What Are You For?
Deeper Song Insights and Applications
Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!
Look for what are you for NOT what you are against. It changes your perspective. It changes what you look for and what you think about. It also helps you feel more in control when you work to support what you are for rather than change what you are against.
My list of what I was against was getting longer and longer. What a relief to focus on the good stuff going on. Not to ignore the dangers evident in our world, we have to look for the opposite of what we don’t want and do that. What are you for?
Our whole senior housing was given masks right away and I diligently wear mine to take out the trash even though I seldom see anyone. I support the well being of all of us. I am FOR taking care of others by taking these precautions.
We have so much we need to change. So many people we need to support in the form of greater education and opportunity.
I started to beat myself up a bit because my form of involvement is not helping people in need in person. I never go anywhere but I also live in a well-off county with highly educated, kind people and if there is a population in need here, I am not aware of it. So I find other ways to serve. There is a great need across the State Line in Kansas City Missouri. Odd what a made-up geographical border creates.
Each year I seem to pick summer to give to organizations helping animals and the earth like – National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, Environmental Defense Fund, and Audubon Society. I get a lot of great calendars that way, but that’s not why I do it. Wildlife and nature are what I choose to support. What I am for.
What group do you want to help, what need do you want to fulfill? Pick what calls to you and see what they need that you would like to offer. It could be time, or money, or service. (I did some computer work for a local Democratic candidate in one election. I never met her, I never left home.)
I have always preferred to help those who are advanced in the areas of our shared interests rather than beginners. That’s important to know about yourself. You might want to help someone who is very close to succeeding and your help makes them fly. Or you may want to help someone learn basic survival skills. Again, know what calls to you. And do that.
You are already helping a lot of people in your circle of influence. Notice that and see where you can do more.
I’m sending positive energy to my country in particular, to support those who are working to hold a higher vibration and a more inclusive vision. I should probably send more energy to those who are slightly considering a more inclusive view in hopes that it helps them broaden their choices. Not to influence, that’s not what we do when we send energy. We send to the highest good, but I know my core intention is for an increased awareness of and desire for inclusiveness. Then I let the choices and actions to arise out of the energy of raised vibration that I have sent.
Support what you are FOR.
I have been trying to figure out what environment and beliefs make a person want to keep things as they are. I have some ideas, fear of change, comfort with the familiar, perhaps insecurity about their ability to adjust. I’m making stuff up here because the divide is so deep in this country that I don’t even know how to have a conversation with people who are unwilling to reevaluate and rethink – everything.
There is going to be compromise, partially cause no one person has a complete picture of all the options and concerns. When we move to assist or change, we need to stay flexible and keep our eye on the goal.
We do need to question ALL our beliefs to see if they are truly ours today and not a belief we inherited from our family or our life experience so far. We’re back to values again. What are yours? Are they focused just on your needs or are they more inclusive than that?
Know what you are against, but turn and focus on and work with what you are FOR!
DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION
I look closely at what I believe and work FOR what is most meaningful to me.
DEEPER SONG PROCESS
- Take a very hard look at your beliefs. Look to see where you may be holding yourself apart. It may be not knowing, not have an experience or not caring. Understand why you believe the way you do. And see if you can expand your awareness and understanding of the opportunities for change.
- What beliefs do you want to change? What quality of coexistence do you want to embrace?
- Take some action to support your most positive and inclusive beliefs. Focus on what you are FOR. And work to make that happen.
Inner Work
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE WHEN YOU GET MESSED WITH?
The Universe messed with me greatly this week when I wen to put up this weeks’ podcast “What Do You Need to Leave Behind.” It was the first podcast I recorded in this new series and it was edited and ready and I had not put it out because I wasn’t sure it was the direction I wanted to take the podcasts. In a recent shamanic journey, I was told to publish it. So I did. But I had to really persist. Since it had been my first podcast in four years there were some steps I had forgotten to take. I had not saved it to an MP3, I had a hard time finding it, the numbering system was all messed up, and… I had to persist – and persist. I had so much intermittent interference that I knew it was a sign, but I didn’t know if it was a sign to stop or a sign to persist. I eat going. And that was the lesson. That was the gift. To want to do something enough, to feel it was important enough to keep overcoming the stumbling blocks.
What is holding you up, or seeming to stand in your way and how are you going to work around it?
Be persistent Be curious. Be flexible
Outer Work
ONE DISH AT A TIME
I am trying to cook more for myself and am only doing a fair job pf it. I was a good cook along the line and even put out a Christmas Cookbook as a gift to my young matron friends40 years ago. I am also now a vegan. I have been a vegetarian for 45 years and a vegan for the last 10. Vegans leave out all dairy.
It began with garbanzo bean flour. I was excited to discover it. It turns out it is a little salty for my taste. This week I made garbanzo flour pancakes and although they have potential they were wired. First of all. I haven’t cooked a pancake in 10-12 years so I didn’t remember how hot to make the pan.
But that odd failure aside (I eventually ate all of them) I got an idea of how to make a recipe just enough for one. I like the idea of putting vanilla and maple syrup IN the batter and there are not many ingredients in a pancake. I can figure this out. Just have to figure out the flour part.
All that detail aside, how has your taste changed over the years, what does your body need right now, and what will you feed it?
I’m going to try to master one dish at a time. Find the seasoning and ingredients that I like. The first step is to identify what kind of food you like. I like Chinese. So I’m going to explore Chinese recipes until I find one or two or more that I want to add to my “Cara Loves This” list. Right now there is not much on that list except raw cabbage with lemon pepper. That’s easy enough to fix.
I bought a lot of noodles and rice and beans at the beginning of the pandemic in a sort of a keep-my-pantry-full reflex. It turns out I’m not much of a rice and beans fan. If you live with others you may have been compromising for a long time. If you live alone you can be very much open to experimentation.
So my goal here is to find one dish at a time that I really like and want to cook again. Like building the road one brick at a time.
And the new will replace the old. I want to make dishes to replace the Amy’s meals that are expensive. I am trying new seasonings to see what I like. Find substitutes. I like crackers but I found some wild rice sticks at Natural Grocers that I like even better. I could learn to make a healthy flatbread.
Yes, it takes some time. Yes, it definitely takes some hunting for recipes and making room for actual cooking time each day. But when you do it regularly, when you find the dish you love, it is all worth the effort and time.
Move your life forward, one selected dish at a time.
THE KITCHEN SINK
Your kitchen sink makes a great ballet bar for exercising. It is a good hight and the sink edge makes a sturdy holding bar. I used it daily for stretching. It is great for stretching your shoulders. When you bend forward, cross your arms on the edge, look down at the floor, and stretch those shoulder muscles. Move your hips while in that position. Hold o to the sink edge and do some knee bends so you move your leg muscles too. I use my hold on the edge of the sink to stand up straight and tilt my head toward one shoulder and then the other to stretch my side muscles. Hang on and do some marching steps. You get the idea, a strong holding bar for you to use while offering your muscles some exercise.
There are other areas in your home to use for exercise. A doorway can be used to lean up against and straighten your back. I use the footboard of my bed and the nearby cat tree to hold on to while I do leg lifts.
As I work to undo my stiffness I realize how much I have stopped doing. I can’t kneel or get on the floor anymore. In doing these exercises I realize why. I haven’t used those muscles or a long time so I have begun to march in place and while hanging on safely, do some knee bends. They are not comfortable. My muscles have not been used to do that for a long time. But I will keep doing them and keep adding repetitions as I get stronger. Work on keeping a sturgeon range of motion in your body.
Begin by identifying a daily time in which to will add more targeted stretching and balance training. I’ve had enough exercise and yoga and T’ai Chi classes in my life to simply talk to my body and stretch it in ways that help it regain its strength.
And I finally found some music to move to. It happens to be a call and response video from my flute class with Christine Stevens. A steady drumbeat with drum rhythms interspersed with wonderful responsive flute melodies that inspire movement. That will be a game-changer. Dancing doesn’t feel like exercise.
I need to add smaller moments of exercise, something like a big stretch each time I get up from my desk – or any chair for that matter. I have two standing desks that would help me stand at my desk but I never use them. I need to stand up more. Maybe just stand up and watch TV. And I can stretch even more at the kitchen sink.
First comes the habit, then comes the increased repetitions.
I can’t tell you how important it is to keep movement in your life. There is a great deal of benign over and reaching up that takes place in ordinary life. You want to e able to keep doing that.
I have to reagin what I gradually let go of. It would have been easier to keep it. I’m taking steps (literally) to change that.
What form of sneak-it-in exercise can you add to your day?
EXPLORE WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
Reverend Al Sharpton is on CNBC. I listened to him this week and he spoke with others about the passing of John Lewis and that generation of civil rights activists. It was enlightening to hear from other leaders working with their black communities to learn of the challenges they face and their supportive solutions. Joy Reed is a black woman who was recently promoted to prime time on CNBS. (7 eastern). I like her for her joy and I also like her for her insights into the black community.
I have no experience in that culture. I have to learn what others are facing and perhaps how I can help. There’s a lot I don’t know. But I am listening and learning.
What situation, culture, or imbalance o you need to educate yourself on? Pick one and go learn more.
OUR EVOLVING FUTURE
I don’t understand what is going on in the world. It is a HUGE, painful lesson. It is the rise of the feminine. I see super-strong female mayors managing big cities. Strong women are stepping forth everywhere. I got back to this idea of focusing on what I am FOR – collaboration, cooperating, an awareness of our oneness. So in my spiritual practice, in my inner work, I will focus on that, radiate that out, let those who can feel it be uplifted and changed by it.
What are you for, and how are you making it happen?
CARA’S CORNER
I had an odd and unexpected shamanic journey this week in which I was called upon to bless myself at several stages of life. To understand the choices I made were not dumb, they were necessary. I blessed the lessons I learned, the experiences I had, the people I met. It was very much about accepting the gifts of those periods in my life as well as the lessons.
In the metaphorical journey, I was teaching a class. I finished and exchange with one girl who was standing and went to a second girl who was standing. The first girl did not sit down. When I finished my exchange whit the second girl I said, “You may sit down now.” The second girl did, the first girl did not. It turns out that the first young girl said I she would not sit down until we had completed this journey together. She was me at a young age and we had a long path to travel together. So I journeyed with her to help myself at various ages and stages
We can’t go back. We can’t change things. We made the choices at the time that we were meant to make them – even the not-so-wise ones.
Have you forgiven yourself for your past actions in this lifetime? It’s over, done with, It’s what you do in the here and not that will propel you forward. You can’t go fix it, But you can move reward with all the wisdom those choices gave you.
Are you standing in your light of today? Do you need to go back and release and let go of and maybe even forgive some of your o past choices?
Begin from where you are now and do a good job with what you have been given to work with.
A DEEPER SONG
“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.” – Rumi
Keep singing a 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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