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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.

The Intentional OM Hum 

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The Intentional OM Hum
An Inner-world Exploration

OM or AUM is a mantra (word of power) that is said to represent the seed sound of the universe and to represent all other sounds. When you combine the mantra OM with the extended vibration of a hum, you can learn to direct that vibration and let it linger and float off like a gentle wave to resonate and heal whatever it touches. 

There are three sounds to the universal seed mantra OM.  A – U – M.  The word is linked to the sound of breath and is a subtle and high potency universal vibration which can be heard internally in the subtle planes as a deep sound. 

Symbolically, OM represents the entire creation manifested in the three planes – the earth, the mid-region, and the heavens.

The Om hum

Combining the sound of OM with breath and intention is a powerful way to raise your own vibration.

Sit or lie down in a quiet place.  Begin to take long slow, mindful breaths.  On the exhale, vocalize A-U-M and let the sound of a hum flow out with a focused intention. Think of yourself as breathing out and sending forth a Divine Quality, the Universal Self, Space. Notice how this resonates throughout your body.

Since everything is vibration, the addition of a prolonged hum keeps the vibration moving outward.  Ah – U – Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  

Work in cycles of seven.  Take a breath, and on the exhale tone the sound OM (A-U-M.)  At the M, let the sound turn into an audible hum and use your mind to direct that healing vibration wherever you wish it to go.  

Intention is the navigator

Our intention is like focusing a lens.  Our intention is the director of everything we do.  You can begin with an intention to vibrate the healing Om hum through your whole body and when you get to the hum, allow that resonance to build and reverberate throughout your body.  

If your intention is to heal another person or place, or animal or even the world, simply set the intention and feel the A-U-M gathering together your spiritual essence and radiating it out toward your intention.  

Let the hum fade off into the universe. 

Notice change

If you would like to see some recognizable, tangible evidence that this Intentional Om Hum made a difference, write down the situation and the date you begin to send it energy and periodically journal about the changes. Place Intentional OM- Hum into your daily spiritual practice.

Deeper Song Affirmation 

I add an Intentional Om Hum to my spiritual practice. 

Deeper Song Process

  • Set an intention to manifest change. In the beginning, make it something you will be able to notice.
  • Add an Intentional Om Hum to your daily spiritual practice. 
  • Observe.  Journal.  Notice change.
  • Repeat

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:

The Pillar of Light Process 

Why We Need to Raise Our Vibration  

Energy Cannot Be Destroyed – Only Re-Purposed 

Build a Launching Pad for Your Inner work 

Another Part of You-The Unseen World

How to Interpret the Messages from Within 

When I See Myself As Light 

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.

 

Energy Cannot Be Destroyed – Only Re-Purposed

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Energy Cannot Be Destroyed – Only Re-Purposed
An Inner-World Exploration

Energy cannot be destroyed, but it can be dismembered, then rearranged, refigured, and reassembled.

That is very powerful knowledge.  It means that negative energy can be turned into positive energy. You don’t have to stay stuck, you can simply dismember the negative energy and reassemble into positive energy. 

That’s a powerful concept to embrace. 

Do not focus on the negative energy

Transformational thinkers all over the world see their contribution to the well-being of the world as personally raising their own vibration so that it affects the collective consciousness. Changing the vibration of our own energy is the cornerstone of all change. 

While I work daily to raise my own vibration, I looked for ways to assist in the dissemination of the negative energy that’s so dense, so destructive.  

We do dismemberment – reassemble work through intention

There are several ways to create change. Somethings have to be leveled in order to build anew. We have to destroy, remove, clear, clean them out.  Then something new can be planted and nurtured in the clear energy that remains.  

For our own growth, we need fertile ground that we’ve prepared through our spiritual practice and sometimes we have to clear a space of unwanted thoughts and energy before we can plant and grow something new.  

The intentional inner work we are to do is to disassemble the unwanted energy and then use our intention to build up a new form,  bringing the energy together in a new harmonious design. 

It’s a process and we each have to find our own ways to dismember and reassemble, but I’ve figured out a few ways to begin. 

Identify the energy you want to change

You may want to change a negative attitude within yourself, a negative situation you experience in your life, or yes, a negative experience in your world that feels beyond your control. 

Choose the focus for your dismemberment. 

What is the current purpose of the energy you desire to change?

Even negative energy has a purpose.  It may be there to force you to examine your personal values, make a different choice, deepen your conviction, or rearrange your beliefs.  Once you have used thoughtful self-awareness to identify what you want to change and why, mindfully begin to change your responses and your actions.  

There’s a purpose for whatever situation we find ourselves in.  It may be blatantly obvious or patently subtle. We need to be willing to change.  We need to be willing to release what’s no longer useful. 

What are the messages you are receiving in your life and how will you dismember the negative energy you see around you, then rearrange, refigured, and reassembled it in a positive form?

 All healing/change begins within you.

Negative energy is sneaky

Negative energy is insidious.  It creeps up on you and gradually takes up more and more space until suddenly you’re pretty much immersed in the negativity.  A very important first step is to notice your own energy and the energy that you’ve allowed to surround you in your life. 

This negative energy might be as simple as a judgmental thought you have about someone you meet during your day.  It might be a feeling of anger at something on the news. The next thing you know you’re sitting there upset and angry and rather full of negative energy.  It creeps in and builds up. 

Be aware of the negative energy you come across in your day.  Be aware of any negative energy that you create in the course of a day.  And begin to make changes by 1) being conscious of negative energy and 2) creating a spiritual practice that helps you not just notice the negativity but clear it from your life. 

Why that negative energy is there?  

What’s the lesson of negative energy? It highlights where your attention is focused and what you expect to be present in our life.

That’s easy to change.  Shift your gaze. 

Dismember the negative energy in your life 

Once you have identified the negative energy you wish to eliminate, thank it for its service, for its lesson.  You will see it immediately begins to lessen in strength.  Then invite that energy to transform into a happier, lighter form.  Keep looking for scraps of negativity in the corners of your life and allow all the negative energy to dissolve and disappear. 

Dissolve your personal attachment to the negative energy

Why has this negative energy been important to you? Why did you need it in your life?  What did it make you do – or not do? How did it make you feel? Perhaps identifying with the negative energy made you feel right, or part of a group consensus.  What are you personally getting out of being attached to or focusing on this negative energy? 

Once you identify it, let it go. Then simply walk away.

Create a level playing field

The practice of dismembering in shamanism is to take the energy you are changing completely apart so it no longer exists in the form it was in. Reduce it to “unformed” energy.   

Create a level playing field.  Simply visualize the dense energy changing.  You can feel a wind come through to disperse it. You can see a rainfall come to put wash it away, or a flame to burn it up. You can feel the earth move to cover it up.  I like to see negative energy simply becoming lighter, joyfully happy to be lighter. It becomes white light and simply dances off.  Dancing formerly-negative energy – ha!  Use your imagination to see the negative energy disappear or grow lighter, or…you are dismembering it so that it no longer exists in the negative form.

Begin to reassemble

Reassembling is like having a fresh ball of clay before you that you can make into anything you desire.

What do you want to build with it? How do you want to reassemble it?  

Remember, we cannot destroy energy but we can change its form.  

Give careful thought to how you want to reassemble the energy before you.  It’s not about creating the opposite of what was just there.  It’s about moving forward in your thinking to shape that energy into something better than before. Perhaps something not thought of until now. 

We cannot see into the future so your request to your helping spirits may be to reassemble that changed energy into the form that’s most useful for you and your evolution.  Then simply see what shows up. 

Keep flexible.  As the energy shifts, you may want to repeat this visualization to clarify your intention in order to continue to lighten and reshape the vibration in a positive form.

Create a ceremony of continued reshaping

Each day, in your spiritual practice, release your connection with any negative energy you see around you. You may simply see the energy gradually grow lighter, or begin to dissipate or drain into the forgiving earth.  You may release it in a breath. You may be at the point where you easily see the level field and begin to reassemble, to construct what you need next in a positive form.  

Although this will probably be a gradual process, it will be hastened by your focused attention and your intention.  Work with this process of disassembling and reassembling energy.  

Be aware of what changes

Sometimes change happens simply because we shift our focus.  We start focusing on the good that’s happening.  Make the act of looking for the positive a part of your daily spiritual practice.  Cultivate gratitude and awareness.  And encourage a willingness to let go and change. 

Change the negative energy as it shows up

Create your own physical act that reminds you to send positive energy toward – whatever you wish.  Maybe you blow a breath over the top of your index finger at the negative that you hear or see.  Perhaps you hold your palm up to halt it or mentally send a stream of energy from your third eye. Just make up some gesture that reminds you to intuitively send positive energy to a person or situation emanating negative energy.  

The power is in the awareness. The power is in noticing the negative energy and sending it positive energy through thought and intention.  And it’s about becoming aware of the negative energy and taking steps to shift it in the moment. 

Create your own technique to alter the negative energy that comes to your attention. 

Keep your own energy positive

Each day in my spiritual practice, I simply sit and vibrate light.  I see my light energy moving out into the world to make others aware of the power of their own light. I send my vibration out to heal and comfort and support the planet and all who live here.  You, too, can simply sit and radiate your glorious inner light out into the world. Become more aware of your own goodness, your own power to simply gaze upon and thus change the negativity you come across.

Deeper Song Affirmation

I nurture and support the positive energy in my life.

Deeper Song Process

  • Identify a form of negative energy you want to transform.
  • Identify the thoughts, beliefs, reactions that are behind it. See if you can understand its reason for its existence.
  • Through your intention and any ceremony you wish to create, begin to disassemble your attachment to the negative, your belief in the negativity, and your fear of the negativity.  Cultivate a willingness to have that negative energy disassemble into neutral energy. 
  • Watch the negative energy begin to shift.  Does it change color? Does it grow smaller?  Does it melt into the ground?  Notice how the energy changes. 
  • Sit quietly in contemplation at the level playing field you’ve created. The blank slate. The energy is still there, it’s now neutral energy waiting for its new shape.  What will you invite it to become?
  • Use your imagination and intention to begin to reassemble the energy into a positive form.  It doesn’t have to be specific, it can be greater awareness, deeper conscious behavior, a willingness to act for the highest good for all.  
  • Notice how the world changes with the reassembling of the energy into a positive form. 
  • Repeat as desired.

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider:

Another Part of You-The Unseen World

How to Interpret the Messages from Within 

When I See Myself As Light

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

 The Power of your Imagination

What Core Beliefs are Guiding You Today

How Do You Make Your Actions Lasting and Meaningful?

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 Newsletter
with Insights and Applications,
join the Deeper Song Community.

Raise Your Vibration With Serenity

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Raise Your Vibration With Serenity
An Inner-World Exploration

One day I simply found it, that stillness, that deep peace, that serenity that takes you deep within to the Green Nothingness, the Emptiness That Holds Everything and lets you simply be there.  

And I understood that anchoring serenity within yourself is where we are to begin to change our vibration, to raise our vibration, to send our light out to join with other light vibrations in order to heal our planet. 

It begins with the serenity within.

I found immediate inner serenity with the help of a crystal wand 

I have many crystals that I’ve collected over the last 50 years –  160 or so.  A few years ago, I learned a very elaborate process to create a shamanic “altar”. My altar overflowed into the living room of my apartment. As I identified more and more “special” rocks, one tray of specially chosen crystals eventually ended up in a pretty container on the floor along with my drums and rain sticks and other members of my spiritual practice.  

I was playing a game on my iPad and watching TV when a very loud inner voice said, “Look down!”.  I did and there was this small collection of crystals and shells and my eyes went to one wand. The message was clear and instantaneous and loud: “Pick me up!”

So I reached down and picked her up and found I couldn’t let go of the crystal for a very long time.  I didn’t stop to experience her at that moment but I also did not put her down.  I continued to play my game and watch TV and kept the crystal in my hand – for maybe an hour.  Then I put it on an end table and did other things. 

The next day, when it was time to journey, I received a very clear message.  “Get the wand.” I did, and that’s when I experienced deep, deep, deep serenity, a contentedness, a being-ness, a feeling of being cared for and loved and protected. It was a serenity that I had never experienced before.  I simply sat and experienced the gift. Eventually, I journeyed for the message of the crystal wand and among other things I was told that the first step in raising our vibration is to find, experience and cultivate deep, deep, serenity within.  

For me, that means to go within and listen and feel and be present with whatever shows up.  As I held the crystal wand, I felt a powerful and all-encompassing sense of serenity that stilled my body and took me deep within.

And I knew that cultivating this all-encompassing, ever-deepening feeling of serenity was the cornerstone of my spiritual practice and my desire to work in the invisible world. 

This feeling of serenity is not about being tired, or sleepy, or relaxed. It’s about feeling centered and serene and at peace.  And very, very present. Content.  No striving.  Just conscious being.  At peace.  Still. Aware. Vibrating in harmony. Serenity is an experience of the entire body. 

Anchor serenity into your life

In order to anchor this feeling of serenity, to establish it, I need to practice it. This has taken two forms.  My personal daily experience with the Serenity Crystal Wand, and the development of a practice, a sequence, a physical series that brings me into this remarkable place of serenity. It’s a work in progress and I will share it with you when it’s completely revealed to me. 

Although my desire is to help the world, I have to first find not just peace within, but deep, tranquil serenity.  Serenity, like the serene, unfolding cycles of nature. Becoming attuned to the energy of the messages of the elements.  Being attuned to my own body and life cycle. That means I am to listen and feel and cultivate stillness.

Establish serenity

My first experience with this deep profound serenity was mid-day, right before I began a shamanic journey. As I develop the physical movements that help me establish serenity in my body, and add it to my morning spiritual practice, I find it creates a flowing transition into my work choices for the day.  I will also use this cultivation of serenity as a transition at the end of the day, perhaps turning and watching the sunset and repeating the sequence of physical and visualization practices that are evolving. 

Begin now to take deliberate pauses to identify serenity and bring it into your state of being. 

Use serenity to raise your vibration

I’ve come to understand that our work as transformational thinkers is to raise our personal vibration and then join that vibration with others who are doing the same.  That’s how we raise the collective consciousness.  Each day in my spiritual practice, I send energy out to those fellow transformation thinkers and holders of the inner flame so that they may know there are many of us doing this work.  Now I will also send them serenity.

First yourself – then others 

Sharing serenity begins with cultivating it for ourselves. 

There’s a natural tendency for things to be in harmony.  I have to find that serenity within me and begin to radiate it out.  That will help all around me to find and feel the serenity in themselves.  Like a flame of a candle shining out to all consciousness, holding out hope and inspiration and connection.  We want to experience the serenity of deep alignment with the energy of our cosmos. 

My work with my crystal wand of serenity has deepened.  She will teach me to find the serenity in myself and to use that as my foundation for my life. 

Simply ask to experience serenity when you meditate and allow it to embrace you. It will come in many forms.  Explore them all. 

Deeper Song Affirmation 

I invite serenity to fill my life. With conscious care,
I take that serenity out into my world.

Deeper Song Process

  • Find a quiet place, in your home or in nature.  Sit quietly and ask to experience deep serenity.
  • Notice what happens. What changes? How do you feel?
  • Using serenity as a foundational vibration, begin to expand that feeling more deeply into your body and into your etheric field.  Sit and radiate as your energy expands and your vibration organically rises.
  • Take that core awareness of serenity out into your world.
  • Repeat often.

To Sing A Deeper Song Consider

How to Walk a Path of Inner Stillness

Expand Your Spiritual Heart

When I See Myself As Light

The Power of a Ceremony of Releasing

How to Interpret the Messages from Within 

Another Part of You – The Unseen World 

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 Newsletter
with Insights and Applications
join the Deeper Song Community.