Cara Lumen | Sing a Deeper Song

Sing a Deeper Song

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Purposeful Acts of Kindness

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by Cara Lumen

Her co-worker had just separated from his wife. She went with him to the doctor and then offered her home for his recuperation because he had no place else to go. Her husband went with that co-worker when he had his surgery and spent the night at the hospital with him so he would have an advocate there. Those are not random acts of kindness that’s purposeful kindness, the kindness I find myself surrounded with here in the mid-west. 

At the store I was looking at a 40 pound box of cat litter wondering how to get it in my cart when a young woman stopped to help me. I hadn’t asked. She just saw my need and addressed it. At the grocery store I asked the Sara Lee delivery man for a product that turned out his company didn’t make. He even went over to the racks to help me look. It wasn’t there. So I just continued down the next aisle. A few minutes later there he was with two varieties of the product in his hand. I was totally touched by his kindness and we semi-hugged. I think he was touched by my being touched. A young man in my building helped me get my laundry up the stairs. And my niece who unexpectedly helped me find a government building I was having a hard time locating and it took a lot of pressure off of me. I have never before been so surrounded with purposeful acts of kindness – organic acts of kindness. 

It has made me stop to see how I measure up in thoughtfulness. I may no longer be able to step in and lift something, or tall enough to reach a high shelf for someone, but there are other things. I can write these posts and hope they inspire someosne. I can write thoughtful comments and acknowledgements to people I interact with. I did recently rescue a mother cat and four black kittens that someone left in a box on the second floor landing outside of my apartment. I was new in town and had to go find the humane society to help them be safe. Sometimes it may be as small a kindness as a cheery word on a gloomy day, or a sincere thank you to the checkout clerk.

I have added something new to my coaching sessions. I have always asked, at the end of my classes and my coaching sessions, what the participants are taking away with them. It’s a good way to help them realize what they have gained and for me to see what was meaningful for them. But recently, I’ve been telling both the participants in my courses and my coaching clients what I’m taking away from our time together and it often ends up with an acknowledgement of the progress the client made, or the collaboration the class shared, or how they have touched my heart.   It feels good for both the receiver and especially for me, the giver. 

How can you increase your purposeful acts of kindness? One thoughtful act a day. Or two? Kindness is definitely contagious.

I’ve caught the kindness feeling. I’m more aware of what I can do for others. It’s my turn to see how thoughtful I can be. They say you are like who you hang out with and I’m hanging out with some really great people. Purposeful act of kindness, here I come!

 © 2010 Cara Lumen

Have You Giggled Lately?

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We can get so serious about our business that we can forget to have fun. We can become so worried about our “next” that we forget to enjoy the “now.” When was the last time you laughed so hard you couldn’t stop? When was the last time you sat around playing with a young child laughing in pure joy as he expressed who he was and participated with cleverness and spontaneity?
If you’re missing laughter in your life – get some. A long time ago it was proven that laughter helped cancer patients get better. Part of their treatment was to laugh every day. I’ve laughed out loud more in the four months I’ve been near my family than the last 19 years I lived by myself. Wonderful belly laughs complete with tears running down my face, to a light heart at the sound of my family playing a game about passing a dime around to guess who was actually holding it. 

I don’t know that it depends on others to find something to laugh about but they help. I have laughed out loud at a book I was reading. I have laughed at a friend’s story over the phone. I’ve laughed at myself, but not out loud. 

Lighten up. Even a smile will make a difference. See how light you can get your heart. See how grateful you can be for the people you live with, or where you live, or who you work with, or a kind deed that comes your way. We see what we look for. Look for twinkling eyes, the beginning of a grin, the smugness of your cat as he lies innocently beside the plant he just knocked over. Find the humor, find the joy, find the laughter. Your day will be better for it.

 © 2009 Cara Lumen

Do What You Love, Love What You Do

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by Cara Lumen

Most of what I do I love. But recently I’ve noticed there is a resistance, a reluctance to make a list and set some plans and take certain steps. There’s even a tightness in my stomach when I put certain items on my "To Do" list.

What needs to change? What do I need to do differently?
 
I do — deep inside. It’s time to see where I am, decide where I want to be and make some new choices. It is about finding my new rhythm. Where do I place into my day the things I want to do?
 
Deepen Your Spiritual Practice
 
One of the major changes I have made is to find a place to fit in a daily Falun Gong  practice. I do it in the morning after I’m dressed for my day. The last step in the practice leads me into meditation. I can feel my energy balancing as I thoughtfully practice this powerful moving meditation. I notice the increased deepness of my sitting meditation. There is deep inner work going on that I know only by sensation, not by recognition.
 
Deepening your spiritual practice is one way to make change.
 
Allow it to unfold
 
I started to write “make a bold goal, think a big vision.” But that’s part of the doing, not the being and being is where change is made.
 
I have deepened my level of gratitude. Before I go to sleep. Upon awakening. During the day. I continue to feel the blessings that surround me. The goodness that is in my life. The fluidity of my experience. And I am grateful.
 
Allowing your life to unfold is like going on an adventure. You don’t know what will be around the next corner. And if you truly want to have an adventure, you will allow yourself to follow new paths on a whim — this feels right, I’ll go here, I’ll do this.
 
There is patience that is needed to allow it to unfold. Patience and a belief that there is a grand plan, that you are an integral part of it, and that all is and will be well in your world.
 
Do what you love
 
Do the parts of life you love. Do the parts of your business that you love. Be with the people you love. Follow your emotions. Allow them to lead you to fulfillment and celebration, happiness and affection. Your emotions are your guides. They help you choose what will nourish you and help you leave behind everything and everyone that no longer serves you.
 
Love what you do
 
If you no longer love what you do, change it. Tweak it, toss it, start again. Whatever it takes to let you fall back in love with what you do.
 
It’s when we are in love with what we do, when we are in celebration of all we are, that others find us attractive and come to join in our enthusiasm. Honor your heart’s calling. Allow yourself the freedom of choosing to do what makes your heart sing. You will be happiest when you do what you love and love what you do.
 

© 2008 Cara Lumen

Does Your Web Site Mean Business?

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by Cara Lumen

Remember brochures? Those colorful and expensive folded pamphlets that you hoped people would pick up and read. And maybe, just maybe they would call you? Do you remember folding, stamping, mailing, or putting them in holders at your booth? Brochures and flyers have their place, but if you are on the internet you must remember that your web site is not a brochure!!!!

 

It can be, of course, it can be a decorative internet presence that lets you say “You can go to my web site at ….” That is a placeholder that simply gives visitors a way to contact you.

 

But a web site should be and can be so much more.

 

Ask for Action-Action-Action

 

As an internet marketing coach I would never encourage you to settle for a brochure web site. If you are going to play on the internet, play for keeps! And that means creating a web site that is compelling and has a clear call to action.

 

What makes a web site compelling?

 

I’m an Attraction Marketer so I am aware of the instant connection that comes from the mere energy behind a web site. I certainly have come across web sites that make an immediate connection with me based on their energy alone. And I have had people tell me that coming to my web site feels like coming home. There is energy that reaches out even before the words and design make an impact.

 

Give them the vital information

 

As an Internet Marketer I believe in giving people the information they need to make an informed decision. I don’t scare them into buying, or yell at them with big fonts and loud yellow boxes, I approach them as a new acquaintance, someone who might be interested in what I offer provided I listen to what they need and truly try to stay in service.

 

Build a friendly relationship

 

As the content progresses I address their needs, not in a negative manner, but in a hopeful manner. Not “Are your painful knees wrecking your life?” but “How would it feel to be able to take a long walk in the woods again? I want to give them hope, a joyous expectation of what is possible, and then let them know how what I offer may be of service to them.

 

It’s like meeting someone new; you don’t move in with a hard sell, you get to know them by exchanging information. In fact, if you’re really good, you don’t sell anything at all, you simply express you passion and enthusiasm for what you do.

 

Ask for another “date”

 

So, if people only spend about a minute on your web site, how can you build a relationship? If they go away you’ll never see them again. But if you create an opt in offer that invites them to give you their email and name along with permission to email them again, you have made a prospective new friend. It means they are interested enough to explore your relationship a bit further.

 

If your web site does not have a compelling opt in offer it does not mean business. It is merely decorative.

 

If you are going to have a web site, put it to work for you. Create a strong opt in offer, write a mini-ecourse for your autoresponders, begin to collect those names. 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your list. Do the math. You have to have a list. And building a list takes time. You have to have a list of people who are interested enough in your work to want to hear more from you. That means you must have an opt in box on you website or you are wasting your time.

 

You must have a clear call to action

 

As big as the temptation is to tell everything you do to everyone who comes you must have only one clear call to action per page. In the case of your home page it must be your opt in box which must be placed in the upper right hand portion above the fold. All you want to do on your home page copy is tell them what you can do for them (not how you will do it),interest them enough in what you offer and entice them enough with your opt in offer, that they give you their name and email. One request. One call to action.

 

Do you see why a brochure approach is so weak? With a little effort, and an investment in a strong foundation like Easy Web Automation Shopping Cart that allows you to create compelling autoresponders and make relationship-building broadcasts to keep in touch and build trust you will have a web site that means business.

 

© 2008 Cara Lumen