve already accomplished – the posts that are ready to go for proofing.

Allow yourself flexibility in your schedule and your choices in order to do your best work.

Make one decision at a time

Make a choice and go exploring. If that choice doesn’t feel right, go back to base camp and begin again in a different direction. If, on the other hand, you come to an enticing side trip, feel free to take that too.

Life is a wonderful adventure full both of choices and of surprises. Enjoy the journey.

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider.

The Unfolding Vision Board

Did You Over–plant?

The Power of Persistence

Are You Adapting Fast Enough to Change?

Magic is Simply a Change in Consciousness

How Choosing the Right Word will Clarify your Choices

April 4, 2017 By Cara Lumen

In my advanced Shamanism course we were asked to identify for ourselves three objects to use that meant protection, self-confidence and good luck. I readily found objects to represent the first two but I couldn’t seem to identify the good luck or good fortune piece. Suddenly I realized why. I was calling it by the wrong name.

Where does luck come from?

I don’t believe in good luck, I believe I create my own reality so all “luck” comes from the choices I make within. When I looked up good “fortune” I found “change, destiny”. That felt better. Since I’m deeply aware of the role of constant change and the power of our own choices when faced with the opportunities that are presented to us, I modified good luck to “wise choice.” To me that means an ever-deepening self-awareness while listening and seeing the abundant signs and signals that are offered. So I began looking for clear vision and wise choice.

One I realized that I simply needed to call it by what I perceived its purpose to be, I found it — right in front of me.

Are you calling what you are looking for by the right name?

I find it helpful to look up the definition of the word I’m seeking to embrace so that I may approach it from different angles.

When you think of success what do you imagine? “Success” means “favorable outcome and triumph”. That covers a broad range. I might feel a favorable outcome is to simply finish a project, never mind how great it turns out to be. Triumph may mean earning a lot of money. It may mean being acknowledged. Look up the word you are using and expand its meaning by examining the different words that mean the same thing.

What does “success” mean to you? To me it means continually being excited about what I find to learn each day. It means moving ever deeper into my spiritual exploration and expanding my awareness. The definition is simply “favorable outcome”

What does “happiness” mean to you? “Happiness” means “contentment and satisfaction.” That’s a pretty calm, steady state to be in. A warm fire, a good meal, a meaningful conversation. Or it could mean something far more boisterous like climbing to the top of a mountain. How do you define happiness? How do you recognize it?

I personally would go with the concept of “contentment.” The closer I bring myself to filling my days with the exploration and learning that calls to me, the more content I am.

What about “peace?” The word “peace” means “quietness and solitude.” When we talk about world peace we don’t have the right word. “Coexistence” is the word we want — “the state of living in harmony despite different ideology or interests.” That makes it much clearer. Take that deeper: “Different” means “contrasting, varying”. So we’re looking for a way to lovingly co-exist in an inclusive manner that embraces our diversity. We can work on that.

When you look more deeply into the words you use you may find yourself choosing new ones that’ll both deepen and broaden your awareness of what you really mean.

“Spirituality” means “the quality of being connected with the human spirit or soul.” That certainly leaves room for a lot of interpretation and a variety of methods to achieve it. Whatever you need to think or do in order to feel that connection with the Originating Mystery is your own adventure — one that only you can take in your own way. Just as others must seek it in their own manner.

The next time you try to define something in your life or find yourself searching for something you can’t seem to find, look up the word and find the alternative descriptions and see if that will put you on the right track.

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:

Why Do You Believe What You Do
How Do You Define Success?
When Change is Hard
Be the Story you Want to Tell
Change Your Expectations