What We Learn From Diversity
Living Our Deeper Song
Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!
I want to expand and deepen my experience of the resources and beliefs that other cultures contain in order to broaden my own life choices. Perhaps adapting even one small idea from another culture will create a major change in my life.
I don’t want to be a monk, but I sure would like to live with that serenity and stillness within, so how do I create and establish my version of that?
There are qualities in others that I wish I had more of in myself. And even though that may not be an integral part of my persona, I can create my own version of the stillness, or the joy, the passion, or the generosity that I see in others that I would like to have more of in my life.
What can you learn from the diversity of our world today? Which parts and pieces will you bring into your life?
DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION
I look for the gifts and diversity in the world and incorporative those that call to me.
DEEPER SONG PROCESS
- Examine some spiritual practices of other cultures and adapt and incorporate what calls to you.
- Go online and examine the artwork of other cultures and see what resonates with you.
- Explore cuisine from another culture.
- Learn more about how other cultures structure their family relationships.
- Read some literature from another culture.
- If you know someone from another culture, get to know them better.
===INNER WORK===
Deepen Your Inner Awareness
What Is Your Inner Truth?
Life can get complex, confusing, and disoriented. We can be surrounded by ideas, and opportunities, and even insights that need to make it through the cycle of indecision. We must learn to identify and choose core values that resonate with us.
There are several ways to incorporate this in your spiritual practice. The first one is as simple as making a list of your core values on a regular basis, perhaps at the beginning of the month, or the full moon, or even quarterly. You have to take time to really choose. You need to rethink and re-examine where your life has led you and what new opportunities have unfolded and either keep those decisions or make new choices. It’s sort of a once a month “how am I doing’” check-in process along with a good dose of “is this where I want to go?”
A new opportunity may change your direction. A new insight may change your pace or even your entire path.
The new shoes with lifts I have to even my legs will open a huge path of opportunity for me to explore. It will involve upper body exercises, walking, and standing straight, and expanding my range of movement. That’s a lot coming from a shoe. You never know when an opportunity will make a huge change in your direction. Listen to your insights. Listen to your inner truth and follow it.
How Do You Center Yourself?
Sometimes it is surprisingly easy to take a deep breath simply to center yourself. It stops the inner chatter, it brings your focus to the present, and you find yourself centered again.
Experiment with different ways to bring yourself to center. Learn to do it in the middle of a conversation, learn to do it in the middle of an emotion, find different ways to center yourself as your mind gets super busy.
Do you notice when your mind is overwhelmed? Do you notice when your thoughts are scattered? What techniques do you use to restore balance?
I turn and look out the window. I may take some deep centering breaths. I may put a task aside and do something else to change my rhythm. If I could, I might go outside and be present in nature. I might pause and meditate or play my drums or use my sound healing instruments. There are many ways to change the direction of your thoughts and settle into a place of quiet contemplation. How do you do that?
===SELF-HEALING===
Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself
Praise Dancing
I had never heard of “praise dancing” until recently when a nurse shared that she did ‘praise dancing”.
She is a hands-clapping, gospel-singing Christian so I understood what she meant, but I am not Christian and I had to think what my version of praise dancing would be.
I could do a praise dance to nature. I could do a praise dance to my spirituality. I could do the praise dance to my body. I don’t even know what my praise dance would look like. But obviously the point is to go within and express yourself in a form of praise and celebration that engages your whole body.
What does doing a praise dance mean to you? How would you put it in your life and what would you praise?
What’s Not Working In Your Life And How Will You Fix It?
It’s wonderful if your life is moving along at a good pace but if it’s not, you need to fix it.
Perhaps begin with a list about what is working well in your life, what is nurturing and interesting. Then make a list of the not so good stuff to see what changes might be made there. And finally make a list of what is not working and sit there and brainstorm some ideas of what you can do to fix that.
I suggest you begin by looking at the people you spend time with to make certain they are nurturing and uplifting and positive to be around. If someone doesn’t fit that criteria look closely to see why you were spending time with them.
You have the power to change. You have the power to change your choices, the actions you take, the people you spend time with or even the thoughts you think. You have a great deal of control over your life experience through the choices you take. Choose wisely and thoughtfully.
What’s not working in your life and how will you fix it?
===OUTER WORK===
Explore New Potential and Possibilities
The Power Of Walking Barefoot
When was the last time you walked barefoot in the grass? It was kind of cool. It kind of tickled. And it felt incredibly grounding and freeing at the same time.
Nick Polizzi Host of Remedy: Ancient Medicine for Modern Illness & Founder of The Sacred Science says that “historically speaking, it seems like we’re right in step with our forebears. Long before we had cushiony sneakers, our distant ancestors tended to walk barefoot over rock, rubble, dirt, stick, and stream. Their feet were strong and nimble, able to sense and react to any surface they encountered.”
I remember my grandparents gravel driveway. It was tricky to get across in my bare feet but I could do it. And the grass on the other side felt wonderful to my bare feet.
When was the last time you stepped outside in your bare feet and connected to the core of Mother Earth? And when will you do it again?
Clear Your Life Of Unwanted Clutter
You have to make room for what you want. You have to look at your life and clear out the clutter that is keeping you from the path you choose and the life you desire to create.
Clutter creeps up on us. It builds up slowly one item at a time until suddenly my space is cluttered and there is no room for what I desire to have around me let alone anything new.
Where to begin? If you were doing Feng Shui, you would clear everything out of the space and begin thoughtfully adding one item at a time while keeping the over-arching balance in mind.
What if you began with an empty day? No planning. No organizing. Just an empty space in which you put in one thing at a time and savor it. Perhaps it is meditation time. Perhaps it is study time. Perhaps it is spending time with one special nurturing friend.
You have to begin with a clear space, empty of obligations and choices. Just as in Feng Shui, bring in one element at a time and savor it and shape it until it meets your need. You may want to immerse yourself in some facet, like studying or writing. You may want to spend time alone finding your own rhythm, spending time in nature to be nurtured by it.
I work to maintain a balance between writing and study and physical movement and rest. Sometimes I spend a whole day in just one of those elements but most of the time it is an eclectic mix of choices.
Experiment. Spend more hours on one facet until you feel satiated. Then move to another nurturing activity until you find the right balance for you at this point in time. Experiment with awareness and clear your life of unwanted clutter.
Double Check Your Values
How have your values changed recently? Are some things now more important that they used to be? What changes do you need to make to accommodate those new priorities?
I am finding ways to add more movement to my life so I can walk better again. I am expanding my TM practice and
deepening some of my other spiritual practices. I am exploring sound healing to see what doors it will open. As I watch new doors open for me, I am exploring those paths. Keep your eyes and heart open and double check your values that you prize.
What Are The Gifts You Received Today?
Sometimes the gifts are so great that we are overwhelmed with gratitude. Other times the gifts are so small, they nearly go unnoticed. Are you aware of the offerings the universe gives you? And how they are needed to support you in your life choices?
It could’ve been something someone said that made you pause to think or laugh out loud, or a phrase that opened a new path you hadn’t considered.
This week I received the gift of my three-week bout of bronchitis subsiding. If I could go into a dance, I would.
Last week I received the gift of a meaningful interaction with a loved one that helped change the direction of our relationship.
The kind support I receive throughout my day is a gift unto itself and is deeply impactful on my life experience.
Honor the gifts you give yourself. Notice the difference they made and how your week progressed because of them. Sit on the steps with your bare feet in the grass to be with nature. Watch the birds at the bird feeder. Sit in the sun and observing its rays. Be fully present with your pet and the texture of its coat.
Be present with the gifts that surround you and let them nurture and nourish and support you.
Make It A Good Day
As your day begins, do you take time to give thought to how to make it a really good day? What will you do for yourself? What will you do for others? What do you want to learn? What do you want to see? What do you want to experience? How will you do all that?
What will you do for yourself?
So often we step into our day without any thought about caring for ourselves. We get up and go. Taking time to meditate is a lovely way to center yourself and take time to contemplate your life if you will. Be more conscious of the food you eat or the people you choose to spend time with. Look for the things that nurture you and do more of those.
What will you do for others?
Is there someone who could use your support? It can be helping an individual or can be about participating in a group with a larger purpose. How will you create supporting others in your day?
What do you want to learn?
Learning could be about things you want to learn for your job, but I’m thinking more in terms of things that you want to learn that are philosophical in nature. That will help you deepen your inner work and expand your awareness
What do you want to see?
I may choose to look more closely at nature. We have a really lovely garden here that is maintained by master gardener volunteers from the area and I may want to look more closely at individual plants and be more aware of the activity in the Koi Pond or in general be more observant of nature.
I may want to learn to be more observant of others by looking more closely at their expression and listening to the tone of their voice as well as their words.
What do you want to experience?
I want to experience friendship. I want to have a sense of accomplishment. I would like to experience laughter. I would like to be pleasantly surprised. And I would like to learn something that I hadn’t expected to learn.
How will you do all that?
Some of those experiences I create by my own actions. Some come to me through my interaction with others.
The bottom line is it’s up to us to make it a good day.
===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===
Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness
Finding Sacred Places
You don’t have to visit the Great Pyramids in order to find a sanctuary in a secret place. You have probably already created a secret place in several places in your life. You just need to identify them and work with them.
There are several ways. My computer desk is a sacred place for me primarily because that’s where I think and write. It’s an eclectic mix of functional and spiritual and I have no real space to separate them.
My desk chair allows me to turn and face the window, or my altar, or my plants or more practical things like my computer. This where I meditate and write and perform my spiritual practice.
I live in a very small space and every inch of it is sacred.
I have to be certain my thoughts and behavior honor that. This is where I process my frustrations or try to balance my imbalances: try to heal them and try to learn. Am I treating my space with honor and respect? Probably not all the time. Because all my emotions and daily life live here with me.
Find a way to feel you have entered a secret place whenever you wish, a place to deepen your awareness, a place to change your life.
=== DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===
Stillness
The Master allows things to happen. She shapes events as they come. She steps out of the way and lets the Tao speak for itself.
– Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell
I have to practice simply allowing things to happen. It’s not in my nature. I’m a planner and a doer. But what if we sit back and absorb and consider what the universe offers us? No specific action, more observing and considering and being present?
When we shape things as they come, we consider in the moment, we check our heart, we check our world, and we chose for the highest good of all.
The most powerful step we can take is to listen and observe. There may or may not be a step to take, it may simply be a need for more awareness. Or an idea to consider.
Can you sit in the stillness and observe before you act?
=== INSIGHTS FROM THE UNSEEN WORLD===
Guidance to Consider
Summer Solstice
Nature teaches us about birth and death. It teaches us about cycles. It teaches us about interaction. Nature is a very powerful teacher.
Summer solstice has just begun. It is a period of outside activity and cultivating nature and being present with the animals and insects and birds around us.
Midsummer is the time of new beginnings and it has been celebrated since the pagan holiday of Litha. It is a time for deepening your connection with your inner power.
The days get longer and as we spend more time outside with our neighbors, it expands and deepens our experiences.
Summer is a time for deepening your inner wisdom by spending time in nature to learn from its patience, its interaction, it’s rhythm of growth and expansion. And then see how you can apply that to your life.
Summer is the time for deep contemplation, to explore new options simply by learning from nature. Enjoy.
===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEARERS===
Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe
Which Of Your Relationships Needs Healing?
Sometimes we don’t even know that a relationship needs healing. Sometimes we simply don’t know how to heal it. Relationships go astray in small pieces until there is a gap or misunderstanding that you have learned to live with and didn’t even notice.
So how do you fix it? Take a few minutes to look over your core relationships and ask yourself several questions. Is it as nurturing as you want it to be? Are you doing your part? Are they doing their part? What misunderstandings or lack of communication have driven a wedge even ever so slightly into your relationship?
I recently became increasingly aware that I was being offensive in a relationship with someone I care deeply about. Whatever I was doing was not working for her. But I didn’t know what I was doing, I just knew that I was doing it wrong. I know everyone is not lucky enough to have a therapist handy but I do and she went to work. She talked with each of us and found our priorities and we met and discussed how to handle them and how for me to modify certain behaviors. I have not been listening deeply enough.
Having a good person-to-person conversation with love and honesty and clarity of need is a good place to start. And be sure you are a really good listener.
Take time to literally write down what you’re feeling. What you wish would change. Perhaps what it used to be like that you would like to recapture. And when the other person is sharing, don’t interrupt, and don’t make excuses, just listen with your heart.
Give the other person time to think about the situation. Don’t just suddenly say,
“let’s sit down and talk about our relationship.” Because that will take them by surprise. Perhaps say something like “I would like to see if we can make some changes in our relationship. Can you take some introspective time to notice and examine and explore what does work for you in our relationship and what does not. Then let’s discuss it to see what we could change.”
I remember years ago in New York City I had a friend who would call me and talk and talk and talk about her life and her process. And at the end she would say, “And how are you?” I got about three sentences out before she was through with the call. I’m not sure she even knew that was an unsatisfying part of our friendship.
Some people may be too needy. Some people may not naturally be supportive. You may not feel heard. They may not feel heard. And sometimes it’s as simple as a personal need the other person is unaware of. Whatever the cause, it is damaging relationships because of the lack of give-and-take and equal time.
Take time to look at your relationships to see how you can change because sometimes it’s not simple. And sometimes it is a simple as sharing your needs until the relationship comes back into balance.
Which of your relationships need healing and what steps will you take to make that happen?
Dig Deep To Find The Truth And Build On It
We cover up our deepest truth in many layers. In order to move forward we must dig deeply for the truth.
Examine Your Thoughts
Our thoughts slip and slide around corners and change shape unexpectedly. Clearing your mind is one of the first steps to finding truth. Notice which thoughts are yours. Notice which thoughts belong to others and question why you took them on and if you want to keep them.
Quieting your mind and questioning the source of your thoughts and making new choices will take you closer to your own truth.
Examine Your Mind
We make assumptions. We jump to conclusions. We need to quiet our mind, examine our thoughts and our expectations and our beliefs. Perhaps take time to write down your core beliefs. Make certain they reflect how you want to live your life. Look closely at what you believe you deserve and what you believe is possible and see where you are holding yourself back.
Establish a practice of stillness. Quiet your mind and speak from your inner self to gain clarity and guidance and insight.
Examine Your Heart
Expand your heart to become more inclusive. That means examining your judgments, your beliefs, your fears, until you can identify what is at the core of your heart.
I have to change my focus to be more inclusive. I want to change my focus to be more aware of all of us as Light Bearers and encourage each of us to hold our light high. But most of all, I have to feel our Oneness and I can’t do that very well right now in my country. I have some work to do.
What will I do? Quiet my mind and be more present with others, to hear beyond what they say and do. That will take some practice. My mind always wants to contribute something to the point that I almost interrupt others in my enthusiasm to share.
As we open our hearts, as we embrace our oneness, we will experience change. Dig deep to find the truth and build on it.
===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===
Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future
The Power Of Youth
I am amazed at the thoughtfulness of the 19 and 21-year-olds that are on staff here in my long-term care facility. They are here because they know they want to help and they’re looking for that particular place of service for themselves. High school students show up here to be oriented to understand and experience the duties of a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) because they can start training for that in high school. Some of them know they want to go into nursing. Some know they want to become doctors. They all have a strong need to help.
I watch high school students establish movements to save the planet. I see young women leading the charge to restore the right for women to monitor and care for our own bodies. Young people are listening and taking action which is a very good thing because we very much need their voices in the world today.
If you have young people in your life who are interested in activism, help them become true stewards and guardians of our planet and our personal rights. Young people are our future. Encourage them.
=== ===THE UNFOLDING DIVINE FEMININE=== ===
Explore and Interpret the Guidance and Messages of the Divine Feminine
I’m Not Doing It Right
I have made the mistake of moving into the adversarial, warlike, confrontational energy of the Divine Masculine when in fact, when I want to learn to be is encompassing, inclusive, supportive, and making every effort to bring everyone into equal footing.
I have been confrontational. and I’ve been scared of the war-like aspect of the masculine as it currently manifests. And yet I do know Amazons existed as warrior figures for their people.
The myth says that the Amazon women were the most powerful women ever. In the ancient times, they were said to be a tribe of independent, mighty women who had rebelled against the men-dominated society. They used to live in isolated places, excluding men from their society and making wars against them.
Now I don’t want to make a war against men. But I do want to find a place of balanced interaction and coexistence that honors both our strengths and our weaknesses.
The Amazons were a race of female warriors in Greek mythology, who dwelt in the region of modern-day Ukraine. (Isn’t that interesting…) Two of the best-known Amazon queens were Penthesilea, who took part in the Trojan War, and her sister Hippolyta, who was the owner of a magical girdle, given to her by the god of war Ares.
Amazons worshipped Artemis, Because of this, two of three patron deities are Ares, god of war, and Artemis, goddess of war, and Cybele, goddess of the moon. Artemis can be regarded in many ways as an immortal Amazon. She was known to be fierce, warlike, and was also the goddess of the hunt and nature.
I’ll stop there with my analogy. You get the picture – for me being feminine means being self-sufficient, protective, and attuned with nature.
I think the part I have to play is turning the natural instinct to protect our children and family into the warrior-like protection of the planet as a whole.
That means we have to fight. That means we have to establish strong patterns of inclusiveness. And expectation. That means that both men and women must change our thinking, our role, and our expectations for ourselves.
Where do we begin? What do you expect of yourself? Up that a few levels. Up what you think you should or could expect from a man or expect from yourself if you are a man. Have a discussion with the men in your life, both large and small, about how their role is changing and what that looks like and how they might express that in their lives. See what that means to them and how it might be expressed in your life.
The oldest man I know is 78. He is my son-in-law and he is the kindest, most supportive person I have ever known. He was a high school teacher, he’s been a Boy Scout leader, and has been in Service all of his life. His 12-year younger wife has not reached retirement age and he cares for her needs and their home. He is a perfect example of a man willing to take on any role that is needed.
It’s the old politicians who seem warrior-like that we need to protect ourselves from in order to establish a world that is guided by curing, protective, loving, defended-it-all females and somehow teach then to choose. I have no idea how that will unfold.
How do we know to view our roles in our world differently? We must become more expansive. And more compassionate. And more caring. And much, much more inclusive.
===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===
Return to the Simplicity of the Uncarved Block
Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
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Deeper Song Website
==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===
Past issues of this newsletter are found at Insights Of A Deeper Song. Past Podcasts are found at Deeper Song Podcasts
===CARA’S CORNER===
Get The Help You Need
I am so grateful that I have access to physical therapy. I was on the recumbent bike for 29 minutes. After that I did some arm and leg strengthening exercises with my physical therapist, Maggie, and then I walked back to my room in my new blue lift shoes – standing up straighter – using my walker, of course. It was a major progression. And what I learned was to go with your goal from a different direction. We worked other body parts and it affected the core outcome. There’s a lesson here someplace. It’s probably about strengthening your support system around the goal you wish to achieve. So if I want my body to stand up straight, then I have to exercise different parts of my body individually or I can’t make that over-arching change happen.
So what is the life lesson here? Build a structure around what you want to create. Make certainly it has a strong foundation. Pay attention to the material you use in the risers that hold the whole structure in place. And build yourself a structure from the ground up.
Do the work. I had physical therapy visits before I moved from across the street to Evergreen but if I didn’t do the work, nothing happened.
I do some exercises every day but perhaps not as vigorously or energetically or as extensively as I might.
How committed are you to strengthening and restoring whatever in your life needs fixing? Get the help you need and do the work!
===SING A DEEPER SONG ===
I Don’t Need To Go It Alone
I don’t need to go it alone. There are people who will support and help me.
I don’t need to go it alone. There are people who will support and help me. I simply need to ask and do the work.
I don’t need to go it alone. There are people who will support and help me. I simply need to ask and do the work. It is up to me to make change happen.
– Cara Lumen, June 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
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