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Make Use of Emptiness 

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Make Use of Emptiness
An Inner-World Exploration


Why is bamboo a symbol of exemplary conduct? Because it makes use of emptiness. That emptiness makes it flexible, open to receive, and ready to respond as needed.

We should cultivate the emptiness of bamboo. 

How to be empty

Our body suit keeps us busy.  It stimulates us and talks to us. In order to be empty like bamboo, we must cultivate stillness, mindfulness, and serenity. 

One waits in emptiness.  Does nothing. Says nothing.  Sits silent and empty.  Not even expectation. Just being.

And therein lies the power of emptiness.

That’s one of the purposes of a spiritual practice.

Be flexible 

Bamboo is empty and it is flexible. Just as bamboo does, think of yourself as moving in a soft breeze.  Gently swaying.  It changes your view, brings you fresh air and gives you more options.

When you are empty, you are present and capable of moving in any direction. And you can also continue to stay perfectly still.  There’s no forward movement to stop.  There’s no bending to unbend.  There’s simply a presence and a sense of expectation. Simply being.  Empty.  And present.

Be open to receive

When you are empty you have room to consider whatever shows up.  You can observe, explore, make choices.  You can decide what you want to bring into your emptiness.  Or perhaps you would just rather stay empty for a while.  You have great flexibility of the possibilities you can choose. 

When we fill ourselves too full, there’s no room for anything else.  Practice emptying yourself.  Empty your mind. Empty your breath.  Sit in stillness and see what shows up. 

Be ready to respond as needed 

There’s a readiness about being empty.  There’s no forward motion to check. No backward motion to halt.  You’re in a state of simple readiness. But emptiness is even less active the that. It’s stillness. It’s simply being.  

Then you can respond, not react.  A circumstance presents itself.  You see it, consider it, weigh your options. Maybe you explore a bit before you choose. Be flexible in your response to whatever shows up. 

The choice is yours

To move or not to move, to accept or not to accept. To believe or not to believe.  In your emptiness, there’s an awareness.  An awareness of your destiny, your reason for being, your purpose.  And in that emptiness is the opportunity to view your options.  To consider choices.  

Still, you do nothing. You are empty. You observe.  

Act only when you are ready

At some point, you may choose action.  And for the moment you fill yourself with purpose and plans and readiness and choices.  

Then you return to emptiness.  Observing.  Simply being.  Being present.  Being still.  

Cultivate emptiness

Empty. Being. Simply being.  No expectations or concerns, no thoughts, or planning. Simply being present. In an emptiness that’s full of presence.  

Until it’s time to fill yourself with a new choice. 

How do we cultivate emptiness?

Time Stands Open

I sit before an
empty parcel of time.
Mine to fill.
Mine to squander.
Mine to enjoy. 

I sit. 

I feel. 

I experience
the emptiness.

The waiting. 

There is no
expectation. 

There is simply
an open space,
a segment of time
that is mine to do with as I choose.

I go within
to see what time
wants from me.

Mindfulness.
Stillness.
Emptiness.

Experience emptiness.

Clear your mind
and soul.

Be empty. 

I do. 

I sit mindfully
in an open parcel of time.
And simply am.

-Cara Lumen, 1995

Deeper Song Affirmation

I cultivate the art of emptiness. 

Deep Song Process

  • Sit silently and empty your mind.  Simply be.
  • With gentle persistence, release any thoughts or worries or mental activity that shows up. 
  • Simply be. 
  • Do not make an effort to empty your mind. Simply empty your mind.
  • Practice nothingness throughout your day. 
  • Notice how you feel and how your experiences change.

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider

The Packed Potential Before the Beginning

The Pillar of Light Process

The Intentional OM Hum

How to Walk a Path of Inner Stillness 

Another Part of You-The Unseen World

How Do You Make Your Actions Lasting and Meaningful?

How to Interpret the Messages from Within 

I help transformational thinkers raise their personal vibration so that we, collectively, can raise the consciousness of our planet.

To receive our weekly
Deeper Song Insights and Applications
Join the Deeper Song Community.

The Light Vibration of One 

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The Light Vibration of One
An Inner-world Exploration

Everything is vibration.  We communicate through vibration. We manifest change through vibration.  We are vibration.  

There is both high and low vibration. The higher the vibration, the further afield it carries. We want to raise our own personal vibration to a higher level of vibration in order to merge with other high vibrations to create a powerful collective energy. 

We do that with an Intentional Vibration Process I call the Light Vibration of One.

Become mindfully present

In a quiet place, sit mindfully still and focus on your breath.  Feel the strong balanced vibration that is your natural state resonating steadily throughout your body.  Allow that vibration to resonate until you are tingling with awareness. 

Expand your vibration

Feel this inner vibration of wholeness extend to your skin.  Feel this vibration that is you move past your skin out several feet beyond your body suit.  Is it a color?  Just notice. Does it have a sound? Just listen.

Through your crown chakra, allow golden light to enter.  It moves slowly and thoroughly through your body, clearing, sweeping, releasing. What is no longer needed drains out through your feet.  

Immerse yourself in the vibration of wholeness until you experience yourself as a pillar of light, a steady, powerful energy whose vibration extends several feet from your body suit.  

Take a conscious breath and on the exhale, feel your aura, your vibrational field of energy, extend out a few feet further.  With each breath, expand your vibration until the room is filled with just your vibration.

How does that feel?  What do you feel? Can you feel yourself as pure vibration, a pulsating sphere of pure energy?  Is there a color to your vibration? Is there a sound? Just notice.

Experience yourself as extended vibration.  Release all human-based ideas and just be that experience.  Be that pure vibration. 

Be aware of your extended vibration throughout your day

Move around your day, your life, your world, with an awareness and experience of yourself as an extended vibration.  Notice that your vibration touches others as you merely pass by.  With your inner eye, look to see and experience the vibrations of others.  No judgment.  Just notice.  No interpretation.  Just notice.

As you deepen this practice, allow your vibration to extend farther afield, to fill your home, fill your neighborhood, fill your city. 

Merge your vibration with others

You’ll soon meet up with other body suits who are consciously raising their vibration and when you meet, you recognize each other as light beings and combine your vibrations so that both of your vibrations become stronger.  The two of you meet another raised vibration and the three of you become stronger.  With each connection with another person who is consciously vibrating beyond his or her body suit, your vibration is strengthened and raised. Your body suit will reflect the experience. Your life will reflect the experience. You will revel in the experience.

Merge into the One Vibration

There’s a point when you’ll feel yourself merging with one large, all-encompassing vibration.  That is our All That Is.  That is the Emptiness That Holds Everything.  The Great Mystery.   The Nowhere That We Came From. We are it.  We are One Vibration.  Accept it.  Be responsible for your particular strand of light, and understand the power of our collective light.

Raise your vibration through intention 

You raise your vibration with intentions set in your personal spiritual practice.  Then you begin to extend your vibration in order to merge with other light beings who are consciously working to raise their own vibration. When you merge, you increase your combined power and reach.  

You change the world by merging with those of us who are conscious of our light vibration.  We are in all parts of the world.  Gradually we find that we have formed a covering for the world, a layer of higher vibration, so that those who see us or feel us recognize their own vibration and choose to join us, to add their vibration to the group vibration. 

Your experience of being a body suit will gradually disappear

At some point, you, the body suit you, will cease to exist in your awareness and you will know yourself as the Light You – the Light that has individualized for the purpose of being in this world but who is not individual at all, but one with the all-encompassing Great Light of Wholeness. 

Know that. 

Feel that.

Be that. 

Trust that.

Deeper Song Affirmation

I am a vital hum in the vibration of the wholeness of All That is. 

Deeper Song Process

  • Practice expanding your vibration in your spiritual practice. 
  • Begin to notice other vibrations you come across in your day. 
  • Practice merging your vibration with other light beings.  They may or may not be aware of the experience. 
  • Practice merging your vibration into the collective vibration and become aware of the change that takes place as we collectively raise the vibration of the world. 

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider:

Why We Need To Raise Our Vibration

You ARE Vibration and Why it Matters

The Pillar of Light Process

The Intentional Ah Hum

Another Part of You-The Unseen World

How to Interpret the Messages from Within

When I See Myself As Light 

Do You Keep Sacred Time?  

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Do You Keep Sacred Time?
An Inner-Word Exploration 

In the course of your day, do you take frequent mindful pauses in which you consciously acknowledge the sacredness of the moment?

If we are doing it right, every moment is sacred, but let’s take small steps to increase our awareness. 

Learn to be more aware of the moment

In order to cultivate awareness of the sacred in your life, practice becoming more aware of the meaningfulness of 

something you do frequently. 

Choose an ordinary and frequent action as a reminder to pause and connect with the unseen world around you.  Walk into a room and pause to feel its energy. Sit down at your desk and mindfully pause before you begin your work offering.  Become conscious of how your body moves and functions and offer it gratitude for its service. Use an often-repeated action as a reminder for you to move into mindful awareness. Pause to breathe, still yourself, and experience the energy around you. Let that mindful action serve as a pulse point, a moment to check in with your inner world and become more aware. Create frequent moments of sacred connection, of being mindful of your surroundings and how you feel both within and without.

Several times during my day, I pause to look out the window at nature.  In seconds, my body stills, my breath evens, and I am transported into a serene inner state.  

How will you prompt yourself to remember to be still and aware and feel the sacredness of the moment? 

Turn your work into a sacred offering

How can you remind yourself that your work is sacred?  That everything you do is filled with the energy of your intention?

My writing is sacred to me.  The act of going within, of listening and bringing forward insights and deciding what to share is creative. It’s a time in which I touch my soul, call upon my gifts, deepen my own understanding, and do something I truly love. I bless the work as I begin and offer it gratitude for its emergence when I finish. And when I post it, I send it with my blessing and the intent to encourage change. 

Your exchanges with others are sacred

Interactions with others are always sacred. You are experiencing the vibration of another person and you are sharing your vibration with them.  You resonate with each other and both of you are changed.  

What could be more sacred than a shared vibration?! 

What kind of sacred moments do you create in your day?

If you pause and observe, you’ll find that many sacred moments already exist.  It may be in the pleasure of freshness you feel after your morning shower.  It may be the softness of your cat’s coat as he snuggles next to you.  It may be the sound of rain rapping noisily against the window while you are warmly tucked inside.  A sacred moment may come in a look, a smile, a comment, a thoughtful gesture or a random thought.  When you look for sacred moments, you’ll find them everywhere.

Purposefully create sacred times  

I recently took a damp cloth to wipe a narrow bookcase that holds some of my crystals and it turned into a sacred experience. I was present, I took time to resonate with each rock and shell. We exchanged energy and there was a deep pleasure in wiping their surfaces.  I was cleaning and the experience became sacred. 

The act of feeding yourself is a sacred time. Thoughtfully choosing what your body asks for, preparing it with mindfulness and love, offering gratitude to the farmer who grew the food, the trucker who brought it to market and the shopkeepers who made it available.  

There is a history of service to everything when we pause to appreciate it. 

Sit silently in nature and listen. Watch the sunset, or the moon rise, or the stars twinkle.  Listen to the wind blow, the birds sing, the crickets chirp.  All are sacred moments.  

Everything is sacred when you pay attention

Every moment is sacred when you pause to become aware of the sacredness.  Begin with gratitude.  Notice what you are grateful for and how the mere act of appreciation brings you into a greater awareness of how everything is sacred. 

Walk mindfully.  Notice how one foot touches the floor and your weight shifts. Then notice the other foot. Make walking sacred. 

Create small acts of ceremony

Ceremony creates sacred moments and even very small acts can be turned into a ceremony. 

Greeting someone with hands in prayer position and saying Namaste (Nah-mah-stay – “the Light With me Honors the Light within you’) is a simple acknowledgment of the sacred light within you both.  Ashe (ah-shay) means “The creative in me honors the creative in you”.

I bless my computer each day so the words I write will touch hearts in the way I have intended and people will be uplifted and encouraged to soar higher. 

I take a shamanic journey every day to ask for insights and clarity of purpose.  

There are small ceremonies I have created for my body temple in the form of conscious, supportive, stretching and Qi Gong movement throughout my day.  

When you sit down at your desk to work, set an intention to bless every word you speak, every interaction you have, every idea that you send out.

When you drive home from work, offer gratitude for the day and send a blessing ahead to the night to come.

Your ceremonies can be simple or elaborate.  Some evenings I light a candle, look out the darkened window and play my Indian flute.  Sometimes I just shut off my computer and thank it for its partnership and support that day. Those small ceremonies can grow into contemplation and gratitude, or can simply be a signal to close out my day.  

What kind of ceremony of sacredness do you want to create? 

Consciousness makes it sacred

You can turn every moment into a sacred experience.  It’s a matter of awareness and conscious focus.  Practice that.  Learn that.  Do that. 

Deeper Song Affirmation
I am aware of the sacredness of each moment. 

Deep Song Process

  • Begin by examining your spiritual practice.  How can you make it not longer or more elaborate, but more meaningful?
  • Identify a way you can honor the work you do as sacred. Put that into practice.
  • Identify how you will learn to see your body as sacred and let that manifest in the care you give it. 
  • Love yourself.  Honor and appreciate and offer gratitude to your body suit, your spiritual incarnation in this lifetime and the journey you’re on. 
  • Close your day with conscious gratitude.  It can be a brief moment or it can be the inner musing of a reflective journal.  Close your day with awareness.  

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider:

How to Walk a Path of Inner Stillness

How Do You Make Your Actions Lasting and Meaningful? 

Create a Releasing Ceremony For Yourself

When I See Myself As Light

Do You See and Hear and Walk in a Sacred Manner?

Broaden and Deepen
Your Personal Journey 

I help spiritual adventurers explore the Unseen World so that we broaden and deepen our personal journey and learn to share our discoveries with others.   We are guides and way showers with our light held high.

To receive our weekly
Deeper Song Insights and Applications

join the Deeper Song Community.

To Whom or What Do You Give Thanks?

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To Whom or What Do You Give Thanks?
An Inner-World Exploration

If you believe, as I do, that we are all one energy and you are feeling grateful, to whom or what do you offer thanks?

I realized that I was not offering gratitude as much as I would like and then I released that I didn’t know who to offer my gratitude to.  I’m working with concepts like The Emptiness That Holds Everything, and The Void, and All That Is.  

They/it/whatever probably doesn’t need thanks.  But I need to give it. Me, in my body suit, wants to notice the good stuff that shows up and say “thank you”.  But that’s tricky when I think there’s only one energy and we are all it. 

My Helping Spirits began to offer some insights.  I do shamanic journeying every day and in those inner visits to the invisible world, I’m joined by helping spirits in the form of a metaphor that only I am to interpret.  (Just as your metaphors are only for you to interpret.)

Sometimes those helping spirit metaphors make more sense to me than others.  I have a big black snake named Charlie who lives in the Lower World and whose primary gift its to give me hugs….go figure.   As I continue to study shamanism, I identify more and more levels of being-ness. However, some of those are based on the experiences and studies of others, and who actually knows what The Void is like?  I realized I had to figure this one out for myself.  Just as you will have to also do.

You ancestors are helping you

Fairly recently it was suggested I journey to talk to my ancestors.  There seem to be several ways to interpret the ancestors.  I like the idea that they live on a parallel universe rather than a linear one. The consensus is that they are actively engaged in our well being.  

My ancestors showed up as a rabbit.  

Well, hey, I can offer thanks to a rabbit.  I was on a roll. 

The Divine Feminine 

Then I found myself having trouble with the idea of a Divine Mother.  I can’t do an old white man in the sky Father figure and I have a similar problem with the idea of a Divine Mother.  But I sure can embrace the idea of Divine Feminine.   It’s interesting how a name can hang you up. 

Who is guiding you?

I actually have several guides that have evolved as I have continued to take various shamanic journeys over the year.  I finally figured out that a metaphor I call The Director is a primary guide for me.  But I had a hard time bringing in the Angel with the Golden Wings.  Again because I had a hard time with the idea of angels.  She came in slowly in my journeys – almost one wing at a time. And I was resistant.  Now I realize that for me, she is the metaphor for the Divine Feminine. 

Back to giving thanks

Those helping spirits do not need my gratitude, but I need to offer it.  And since they are consistently active in my journeys, they seem like a good place to begin. 

I am thankful for my gifts and talents.  Where do they come from?  Who do I thank?  Perhaps my ancestors (Rabbit) and my major guide (The Director) who helped me choose the form of this lifetime. 

I am grateful for the adventures my mind is taking me on and the doors that are being opened in the Unseen World for me. Can I just toss that gratitude up into The Void, the All-That-Is?  I think, that since I am currently in the form of a woman, I might offer gratitude to my ancestors or to the Divine Feminine.

Do you see my problem?  Offering gratitude is a body-suit need.  I know the ancestors or the Divine Feminine don’t need gratitude but I have a feeling they would appreciate it. 

I can thank Nature. Sophia, the soul of the earth or Gaia.  I can thank the elements of Wind, d Fire, Air, and Earth.  Those seem tangible to me.  And yet their spirits are very intangible. 

But who do I thank when a particularly good idea comes through?  And I write about it and it changes others?  That’s not me.  That’s the Energy of Oneness.  Ah ha.  A new metaphor. The Energy of Oneness.  I like that.  That puts my gratitude back out into the Vibration That Is Everything.  

I don’t ask for help –  I am responsible

There’s one other major consideration. I believe I create my own reality. So there’s no supplication or asking for help because I’m it.  The buck stops here. I attracted it. I can send it away. That doesn’t mean that the Helping Spirits don’t shower me with ideas or insights or even courage, but it’s me doing my life. Me being my vibration.  Me living in this body suit and figuring out how to do it well. The outcome is my responsibility. 

Self-responsibility is challenging

Self-responsibility is all we have.  There is no “other” doing it to us. It’s us manifesting whatever we’re manifesting because of our thoughts and words and actions. We change.  Our life changes.  

Does that mean I thank me?  Hummmmm. It might. Not in praise but in acknowledgment and gratitude for the choices I make. Thank you, Cara, for recognizing this idea and exploring it.  Thank you, energy known as Cara, for exploring and considering that great idea for a new project today.  Thank you, Cara, for experiencing a shift and being willing to reach out to others more.  

Who do I thank?  Who do you thank?

There is something bigger

Of course, there’s something bigger. I just don’t know what it is. 95% of the world is unseen. But since everything is vibration, I think we communicate with whatever it is through our vibration.  I’m working to raise mine.  I know we communicate with whatever it is through those unexpected thoughts of insight and encouragement that make us climb higher on our path.  

Why do you offer gratitude?

Who do you offer gratitude to?

Deeper Song Affirmation

I ask my inner guides to help me understand
how and to whom I am to offer gratitude.

Deeper Song Process

I think I win a prize for advanced spiritual philosophy on this exploration. 

  • Who or what do you offer gratitude to?
  • Go beyond any religious or spiritual teaching you have received and see what your inner voice says. 
  • If you journey or meditate ask for a deeper understanding of gratitude – its purpose – where it is to be directed.
  • Figure out how you want to offer gratitude in your life. 
  • Do that. 

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider:

Another Part of You – The Unseen World 

How to Interpret the Messages from Within 

The Packed Potential Before the Beginning 

When I See Myself As Light 

Raise Your Vibration Through Visioning 

Raise Your Vibration and Change the World. 

I help transformational thinkers raise their personal vibration so that we, collectively, can raise the consciousness of our planet.

To receive our weekly
Deeper Song Insights and Applications

join the Deeper Song Community.