Search Results for: Journey to the Sacred Masculine

Lean Into The Edges Of Your Growth

Living Our Deeper Song

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

Lean into the edges of your growth and trust what awaits you on the other side. 

Are you asking enough of yourself? Are you exploring new paths? How are you leaning into the edges of your new growth? 

I love the image of pushing forward and separating leaves to find a new facet within myself that I get to develop and share. What adventures await my discovery?  

My major shift at 90 is to consider the possibility that I may have another 12-13 years on earth so I’m going to give more thought to what that can look like and what I want to accomplish.

How do I push the edges of my growth?  

I expect to take more time to explore new concepts to see how I might work with them. This concept is an example. How do I lean into the edges of my new growth? 

I’m thinking here…

I have to change my expectations of what is possible for me, for the world, for you.

I use my imagination. I’ve been using the phrase “Light Worker” for a number of years. I’m trusting that we learn to recognize the spiritual facets in ourselves and use our ability to turn and recognize similar qualities in others. We come together to join in a singular journey, to raise our own vibration, and hold our light higher so others recognize it in themselves and expand their work within.

We must continue to recognize and connect with other light workers and spiritual leaders in the world to expand our sphere of influence and become more creative. We have serious work to do.

Our Light Worker role will be individually defined and we must be on the alert for new doors that open and new roles to step into.

I could never have predicted that my new place of service would be with young professionals who are on the staff here. It is possible that sharing my view of aging and my expectations of our potential will resonate with someone else and they will lift their gaze. 

How do you see yourself leaning into the edges of your growth?

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I look for and explore possible new roles for me as a light worker.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

• The world is changing so rapidly. Do some exploring and find out what new place of service is beckoning to you.
• Explore and choose a new path to explore and embrace.

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Take Time In Your Spiritual Practice

I was moving through the motions. I was not thoughtful or connected. I was repeating a pattern and had misplaced its meaning.

Is your spiritual practice like that? What do you change in order to have a more meaningful inner experience?

I like the steps I take, I just have to make certain I am fully present when I do them and take time to experience them on a deeper level.

First of all, I’m going to slow down and take my time to fully experience the process. I may rearrange the order or spend more time on a particular facet. I want to make certain I meditate each day. I might change the order or spend more time on one particular facet. I could change my intention and focus for that particular session. I want to slow down enough to feel it, to experience it, to be moved by it. 

My rhythm changes each day. If I wake up with an idea I want to explore, that seems to have to take priority until I capture it. 

I like to do my ceremonial work first thing but there is no reason why I can’t spread it out during the day. I can no longer see the sun set but I used to play my flutes while I watched the sky change.

When I was in New York City in the 80’s, I temped at Estée Lauder for a while, and one of the many female Vice Presidents (a rarity at the time) simply stopped what she was doing at 4 o’clock each day to put her feet up and have a glass of Perrier. She was not to be disturbed. How wise to take a deliberate and complete pause each day to center yourself. 

When I took Transcendental Meditation in the 70’s it was suggested that meditating when you first get home helps make a smoother transition. Perhaps sit in your car and meditate to change your energy before you move into personal time.

I would like to establish a closing ceremony for my day that will help me turn off my mind. I will go within for a period of re-centering, reflecting and replenishing.

How will you rearrange the time and content of your spiritual practice?

Add Sacred Singing To Your Spiritual Practice

As a young girl I sang in the church choir. I sang second alto in the girls’ quartet in high school. I took singing lessons at the local college where I got to sing in the chorus of the opera Carmen. I sang in many choral groups throughout the years so I found it very interesting that I have not added more singing to my current spiritual practice. I do sing and drum to the directions as part of my opening my day ceremony but I want to make this new form of singing spontaneous.  I have no idea what that will be, I just very much like the intention. 

It may be as simple as using my skin drum with its lovely resonance to set the tone.  Or I might use my long rain stick and see what that sound prompts in my singing. When I sing to the directions, I sing songs I make up but I want this to be intuitive singing that is free-flowing and creatively in the moment. Perhaps I won’t use words, just tones.  That would be freeing. I’ll just improvise and see what shows up. 

How will you add sacred singing to your spiritual practice?

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

How Do You Replenish Yourself?

Sometimes replenishing yourself is as easy as meditating or taking a nap. Other times it is much more involved. How do you actively replenish and nurture yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually?

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

Become An Objective Evaluator

Your first job may not be the best path for you but because you are in it, you keep on going. Right?  

Are you open to change? What will that look like?

Periodically pause in your life and see if you really love what you are doing. Does it bring you satisfaction? Pride? New challenges? New opportunities? Is it meeting your financial needs? Do you have time to nurture your soul? What new interests have you developed that might call you in a new direction? Are you open to change?

One strong step in choosing a new path to explore is to find an objection evaluator – someone who knows you and can give you objective feedback about your strengths and weaknesses.  Ask some of the people you respect and who know you to offer you feedback about how others see you.

Years ago, I kept an acknowledgement book in which I wrote down things that people said about me that surprised me because I had not been aware of that perception of me before. It helped me know myself better and sometimes it served as a morale booster.

Look back over the things you have done and examine what signs you have been given. I started writing for my high school paper as a sophomore and my senior year I was chosen to be Managing Editor because of my organizational skills. Those two skills have been called on constantly in my life. 

I also know I am too assertive for some people and often move too fast so one of my leadership lessons has been to set a pace that brings everyone forward together.

Are you ready to move forward? Do you want to explore a new path? Find one or two objective observers to help you recognize the gifts that you have to offer. 

What Makes You Feel Useful?

We often think of ourselves as being useful when we help someone do something. That may be physical, emotional mental or spiritual. This has been important to me because I’m currently the one getting all the help, so what am I giving back in my old age?

It’s important to feel useful but keep an eye out for the subtle ways you have impact. A staff member recently said to me, “I always learn something when I come in here.” We give to others in many ways we may not recognize.  

We have two steps to take here.  First perhaps make a list of how you help others.  That will probably contain the obvious steps you take to help. 

Now make a list of how you help others in more subtle ways.  Look at the things you take for granted – preparing a meal, cleaning the energy in a room by your cheery presence. Spend some time win this list so that you can begin to identify the subtler ways you help others.  It may be as simple as a cheery greeting to the school crossing guard as you walk your child to school.  (Do people still do that?) Our very presence may lift someone’s spirits.

Be conscious of your interactions and the most subtle impact they have.

The Past Got Me To Today

Every choice we make has lasting impact. I would not be the person I am today with the specific gifts I have to offer if I had not made the choices I did along the way.  Many of them were rather dramatic choices and they created powerful change and impact in my life. 

I would not be where I am today if I had not listened to and acted upon my inner voice.  I trusted my inner voice after my first major decision and for all three major cross-country decisions I made thereafter.

There are consequences to my journey that brought me to where I am today but I wouldn’t change a thing. My choices along my path got me to where I am today. I am grateful for the journey.

Changing Times

2023 is a year of a big shift, new opportunities and unfolding paths.  The planets are aligned for new beginnings. What will you turn and do next?

I have identified a new direction and have begun to explore it. I have turned my back on what I have been doing and have turned to embrace my new path.  I hope it asks me to go on new adventures and develop new skills and gain new knowledge. All of that is quite exciting.

Of course, as I change my direction, I get to leave behind beliefs that no longer serve me. Those very specifically include what I believe I deserve and what I believe is possible.  

Changing direction also means leaving behind attitudes and beliefs and expectations and perhaps even friends that you have outgrown.

Since this is a time of a new beginning spurred on by the alignment of the planets, where will you turn to explore next?

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

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

Peace Pole

I may be given a Peace Pole and even if it doesn’t happen, it has been meaningful for me to design it. I wrote:

“I have several requests about the purpose of the Peace Pole if your friend is willing to make me one. I want it to be focused on healing the environment.  Gaia, Mother Earth. I like the color blue a lot. Elements that might be included are butterflies (for transformation) and the giraffe has been a power animal for me (overview) and I’m very drawn to bears. I have three small ones on my desk that I call “Intuition, Insight, and Imagination’. The spider is also symbolic for me because she builds her web from within and builds on what she finds around her. She also can’t see and so does everything by vibration. 

I’m also aware of the potential and possibilities of space and I’m a little bit into the power of the planets in astrology. (I’m a Scorpio).

I actually picture a peaceful gradation from earth greens to sky blues. And I love the shape-shifting clouds of the mid-west. 

As for size, if it were three feet tall, I would put it on the floor by the barrel chair on the side by the door so people would see it as they come in and ask about it. If there are words, they should be “We Are One.” It can also be table-size and I will put it on my dresser by the Himalayan salt lamp – 18” tops.”

I’m excited about this. It supports my goals: “I help Transformational Leaders deepen our relationship with the Unseen World and expand our role in the New Consciousness.”

I hope my friend’s friend makes it for me but even describing it has brought both my vision and my goal into greater focus.

What would you put on your peace pole?

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

A New Paradigm Of Living

A paradigm is a pattern, a model or our life. It is time we rethink the one we are in.  It is time to encourage a new paradigm of living, leading and creating.

Right now, we are struggling to find a balance between the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine. The Divine Masculine is not happy with the change and the Divine Feminine is coming into her own.  We must learn to encompass the inclusive, loving, creative feminine along with the courage and strength of the masculine. Each of us contain feminine and masculine strengths. We just need to learn to cultivate both aspects in a positive and productive manner.

How do we do that? By becoming more aware of our own actions and choices. Take time to examine and contemplate why you are going in the direction you are going.  Take time to explore new places of service to see if they are aligning with your new awareness and calling.

It is time to step into an entirely new paradigm of living, leading and creating. What will that look like for you?

What Is A Transformational Leader And Are You One?

Transform means to make a thorough change. We must change our thinking, our actions and our expectations.  Part of what we, as Transformational Leaders, must do is expand what we envision as possible.

How do we do that? Can you envision the ice cap no longer melting? Can you envision a world population that enthusiastically embraces a mindful and active consciousness of walking softly on the planet?

We get what we focus on.  Monitor your thoughts and intentions and begin to visualize the human population as aware, thoughtful and actively caring for the planet.

“I help Transformational Leaders deepen our relationship with the Unseen World and expand our role in the New Consciousness” – Cara Lumen

How Do We Deepen Our Relationship With The Unseen World?

We are little specks in the web of life. The Unseen World is vast and everywhere and in all things. And it is “unseen”. So how do we explore it? How do we access it?  How do we use it?

We use our gifts of intuition and trust the nudges and insights we receive.  We learn to interpret and translate them into our life choices. How do you listen to the unseen world?  

I get intuitive nudges. The more I pay attention to the nudges, the clearer they become.

I take a Shamanic journey and interpret the metaphors that show up. I trust. I recently closed a meeting with an Affirmative Prayer that the participants said was powerful and gave them goose bumps and I remember nothing except saying I had not done an Affirmative Prayer for a long time. My mind was not involved, the Unseen Words took over and spoke through me. Trust the lessons and insights when that happens.

That part of the meeting was recorded. I will listen to see what I said.

“I help Transformational Leaders deepen our relationship with the Unseen World and expand our role in the New Consciousness.” – Cara Lumen

How Do We Expand Our Role in The New Consciousness?

First of all, I think our roles are changing and are in the process of being defined. When we listen to our intuition and our nudges, they will help us gradually develop a new role for ourselves. Part of our inner work will be to vision to clarify our new role. When we free ourselves from what we know and expect, there is room for expanded insights to appear.

“I help Transformational Leaders deepen our relationship with the Unseen World and expand our role in the New Consciousness.”  Cara Lumen

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

Lift Your Gaze

It has been interesting to raise my gaze from my own life and consciousness and experiences to focus on a greater vision and goal. It makes me feel more useful and more valuable as I go exploring to find my new place of service.

Lifting my gaze and raising my focus makes me feel like more of an adventurer, an explorer, a discoverer and trail blazer.  I like that.

What happens when you raise your gaze? What do you see?

Live Above The Fray

It is really empowering to rise about the chaos of American politics and focus on the well-being of our planet. Of course I will keep an eye on politics because I will vote but only for freedom and democracy. 

I’m not saying I’m giving up, but I am shifting my gaze.  I don’t see my role as an activist. I see my role as a person with a strong imagination holding High Watch for this point in time.

How do you see your role and how will you fulfill it? How will you rise above the fray?

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

What Is One Thing I Can Do That Will Help Heal The World?  

Follow the light. Be aware of it in every act and every thing.

That means I have to shift my gaze and keep focused on the movement of energy around me. I must be aware of subtle shifts within the world around me.

What do I look for? 

Let’s begin with our intuition. We must learn to listen to our inner voice. My inner voice speaks in both murmurs I have to interpret as well as full blown sentences. I always pay attention.

I have begun to establish a specific practice of sending energy to the people on the planet to open their hearts and make their choices for the highest good for all. 

I will focus on the energy of oneness.  People, animals, plants, sun, moon, rain, stars…we are to learn to feel our all-encompassing oneness and bring it to the forefront of our thoughts and actions.

Every thought, every choice, every action must be for the greater good, the highest good, the cosmic good. Our choices need to elevate our group consciousness. 

I have to walk around this planet not just as an individual person, but as a Light Worker, a Light Leader, a Facilitator of Transformation.  A Light Bearer. An Adventurer. A Way-Shower. 

How do you see the role you are stepping into as a Light Leader within our world?

Caring for Gaia

The most important step we can take to care for Gaia – Mother Earth – is to raise our consciousness and monitor our personal footprint. 

I no longer go to a grocery store but I have carried cloth bags since the 80’s. If I were living on my own, I would get solar panels for my apartment window.

How do you continue to soften your footprints on the planet?

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

Expanding Awareness

Our Destiny and Self Responsibility

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

===CARA’S CORNER===

What Do You Want To Bring Into Your Life?

My good friend and Astrologer, Martha Lacy, told me that Aries has come into play and it is the time of new beginnings. I paused to give some thought to what I want to bring into my life.

Stop reading a moment and write down three things. Mine are wholeness, transcendental awareness and deeper service.

Now, I have no specific plans on how to do that – yet – but the seeds are planted and the journey has begun.

I do have a new focus: “I help Transformational Leaders deepen our relationship with the Unseen World and expand our role in the New Consciousness.”  As yet I have no specifics in mind but that mission statement is raising my sights and my expectations and will ultimately change my direction.

When you change your goals, you are asking for change. Some of it may be uncomfortable, some exciting and some a tad unnerving but change is a good thing – it means we are growing and are deepening our life experience. What is your new vision for change?                           

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

I Raise My Sights 

I begin a new journey. An adventure. A new path. 

I begin a new journey. An adventure. A new path. I do not know my destination. I only know that I am called.

I begin a new journey. An adventure. A new path.

I do not know my destination. I only know that I am called. I lift my gaze and take the path less traveled.

– Cara Lumen, April 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 Transformational Leaders

deepen our relationship with the Unseen World 

and expand our role in the New Consciousness

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My Books

Our Work As Light Leaders

Living Our Deeper Song

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

We are Light Leaders so how do we do the work? What is our role? How far reaching is our impact? How do we expand our reach? 

I’m thinking out loud here because I have nothing to guide me but my inner wisdom, my curiosity and my deep desire to be in service to help raise the vibration our planet and its inhabitants. 

At the core, our job is to be willing to change our choices and actions to serve the highest good for all. To change thoughtfully. To change creatively – always keeping the greater good for all as our goal. It is an inclusive awareness that we need to keep cultivating.

Where would you like to participate? Where would you like to create change? Would you like to work with a certain group of people to help them through a portion of their life? A lot of expanded and inclusive awareness and heart changing needs to go on in our world when it comes to interacting with each other. We have to cultivate and expand and establish a greater sense of inclusion in our world so that our awareness becomes more about our similarity and is a source of expansion and enrichment.

I am currently being offered an awareness expansion by people who have come from the continent of Africa. How did they end up in the midwest of the United States? It is a mystery to me but there are a lot of people who have come directly from the continent of Africa in service here in my long-term care facility as health professionals on the staff. One staff member recently spelled her name for me and it was truly an unusual combination of letters that created her name. She had come here in her 20’s. I personally am going to get out the map of Africa and begin to understand those countries and cultures. If you look around you for someone who has a different background from you, you have just found a new teacher.

Find your most effective and impactful place of service as you walk through your life. Perhaps at the end of your day, look back to review your interactions. What nourished you? How did your interactions affect the people you came in contact with? What could you have done differently? What would you do differently next time? 

Do you see yourself as a light leader and how do you walk in the world? 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I am aware of my role as a light leader and continue to define and refine it every day.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

• Identify an area of your life in which you see yourself as a light leader. How do you live? Who do you serve? What would you change? What could you improve?
• Identify other light leaders in your life and see how they are doing the work.

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Cultivate Inner Peace

Pausing to take a mindful, deep centering breath can immediately bring you into an experience of inner peace. It can be done anytime, anywhere, in any situation. We just have to remember to do it. 

I want to add more mindful moments to my day to stop the intensity of my work. I could pause and look out the window at the on-going change in nature, take a few deep breaths, quiet my mind and center myself before returning to work. 

Pausing for a centering breath is important if you find yourself getting agitated or stressed or emotional. In seconds you can return to inner stillness and take time to center yourself and calm your mind before you re-engage.

Trust Your Inner Guidance 

My inner voice is always helpful. When the inner voice in my head offers me guidance in the form of ideas and suggestions and insights, they are always on target and usually take me in a very interesting new direction. I learn to not only listen to my inner voice but to trust what it tells me. Sometimes it’s only an awareness that something new is coming in. And sometimes it’s the full-blown idea.

Whenever your inner voice communicates with you, trust it and consider the guidance it offers. 

What Do You Want To Plant This Season?

It’s nearly planting season. What do you want to grow this year? Do you want to grow more of what you did last year or do you want to plant something new? 

I have a lot of new crops started since I moved to Evergreen. Someone said the other day, “I always learn something new when I come into your room.” I like that because I’ve done a lot of exploring in my life and have a great deal to share. Seed planting holistic concepts is one of my roles.

I have a great deal of physical work to do to get my body healed and repaired and back in shape and I’m not even sure what new roles that will open up for me. Walking outside to make friends with a master gardener who manages our garden is certainly on the list. 

It is not my role in the world to try to change the disastrous authoritarian direction Republicans are trying to take the US other than to work with that trend energetically. Maybe something I say or explain or do will put someone on a different, more inclusive path. 

What do you want to plant this upcoming season that will open new doors and expand your reach and what do you need to sow for your continued well-being.

The Spring Equinox is Mon, Mar 20, 2023 4:24 PM. What will you plant?

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

We Must Take Responsibility For Self-Healing

I am being treated for edema by doctors and nurses and I realized I was not necessarily doing my part as a believer in self-healing. I’ve got to work on myself. I researched and cut back on any new food that I had introduced lately and actually began to drink more of my Garden of Life Protein Meal in almond milk to see if that would cleanse my kidneys. But the most empowering thing I discovered was a Qigong sequence that I can practice many times during the day.  It’s called Pull Up The Energy of the Earth and I love the concept. You simply bend over and gather energy from the earth and bring it back to your kidneys which are opposite your belly button and a little to each side.  It was very empowering to take steps to help my own body self-heal. 

When you have a physical problem expand your search to include whatever forms of holistic medicine call to you. Take responsibility for helping to heal yourself. You can do it. 

Honor Your Inner Calling

My need to garden and bring more plants into my life is a challenge in the small space I now live in. But I did it and had a lovely hour and a half figuring out my gardening system and repotting the two plants that were suffering from having been shipped by UPS. My garden adventure took place on a tray table filled with potting soil and small pots right here beside my desk. I savored each moment. I have gardened all my life and even managed to have petunias in my apartment window in the middle of New York City’s Upper West side.

What need is calling to you lately and how will you find a way to honor it? Do that. 

Self-Responsibility

I’m listening to my body and trying to do a better job of helping it heal. The hip surgery was fine, but my body has edema, it is holding water that makes my legs swell.  That was happening even before I moved. It is my responsibility to change the choices that are still causing that to happen. I’m going to take self- responsibility for my body’s response and I have some work to do. 

I need to check out my belief systems about what is possible, to identify what beliefs and expectations are holding what physical manifestations in place. Those can be a bit tricky to find. Look at what you see as the physical changes you want to make and get to work to create the changes you want.

I just spent the whole week on the Shift Network Qigong Summit and learned some new ways to direct Chi energy with my mind. The ward doctor who looked at my swollen legs used the image of valves that need to close better in order to push the blood up and out of my legs. I use my imagination to visualize valves in my legs snapping shut with enthusiasm, closing the way they should to help move the blood up from my legs.  

In my Tai Chi practice I have added more visualization beneath the moves, particularly around the softness of an inward feminine move and in the strength of an outward masculine move. It is making a lovely and profound difference in my experience. By encouraging internal images, I am changing the flow of my practice. By taking my time and practicing with conscious visualization and intention I am deepening my experience. What kind of self-discipline will you add to your life and in what area? 

Are you persistent in whatever form of exercise you have chosen? Do you set goals and objectives for yourself that help you increase the impact? Are all areas of your life rewarding? Don’t overdo it, but try to find facets of your life that call to you to be strengthened and start there. It may not be about how many more times you do a specific move, it may be about the accuracy and consciousness and deliberation with which you do it. It may be as simple as eliminating one food choice that contains more salt than you should be eating. It may be finding a different time of day for an aspect of your spiritual practice. Begin with any area of your life and choose one or two elements to examine and modify. Do that one and then turn and choose another one to experiment with. 

What Is Causing Your Pain?

What is the emotion or choice that is causing you pain? I was looking for a reason behind some physical pain I am experiencing and I realized that I should actually be figuring out the cause of it and release that habit or emotion or belief from my life.

On the physical plain I’m looking for the cause of the edema I have and I am examining what I need to do. I’m putting myself on a very monitored diet to see if that will helps. I can looking for more effective food choices to make and specific things to stop eating. 

We can apply that search for the cause to an emotional situation we have identified to something that is rubbing us the wrong way. What in particular is causing you worry or anxiety? What is causing you anger? Look in all areas of your life to identify the cause of your discomfort. 

First you have to realize that something is out of balance. Then you begin looking for the cause. And then you make the changes that will bring you back into balance.

Without doing a treatise on my process, I looked at what has been added recently (Sprite twice a day). I looked at what I had not been doing as much of recently (walking), and I looked at my emotional state (rather happy).

When you are out of balance, begin to eliminate things until you find the cause and can restore the balance. For instance, if the cause is stress you need to find ways to meditate or pause for deep, calming, releasing breaths to center yourself during your day or find whatever helps you change the experience into less stress. Look at what you have added or left out recently that might have caused the imbalance.  

Don’t live with pain. Figure out what causes it and change that.

When you find yourself out of balance in any part of your life, pause to see if you can identify the cause, if you can tell when it started and perhaps even determine the cause. Then get to work and get it back in balance.

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

Expand How You See Yourself

I have not thought of myself as a spiritual leader but one of my friends called me that recently and I had to stop and think what I thought about it and what I think it is.

I know I am a rock – capable of standing alone – capable of supporting others. 

I know my calling is very strong and I know that I eagerly listen to my inner voice – and follow it. And I know that I am compelled to share with others what I figure out. So I am in a leader role which feels very organic to me. 

If in fact I have another 12 or so years to go, I get to redefine my role in this next stage. Part of it is about motivating and inspiring the younger healers on the staff here just as they are motivating and inspiring me. 

I feel like a river. I am sending out constant ripples that will touch other shores and have an impact. I don’t send them to specific shores, but I do put them out and trust the universe to deliver them to the right shores.  I’m just a rock doing her pebble thing in the water of life…

Are You Still Going In The Direction Of Your Choosing?

With the world changing so rapidly and new opportunities constantly opening up, this might be a good time to see if you are still going in the direction of your choice. 

My life seems to have unfolded in 13-year cycles so if, in fact, I have just begun a new cycle with this move, even at 90 I get to figure out what I want to do for the number of years.

Look back over your life and noticed the time line pattern and see where you are in the cycles of your life. Build on that.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

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

Thank Your Friends

Today, take time to think and acknowledge a friend for being the loving, kind, supportive friend that they are. Hopefully you have more than one person to thank. Don’t just thank them, tell them why they are important in your life and how they support you and how their very existence enhances your life. 

Who will you acknowledge? And what will you say to them?

===DEEPER SONG DISCOVERIES===

Insights and Resources to Explore

What Makes You Happy?

I don’t laugh out loud very much but I wish I did. What makes you stop and smile? What lifts your spirits? What makes you happy?

It’s possible we have to practice being happy by beginning to notice the small grins that come across our face at something we hear or see or experience.

My heart was warmed recently by a Zoom call I had with a friend because of some of the things she said about me. She saw me in a role that I’m not aware of and I’m not really sure others are aware of and she elevated my view of what I do. That conversation warmed my heart.

Maybe you feel happy when you are in nature with the wind in your face or the smell of growing things in the air. Maybe just being with your pet or your friend. Or a partner. 

Are you aware of the role you play in other people’s lives? I’m not, but it would be nice to be able to recognize how one contributes to others.

Notice the little things that make you happy and gather more of those around you. Then look at the big things that make you happy and go get more of those in your life. 

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Surround Yourself With People Who Nourish Your Soul

Life is too short to spend any time with the wrong people. Look at your life and who nurtures you and who does not and stop being around those who do not.

I have quit jobs in order to go pursue what called to me more deeply. I have moved cross country when I knew I was complete with a place that I had been living in. 

Friends wander in and out of your life. They serve a specific purpose, sometimes with one exchange, but that impact is never forgotten.

I’m not a believer in long-term intimate relationships because I think we change too much within our lives and that being partnered closely will hinder us from expressing our true potential. I was married twice 40 years ago but I love the feeling of being able to follow my heart in whatever direction it calls to me ever since. 

How good are you at surrounding yourself with people who nourish your soul?

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

Coming Full Circle 

Years ago in New York City in the 80’s, someone asked me what my power animal was. I barely knew what a power animal was but the word “giraffe” popped into my head. I like the idea of having an overview of the world and my head in the clouds for ideas. About 10 years later someone pointed out the giraffe has no voice. That sure didn’t work for me because I was pretty vocal on many levels.

Over time I have collected several statues of giraffes. They seem to have come with me to Evergreen. 

Giraffes (andI) can see the big picture and clearly understand the situation. The giraffe spirit animal is also a symbol of awareness. I like that part a lot.

Unexpectedly the two giraffe statues that I have are now moved into more prominent places. It seems I have come full circle and I’m ready to work with a giraffe spirit guide again.

Be flexible in the unfolding of your spiritual awareness and let it surprise you every once in a while. 

===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

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

The Michelle Obama Podcast is now on Audible. It’s called The Light Way.

===CARA’S CORNER===

A Gift

I was recently given the gift of a new friend. It was a deep recognition on my part and probably on hers.  

According to Michael Newton’s books, when he hypnotized people and asked about their life between lives, we each have a Soul Pod who agree to come in and help us in the life we choose to experience.  If you stop to think of the people who have impacted your life, you will recognize them. I am in regular interaction with some of the people in my pod and it didn’t take me long to realize this new person had also agreed to come here and help me with this shift in my life as my eyesight changes and I have to make very creative adjustments in order to keep on doing my work. It was a very powerful and deeper recognition of two things, that I really did need help to get through this eyesight evolution, and she is a soulmate on an entirely different level. I knew that about three minutes into our conversation. Part of our meeting was a professional intake for potential essential services to be rendered but the first part was pure soul pod mates greeting each other again in recognition. 

Think back on your life at the people who impacted your life and possibly changed your direction. It could be a teacher or a friend or it could be someone you never met whose insights or example resonated with you. We are influenced by many people in our life. It is through our own self-awareness that we create change in our own life. Keep your eyes open and see what gifts are being given to you at every turn. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

The Gift of Our Presence

The gift of our presence is to be given mindfully. It will have a deep and lasting impact. 

The gift of our presence is to be given mindfully. It will have a deep and lasting impact. A phrase, a smile, a meaningful exchange, or even an awareness of the actions of another are part of the gift exchanges we give each other as we move through life. 

The gift of our presence is to be given mindfully. It will have a deep and lasting impact. A phrase, a smile, a meaningful exchange, or even an awareness of the actions of another are part of the gift exchanges we give each other as we move through life. I am aware of myself as both the receiver of this gift and the gift itself. 

Cara Lumen, March 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 Transformational Leaders

deepen our relationship with the Unseen World 

and expand our role in the New Consciousness

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 

Our Future Collective Vision

Living Our Deeper Song

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

Those of us who are aware of our ability to create a collective vision must do the work. We must plant the seeds for the New Year opening before us.

Let’s begin with what we want for the collective whole. 

Inclusiveness

I started to write peace and changed that to inclusiveness because if we experience inclusiveness, it will in fact bring peace to the entire world. Simply viewing all people as equal, which we are, helps us see ourselves in the lives and hearts of others wherever they are on the planet. The most important thing we can do is to eliminate any feeling of separateness and to cultivate an awareness of vast inclusiveness. Not only will that make us feel less alone, it will help us experience empathy for everyone else on the planet. Inclusiveness is an outstanding place to begin to change our future.

Self-Responsibility

We are responsible for everything that we experience. We create with our thoughts. And its limitations come from what we believe we deserve and what we believe is possible. When we change our thinking, we change our entire life. Do the work.

Monitor your thoughts. Monitor your beliefs. And guide them in the direction of your choosing. You can create your own life by managing your beliefs and thoughts and intentions. 

Collective Power

We must use our collective power to change the world for the better. That means seeing the good in all. That means always choosing for the highest good. And it means believing in a future of collective oneness – a oneness of serenity, inner peace, and the well-being of everything on the planet.

That seems like a difficult vision to hold but we must do the work. Use your imagination to see a healed planet in place, to see people living in cooperation and collective support. Picture your role and how you can expand it and increase your place of service. 

Our future begins with each of us right here and now and the choices we make, and the actions we take. 

Choose a particular place of service for the coming year. It may be one you have been working on or it may be a new one. Make some plans on how you want to participate in the coming year. 

Add an element to your spiritual practice that sends a blessing to the planet. I have a bell I ring. If you want it to be focused on something specific like the environment do that. If you want to be in a group of people do that. Send positive, loving, supportive, healing energy to the planet every single day.

We are interconnected. Each strand in this web of life carries our thoughts and actions and affects the whole. Our future responds to the here now –  with what we think and say and do. Let’s create a powerful new inclusive future with our thoughts, our deeds, and our imagination. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I take responsibility for helping to heal our planet through my thoughts, words, and deeds. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

• Pick an area of concern that you have for our planet, or our circumstances and begin to focus your energy and support on that.
• Choose one or two areas you want to actively contribute to in the coming year and  do that. 
• Do the work!

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Inner Work For The Future

There are so many opportunities to contribute to the future that I hardly know where to begin.

What is affecting us now has to do with the rising Divine Feminine and how her increasing power is affecting the Divine Masculine. It is a power struggle. The Divine Feminine is persistently and gradually assuming the power the Divine Masculine once held. 

I wonder what kind of world we will create. I know the feminine qualities of inclusiveness and caring and compassion will be part of it. Our leadership form is more nurturing, more supportive, more encouraging and more inclusive. Guiding our governing towards the highest good for all will certainly play havoc with special interest groups. I think saving the planet will be at the top of the list because we must have a place to live. I’m sure giant efforts will be made to stop emissions and create space for the planet to heal. 

How do you envision our future and what role will you take?

What Do You Keep Putting Off and Why?

Is there something you should be doing but you’re not doing because you keep putting it off? Do you know why you keep putting it off? 

It could be that what you want to do is hard or challenging. It could be that it’s not really what you’re supposed to do. It could be someplace in between. But when you are stuck trying to figure out why you were stuck, you have an opportunity to work past it or through it or around it. Check for beliefs that are no longer yours. Or beliefs that lead to ideas and concepts that may no longer be true. Examine and organize and  gradually eliminate experiences that  keep you from a shift in awareness and perception. 

It could be you are not aware of the possibilities and potential of a particular choice. I certainly had no idea of the opportunities I would have with this move to long-term care – physical therapy being one of them. It’s hard to imagine a new “next” if you have no idea what is possible. So exploration and self education is one way to explore new possibilities.

What is calling in your life? What do you want to replace in your life that is not working? Stop putting that off. 

Know Your Value

I am gaining a whole new view of myself and my place of service and my value. It is totally wrapped in moving out of isolation.  We need to experience responses to our words and our actions to know our value.  We need to see change or results in order to experience our impact. 

What proof do you have of your value? What signs of the actions you are taking are showing up?

As I move into my new life, I am watching how I feel, how people are responding to me and if possible, how my life changes. I will stay aware of new opportunities, new friends and new results that stem from my actions and choices. 

When you change, the world around you changes. Be aware of what you are creating by your beliefs and actions.

The Dream We Hold

There is so much not working in the world that I don’t know where to begin my dream. I actually happen to be one of the light workers. Those of us who are holding High Watch for the world continue to raise our sites and our actions in order to heal and whole our planet.

We have to look beyond what is showing up in our world to see what is possible. In order to do that we really have to trust the power of the universe to guide us. 

We have to trust that certain things are happening in order for those of us who are observing the power of the changing universe, can get the message about the steps we are to take next. And how we are to take them.

We Have Access To Enterprising, Industrious Energy

The Universe is ready to support us but there is an unfolding progress and we have to do our part. 

Nature shows us a pattern of rest and rapid growth.  That is the pattern we are to follow – stillness, expanding inner awareness and growth.  

We have to do our part.  We have to do the work. 

What kind of work do we do to prepare for growth?

In nature gardeners help plants grow by cleaning away other plants that are crowding them.

As a person, are you overworked with non-nourishing companions? Are you someone who does not believe in yourself, have a weak spiritual practice, and do not take care of your body? All of those need correcting.

Nature works in cycles of unfolding and we must learn to be both aware and patient. What are the signals, the nudges we are getting and are we paying attention to them?

Be aware of the cycles of the universe regarding rest and action and allow space for the power of life to unfold. 

Take Time To Reflect

How are you doing? Are you going in the direction you want?  Are you accomplishing what you intended? What new doors are opening for you?

Choose a time for monthly reflection. You might pick the time of a New Moon as the beginning of a new cycle.  Perhaps set new goals, or change directions, or make a simple course correction.  You might find a time at the end of each day to look back over your day and the small gifts and nudges you received and offer gratitude. When will you  

take time to reflect?

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Calming Breath

Your breath is an instant doorway to calming yourself down and refocusing with clarity. When you find yourself in a stressful situation take a deep breath and then another.  And another  – until you feel centered.

When you find yourself unable to make a decision pause and begin to breathe slowly and deeply until you feel centered again and can make a clear decision.

The breath is a simple and powerful tool that you can use anytime anywhere in any circumstance. Begin to use your breath for centering and moving forward. 

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

Do Something Thoughtful For Another Today 

As an old person on a walker, the idea of doing something thoughtful for someone today is an interesting opportunity. It can be as simple as a compliment or a suggestion that helps to solve a problem or simply engaging in a warm smile and exchange. I have had interesting conversations around the Qigong book “Head-To- Toe Healing”  by Master Chunyi Lin as I share an acupressure point treatment for a lot of physical problems. I have had a conversation with a 17-year-old nurse’s assistant about her future career and as I engage more deeply into conversation, my circle of friends is growing.  

Doing something thoughtful for another person takes many forms. It could be that you open the door professionally for someone. It could be as simple as encouragement or a compliment to let someone know they are doing a good job. Become aware of how what you do and say impacts others and perform a thoughtful act of kindness for someone today. 

When Was The Last Time You Laughed Out Loud?

I can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs. I do know that my entire experience of positive exchange with others has increased tremendously since I moved as in going from 0 to 100 by simply moving across the street. My heart has opened and my spirits have lifted. How about you? What is currently lifting your spirits?

Begin by noticing the things that make you smile inside. What warms your heart? Where can you find more situations like that? Put on your happy face and go exploring. 

How Is Your Relationship with Your Parents?

My mother was my Girl Scout Leader and she passed me on my horsemanship badge.  I had read Margaret Campbell Self’s Encyclopedia of Horses three times.  I knew my stuff.  The gift she gave me was to listen and let me share with her my love of horses and all I knew. She listened and gave me room to share.

She saw to it that I got one year at Hollins in Virginia where I got to meet other smart girls from all over the country. My father was a shy man and a steady conscientious provider. 

What memories do you have of your parents loving you and helping you grow up?

Parents are people who have a calling of their own to answer.   I answered my own calling when my girls were raised and my two boys were in high school by having them go live with their remarried father after I had raised  them alone for three years.  I went to New York City and began my calling as a holistic healer. Thee years after I got to New York I stepped in to raise my granddaughter.  I was in my 50s living alone in New York City. Give some thought to your parents as people living their lives rather than just as your parents.  Like you, they had their own calling and relationships and mere humanness to manage and they did the best they could.

If you are still angry with a parent, try to heal that wound by having a conversation and try to see what was going on in their lives at that time.

What is your relationship with your parents and have you thanked them recently for choosing to bring you into the world?  

Alone Time

What is the quality of your alone time? Do you collapse with fatigue or move into nurturing meditation? Do you spend time worrying or simply living your best life?

Notice the choice you make and move toward nurturing, healing, alone time.

Lay Down Your Burdens

When life gets too tough, pause and go within to that place of serene security and inner wisdom and turn your problems over to the Universe.

Trust what you find there. Trust the reassurance. Trust the wisdom. Trust the answers.

In shaman journeying we use our imagination to go to our Sacred Garden.  In every object and image there is a message meant only for you to interpret. Ask for help.  Ask for guidance and interpret whatever images show up. I have three or four guides that show up regularly. Here are two of my podcasts 

Foundation For The Journey Within – Create Your Sacred Garden and Unleash the power of your Sacred Garden 

If your burden seems heavy, ask for help in carrying it. 

One of my favorite recorded journeys is The Backpack Journey in which you truly are asked to lay down your burdens.

Go within and ask for guidance and trust the answers that you are given. 

You are not alone in your journey. Your inner wisdom is there to guide you. Ask for help to lay down your burden and be aware of how much assistance shows up – and in what form.

What am I curious about?

What Do You Want To Learn This Coming Year?

I love to learn but I am full up with Qigong and flute classes and drum  classes and I have no idea what new paths of learning will come to me this coming year. 

I look at learning as a form of exploring. I love attending the free summits that are offered by The Shift Network and others. I learned about Shamanism that way and more about Qigong that way. Also that is how I found my teachers.

But I honestly don’t know what I want to learn in 2023. It may be more in the form of what I learned from interaction with the loving staff here than any class. I know that relationships are going to expand my awareness of the depth of the capacity in others. 

When something resonates go explore it. Find out enough about it to know if it’s something you want to do. Be prepared for surprises. Something may show up that never crossed your mind before. Then go do it. Learn it. Take a class or two. And see what resonates with you.

Notice what classes your friends are taking, what they are studying, where are they are learning it and do some exploring and see if something calls to you. I’m not through learning by a long shot but I just don’t know what I want to learn next. It will show up and I will recognize it. And maybe my next lesson is not in the form of a class but in the form of an ongoing interaction with another person. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for that one. 

What do you want to learn in the coming year? Do that.

Reorganize For The New Year

I had a hard time finding things on my desktop because I was putting them by year not by category. And then I never knew what year something happened and so I can never find it. My awareness of this less-than-stellar filing system started when I was looking for some poems I had written but they were kind of all over the place. The end of the year is a really good time to rethink the organization of your life including your desktop. My suggestion is to keep things by category and leave the dates out of it in case that’s your tendency to do. I have a group of poems I identify by where I was when I wrote them – like New York City. I do have the newsletters in one folder. I do have all the emails to my friends in one folder but each friend has his/her own document. I do have my journeys and journaling in one folder. See how this works. Perhaps you take time to go over your organizational systems in whatever part seems to be the most frustrating to you and keep the reorganization simple.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

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

Center and Adjust

My spiritual practice has changed recently for two reasons – my arthritic fingers and the fact that I have a suite-mate. My fingers now bend to the side so when closing a flute hole, my finger doesn’t cover it completely so it is not in tune. If I were playing better, I would not mind the open door to the hall.  I still drum and sing but softly because of the other person in the room, and it is my intimate spiritual practice. I have a very quiet and private spiritual practice now that I am not living alone.

I do meditate each morning and could do it longer but it gets pretty busy rather fast around here. And I want to get better at my Qigong practice. 

What kind of changes do  you want to make to your meditation practice in the coming year?

===DEEPER SONG DISCOVERIES===

Insights and Resources to Explore

Listening

 “Anyone can listen. All you have to do is stop talking. But to be a good listener, you have to stop talking and be interested.

Genuine curiosity is the precursor to understanding, and a good listener helps the other person feel understood.”

James Clear

===GUIDANCE FROM OUR COSMIC COUNSELORS ===

Listen Beyond the Voice Within 

My Journey to The Cosmic Counselors: Please give us guidance for the New Year.

I go to my Sacred Garden and to the meadow which is surrounded by large trees. Wee folk dance and sing and are joined by a lot of squirrels who seem to be my frequent guides.

The message I got is of one great industry and anticipation and moving forward to get a great deal done. I see a beautiful golden path laid out before me. I know it is the work I am already going to do here at Evergreen. In the center of the large green is a rock altar around which are the Cosmic Counselors and a majority of my guides holding hands and singing a song to the well-being of the planet. Get the job done. I turn and the path opens before me. It is beckoning me to my particular role in the unfolding of the coming year. I skip along the path. 90-year-old me on my walker skips down the path. I am joyously exploring new possibilities and a rich and deep and wide path is opening before me. I have a great deal to learn, and a great deal to share. I am a translator and explorer and an adventurer. There are shape-shifting clouds in the sky and I see several interesting scenarios play out that are part of our potential upcoming year. The message is for us to stay open and be inquisitive.

End of journey.

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

Passive Income

Passive income is money that comes in when you are doing something else like sleeping.  It is a product on your web site that appeals to your target audience that you charge for.  I don’t have one on my web site because income will mess with my social security. But give some thought to what you might offer. People sell recordings of a course they gave.   It might be a series of podcasts with a specific result that you sell. It could be your artwork applied to a bag or sweatshirt. Become aware of the many forms of passive income and see how you can create some of your own. 

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

Goodbye 2022

Has it been a good year? What did you learn? How did you change? What new pathways opened for you?  How did your place of service change?  What skills did you acquire? Or sharpen?

I feel like I was blasted out of a cannon of isolation and increasing depression. Those insidiously creep up on you and are hard to recognize because of their stealth. 

My new path has begun to unfold in the last two months of this year and it has propelled me into a whole new future. Sometimes change happens slowly and sometimes it just shows up and bops you on the head. 

I have no idea how to learn to recognize diminished capacity because it is often slow and subtle and insidious. Sometimes it’s only one change that is a trigger that lets you know how stuck you really were. 

In my new environment, I watch new ideas appear, new opportunities to serve unfold and new friends with whom to deepen my relationship.

How did you change this past year? What did you release this past year? What did you learn this past year? What new paths are you considering? 

Be aware of your many choices as the new year unfolds before you.

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

Expanding Awareness

Does Your Path Have a Heart?

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

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

What Are Your New Year Visions?

What do you envision for 2023? Not a resolution but a vision.  What do you want to create? What do you want to experience?

I want a positive outcome for the two hip replacements I will have this year. I want to expand my contribution to the Evergreen Community and deepen my friendships.  And I’d like to be surprised. 

What are your hopes had dreams for the coming year?

===CARA’S CORNER===

Expectations

We should periodically do a reality check on what we believe we deserve and what we believe is possible. This week I asked my physical therapist if I would ever get off the walker even with hip surgery and she said I shouldn’t count on that. I didn’t know that. But now I can make my plans around that. It means I must learn to walk further and stand up straighter. And walk the halls to practice. 

That knowledge helps me keep a realistic expectation of what hip replacement surgery will make possible. And I can always be the exception.

What kind of goals do you set for yourself? What do expect can happen?

Walking the halls is an interesting goal. There’s a fish tank in one hall, a turtle in the community room and a bird down my hall. Not exactly exciting goals but they are measurable.

I want to establish and anchor my Qigong practice in my life. I could meditate more, I am getting braver about playing my flute when I know it can be heard down the hall. I still sing my morning chants but softly because I have a suite-mate. I have begun to play new rhythms on my big drum in my meditation and that is inviting new songs 

Make room for yourself. Make room to expand. Make room to grow. 

Make room to explore.

Raise your expectations for the coming year.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Expectations

I want to expect enough of myself but not too much that I can’t achieve it.

I want to expect enough of myself but not too much that I can’t achieve it. I want to challenge myself to try harder and reach higher and achieve more.

I want to expect enough of myself but not too much that I can’t achieve it. I want to challenge myself to try harder and reach higher and achieve more. I raise my sights and move into a new year.

– 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.

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