Have you ever experienced being ‘in the flow‘? In fact, would you say you are mostly ‘in’ or ‘out’ of the flow? Or ‘with’ or ‘against’ the flow? Or in the ‘down’ or ‘up’ stream of the flow? And what indeed is the ‘flow’? Is it relevant to you?
I consider ‘flow’ to be the creative force of life. The word ‘flow’ connotes ‘movement’ and the creative nature of life is what gives meaning to the notion of ‘flow’. If life were not creative, there would be no flow.
Being ‘in the flow’ therefore means being in the creative mode of life. It means being creative which is being natural! We are by nature creative. If this were not so, we would not be here! Neither would the rest of life!
If we are in the flow, we are being our natural selves. If we are not in the flow, we are not being our natural selves, we are being our un-natural, conditioned selves! Consequently, it is easy to see why it is desirable and necessary to be ‘in the flow’, to be natural, not just sometimes but all the time!
What is natural comes easily, effortlessly. Most of us have been conditioned into effortful living to the extent that we believe that it is impossible to achieve anything of value or succeed without ‘effort’. Hence the old saying ‘No gain without pain’.
You can certainly achieve things with great effort but this is not natural. What is natural is creating effortlessly and effortless creation happens when we are in the ‘flow’, in our naturally powerful, limitless, unconditioned, joyous and harmonious state of consciousness.
Now, I am sure that most of us would have had at least some experience of being creatively in the flow and accomplishing beyond expectation. The trouble is, we tend to regard these experiences as ‘fluke’ or ‘random’, exceptions to the rule. In one sense, they are, not because they are ‘out of the ordinary’ or ‘unnatural’ but because they are infrequent. The important question for us to ask here is: Why are they infrequent?
The answer is simple: We have learned to live effortfully! We have, through conditioning, got into the habit of remaining in conditioned consciousness where fear and all its offspring – anger, guilt, impatience, doubt etc – dominate our attention. These are all barriers to natural flow!
It is important to remember that effortful living is not natural and neither is fear. However, these ways of being have become so dominant that we actually consider them ‘natural’, when in fact, what is natural is that state of consciousness that is in constant, effortless, creative, harmonious, limitless flow!
So, is it possible to remain ‘in the flow’ rather than ‘out’ of it? Certainly. It requires practice. It requires holding our attention in that natural, powerful, creative state. It requires bringing our attention back to this state again and again and again i.e. every time it strays.
How do we do this? Simple. Pay attention to your feelings. Every time you are feeling less than peaceful, less than joyous, less than free, less than open, you are going upstream, against the flow. Shift your attention to the emotions associated with flowing downstream, going with the flow – peace, joy, freedom, openness.
Allow these emotions to flood your mind-body. How? Recall past experiences of these feelings or imagine future experiences of these feelings. The important thing is to allow your entire being to be flooded with these emotions. These are the natural currents of ‘flow’! And notice how much more you will achieve and how effortless it will all feel!
Lucy Lopez
Awakening to Happiness!
