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Spiritual Awareness

How to Walk Beside Someone in Service

December 22, 2015 By Cara Lumen

helping hadn 5-2

I want to be a better fellow traveler. I want to learn to be more helpful as I share a portion of my journey with someone. What does that look like? What do I need to learn to do? How do I walk beside someone in service?

I see life as a journey. We wander along paths of our own making, we follow the paths made by others, we explore venues that interest us, we change directions. We run up against barriers, we float down streams, we sit on a boulder and enjoy the view. Life is fluid and it’s an adventure.

Who is on a similar journey?

No one is going to walk the whole journey beside you. Life doesn’t work that way. But periodically in your life you will travel alongside someone who helps you, or someone whom you help. You share a leg of the journey. You help each other and, working together or alone, you help others. That’s how we travel through life, traveling our own path in the company of others.

How do you recognize the moments we should walk together?

When I finally realized that I wasn’t going in the same direction as anyone else in my senior community, I had to go find a whole new tribe. It took a while for me to realize that that was what I needed to do and a bit longer to figure out where to find the people in my new tribe. I found people online who were going the same direction as me, people on an adventure similar to mine.

You have to want to travel

Not everyone wants to go exploring. In fact, few do. And those of us who do have learned to stand alone and are willing to travel alone. We understand ourselves and are eager to deepen our song. We are adventurers, curious explorers with a passion for life.

Recognize the shape of your own journey

Some of us take really long journeys. Others make short trips, they sort of put their toe in the water. Others train for a long-distance swim. There’s no right or wrong way to move ahead, there’s simply your unique journey.

The more I allow myself to be immersed in the direction I’m going, the more relevant my work becomes. I understand why I’m taking this particular journey. I open myself to explore whatever shows up. I trust. I relax and let life unfold.

Many of us are seeking to sing a deeper song but we’re at different levels on our journey, different degrees of awareness. I seldom know what the members of my tribe take from me but I do know what I get from them. So I continue along the path, seeking to walk beside them for part of our journey.

When do you know when to part?

At some point we will part ways. Each of us will move in a more specific direction and take separate paths. The more refined your focus, the more alone you will be. You’ll have to gather bits and pieces of inspiration and insight from various sources. The possibility of someone walking closely beside you for a long part of the journey is slim. But there will always be others to shed their light on your path just when you need it. Let go and move in the direction that calls to you.

How do you help others on the path?

Sometimes helping others along the path is deliberate, sometimes seemingly accidental. The bottom line is to be aware that you’re on a path with others, all of you on a journey, not all going in the same direction. Begin to see how you can give someone a helping hand, or share news of a route you found, or alert them to a bump in the road ahead.

I have an online friend with whom I exchange emails full of self-questioning and soul-searching. Each time I respond to his email, I learn something. It works that way for him too.

I write my posts and podcasts to figure things out that resonate with me. When I share them, they also help others. I know because people tell me. How and why I help are mysteries to me, but I’m changing lives. I thought about trying to figure out the why and how, but decided to relax and follow my passion and instinct and this powerful drive I have to explore in a certain direction.

You help others simply by being true to your own journey.

You can hold their hand

The choices of how you serve others on the path vary with personalities – both yours and theirs. Figuratively holding their hand as they move through a process is one way. Life coaches are an example of that.

You can teach them

People who create systems for others to follow leave strong marks on the trail and guide others in a certain direction. Entrepreneurs who teach a system do this.

You can mark the trail

I think I fall into this category. My writing follows my own exploration, explains my discoveries and shares how I put my new insights to work. It’s not about teaching, it is about being a trail blazer, an explorer, a seeker who leaves markers on the trail. I know many people in this category. People traveling as explorers have interaction with other travelers but mostly in short periods of exchanging or gleaning information before making a decision to move on.

You can leave a map

These are the thinkers who come to a conclusion and tell you why they think that way. It is up to you to read their “maps”, look at the topography they discovered and plan your own journey.

You can outgrow your companions

The more you know, the more specialized is the knowledge you need. Once I learn to ski cross country, I can tackle more difficult trails. Maybe you ski better than your companion. Maybe you have a stronger urge for adventure. Maybe you want to ski jump and your companion doesn’t. Know that you will need to find new teachers, guides, seekers and trailblazers depending on where you are in your own journey.

Walk beside someone. Offer them support in a manner that befits your own journey. Take what you need and then be prepared to travel your own path.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

How Are You Exploring Your Essence?

We Are Part of a Larger Spiritual Order

You Are All-That-Is

What Message Are You Modeling?

 

18- How Your Light Illuminates Paths of Darkness

20 – Why Are You In Service?

05-Do You Have the Courage to Stand Alone

06– Unfolding And The Art Of Wu Wei

Do You Hang Out with Givers or Takers

If You Are A Rock – Who Supports You?

Filed Under: Alligned Choices, Self Awareness, Service Tagged With: Deeper Song, service, Spiritual Awareness

How Are You Exploring Your Essence?

September 8, 2015 By Cara Lumen

Who are you? What makes you who you are? Where did you come from? Where do you go when you die? How much control, if any, do you have over your life? These and many more questions present themselves as we move along life’s journey.

Rather than have a set of rules, dogmas, or restrictive beliefs, those who search for an understanding of the natural flow of life are searching for themselves. They are looking for their essence. I happen to call that Tao.

We seek self-awareness—an understanding of our own talents, gifts, skills, wants, wishes, urges, beliefs, emotions, and everything else that seems to define us.

In seeking to understand our natural self, our essence, self-awareness is the path to change.

If you don’t become aware of how you act, what you say, how you affect others, you can’t change yourself. If you don’t become aware of your needs and wants and desires, you can’t seek them out. The more self-aware you are, the more aligned are your choices. When you cultivate self-awareness, you make choices that are aligned with your core self.

Observe the signs of your essence

Your world reflects your essence. You can understand your natural self when you become aware of your thoughts and actions and begin to make conscious choices about what you think and say. Your essence is reflected in how others respond or react to you. You can observe the responses you get and then make changes in yourself that alter those responses.

Become clear on what you believe. Where did those beliefs come from? From school? From your family? From your past? Do they serve you in your present awareness? Do you want to keep those beliefs? Think about releasing or redefining your beliefs so they are aligned with your current values.

What do you want to change about yourself, and how do you do that? Observing your own thoughts and feelings is a key component of self-awareness.

Question everything

If I do this, what will happen? If I do that, how will things be different? What is keeping me from moving forward? What am I doing way over here? Questioning goes with observing. If something is working well in your life, observe it, figure out how you helped make that happen and do more of it. If, on the other hand, it’s something you don’t like, figure out what made it happen and stop doing that. We have the choice. Question your choices and keep them aligned with the direction you want to go.

Explore your essence

How do we do that? Well, we can explore our essence through stillness, the various forms of our spiritual practice. Meditate, do yoga or Qi Gong, or walk reflectively in nature. Journal, mind-map, or have philosophical conversations with others. How are you learning about the possibilities in the path you are on? How are you learning about the essence of your natural self?

You are on your own unique path

You are on a journey that only you can take. What it looks and feels like begins and ends with you. You will interact with others on your path. You will learn from them; you will teach them. Some you will walk with for a while; others you will avoid. Some you will lead, others you will follow. But the specific path you take is yours alone. How you walk your path will inspire and motivate others.

How you walk your path is the expression of your essence. Walk it mindfully.

To Sing a Deeper Song consider:

There is No Striving in being

if I Were a Person Who…

Create Your Own Spiritual Journey

How to Creative Fertile Field for Positive Change

Are You a Gift Person

What is Your True Nature

I Am You

06– Unfolding And The Art Of Wu Wei (podcast, 20 minutes)

14- How Strong is the Foundation You Build On (podcast, 20 minutes)

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Filed Under: Self Awareness, Spiritual Expansion Tagged With: Self Mastery, Spiritual Awareness, Spiritual Expansion

Return To The Simplicity Of The Uncarved Block

August 22, 2014 By Cara Lumen

The uncarved block is who we are at our core, the essence of our being. It is our pure self, our original state of being before it is shaped by various life processes. Returning to the simplicity of the uncarved block means returning to a wholeness that may currently be missing in our life. It is a place of referral we can access to guide our current experiences and choices.

The uncarved block is a symbol of our original state

“The essence of the Uncarved Block is that things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed,”  – Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh 

To begin to understand the concept of the uncarved block, it is helpufl to compare three translations of verse 15 in the Tao Te Ching. “Whole as an uncarved block of wood.” in the John H. McDonald translation, “Shapable as a block of wood” in the translation by Stephen Mitchell and “Simple, like uncarved blocks of wood” in the translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English. Let’s see what that means to us.

“Whole” as an uncarved block of wood

“Whole” was my first personal interpretation of an uncarved block. What are we like at the core? What is our essence? The uncarved block is the center of our being. What were we before we layered our lives with experience?

“Shapable” as a block of wood

A block of wood can become anything – a practical tool, a work of art, a framework for a building. Our life experience gradually shapes our original uncarved block of self. Our beliefs dictate the shape, our responses and choices become our carving tools,

“Simple” like uncarved blocks of wood

Our life choices have shaped our uncarved block. Our goal is to find a way to let go of the form we are now in and become whole and uncarved again. Coming from the place of our uncarved block, we enjoy the simple, the quiet, and the natural. When we come from the place of our uncarved block, we do things spontaneously and then release them. We allow our life to unfold and simply shape things as they come.

What if we learn to stop where we are in our lives, go back to the essence of our uncarved block, and use what we find there to consciously shape what we want to be in this moment in time?

We can let go of form and become whole and uncarved again. We can use our instincts to make a positive choice in each situation.  We can do it without the burden of experiences, which may or may not be applicable to the new one. We can consciously shape who we are in the present moment.

“Whole,” “Shapable” and “Simple” are all important concepts as we begin to make choices about living more fully from our own uncarved block.

What is at the heart of your uncarved block?

If we are to go back to pure innocence what is there? My first response was “my spiritual essence.” As I dwell on what that means I use the word “Tao.” I see it as the driving force behind all I do. It is the place I go in meditation. It is the Qi energy I feel moving through my body during Qi Gong practice. It is reached through the mantras I know. It flows through the crystals I hold, that cat I pet, and the moving leaves outside my window. It can be touched through song, or a phrase or something someone says to you. How do you experience your uncarved block? What is at the heart of your uncarved block?

What qualities of your uncarved block do you currently express in your life?

Your uncarved block is present in your life right now.   Some of it may be dusty, rusted over, or layered with beliefs and emotions. However, important essences of your uncarved block have been present and shining throughout your life. What are they? The positive shapes the elements of my uncarved block have taken in my life are enthusiasm, curiosity, love of learning, my writing and the ability to see the overview while developing ideas. Think about your core, your essence. What qualities of your uncarved block do you currently express in your life?

What would you like to pull forward from the simpliciy of your uncarved block right now?

The uncarved block is unlimited in its potential. Our reality becomes the shape we carve out for ourselves. Ideally, we learn to return to an awareness of our uncarved, un-touched, un-formed self and use the simplicity of that framework to fully experience our present life. If you went back to your origins, what would you like to pull forward from the simpliciy of your uncarved block?

What would you like the essence of the uncarved block help you become?

When we return to the simplicity of our uncarved block, we eliminate all the layers of fear, limiting beliefs, uncertainty, and whatever other layers we have added in our life.  What is there waiting for you? What purity of purpose can be pulled forward into your life? Your uncarved block expresses itself in your personality, your talents, and your choices. What would you like the essence of the uncarved block help you become?

What will you do to become more aware of the wholeness, shapability and simplicity of your uncarved block?

Simply becoming more aware that wholeness exists within you may be enough. Learning to make your choices from the simplicity it provides may add serenity to your life. Understanding that your choices shape your life and choosing to make those choices from that deep wisdom within your uncared block may lead you to greater self-awareness. Allow your deeper song to spring from your uncarved block.

Simplify to find wholeness

People simplify their lives so they can access the wholeness of their uncarved block. They question their perceptions, examine their thoughts, and monitor their actions and their speech. If you had a blank life to live, what would you allow into it? Learn to remain rooted in the wholeness and simplicity of your uncarved block. Chose only what nurtures you.

Your uncarved block

The uncarved block is empty of beliefs. It is present. It is free. It asks you to live in an innate, spontaneous reality. To access it, you learn to reside in the present and respond in the moment. You learn to know yourself well enough to modify some behavior that is not working and cultivate the aspects or yourself that bring you joy. You life will benefit from living in the simplicity of the uncarved block.

Filed Under: Spiritual Expansion Tagged With: personal growth, self-awareness, Spiritual Awareness, Taoism

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