Oh to be in flow!
When you are in flow, ideas come so easily.
When you are in flow, resistance vanishes.
When you are in flow, you feel unstoppable.
No wonder we desire it so much!
Words flow from your fingertips, the melody just appears in your mind, and the exact way you want to communicate your heart to your audience just pours forth.
It’s a giant HELL YEA exploding from your being and you find you can DO, SAY, and CREATE what is meaningful and authentic to you.
Yet, this “flow state”, as it’s commonly referred to can be deeply elusive. It’s there one minute and gone the next. It can feel like the temperamental lover who adores you for an evening and then doesn’t answer your calls and texts.
It can be easy to chase after the flow state or force it, believing if you just WISH it to appear, it will come. And yet, all those efforts to control seem to do the exact opposite and you can be left feeling deeply discouraged, and insecure.
Doubt may take over.
You feel like you lost your confidence.
This is why I want to offer what needs to be in place, what will actually call the lover in consistently.
In order to flow, there must be an anchor.
The flow state is really a state of chaos. It is a time of releasing control and receiving. You may even think of it as a feminine energy. The flow state is open.
It’s as if a channel unblocks and water that was damned up is moving. And in that water is your creative inspiration.
However, to receive this chaos, there needs to be an anchor, meaning a grounding within your being. You may think of this as a masculine energy.
Now, these energies are not dependent on gender, but more two pieces of a whole.
Think of a river. It has this amazing flow AND it has the river banks. Without that structure, the water overflows and floods.
The water and riverbanks are two pieces of a whole. They are not mutually exclusive, meaning there can be an anchor AND flow.
There can be structure AND chaos.
Let me give you a real life example.
Last year, I wrote my book in five months with no writer’s block. I set aside three days a week, in the morning to write, and I can safely say, each morning I was in flow. The reason was because I was very intentional to create an anchor to my days.
The anchor was what I did BEFORE I wrote. For me, that looked like meditating, and then doing Qi Gong. After these practices, I felt so open and ready to receive that as I opened my computer to write, I just allowed what needed to come forth. I was open to the muse, to the inspiration, to whatever divine sentence came out my fingertips. And I was very aware of my limitations, as during that time, I was having daily headaches and knew I could only write for 90 minutes to two hours.
The anchor was my meditation, my Qi Gong, and my clock. These held me and allowed me to receive within the riverbanks of the dedicated time what needed to flow on that day. Some days I wrote a lot, and others I wrote less. There was no pressure to write a certain amount or complete by a certain date. However, there was a promise to myself to provide an anchor each time.
The anchor was an act of love that opened my flow state.
And because I was consistent with my anchor, I was consistent with my flow.
“When we are in flow, we remember what it’s like to be in oneness. The inner and outer are balanced.”
-Daisy Lee
I have worked with hundreds of Creatives over the years who struggle with their flow state, and each time, I have found there was no anchor. They were coming to their work off kilter, unbalanced, and because of that the lover was temperamental.
The lover was fickle.
But what is the lover is simply seeking wholeness?
What if the lover is seeking the peace of oneness?
This is why it is vital you practice a daily anchor, or at least an anchor for the days you are creating. And your anchor is YOURS, individual and personal.
Finding your anchor is an integral part of your impact.
Without an anchor, no one will listen and your words, your music, and your precious message will fall on deaf ears, or never reach who you desire.
So, as you approach the horizon of a new year and close out this one, place your focus and heart on what ANCHORS you, and set it up as a consistent practice BEFORE you create.
This may be meditation, Qi Gong, exercising, journaling, yoga, breathwork….you will know you have found what works when you feel CALM and PRESENT after doing it.
When you feel you can face the day and face the water rushing towards you.
A sense of balance, that allows you to receive.
Oh to be in flow!
Oh, to be in your natural state of oneness.
This is where your power lies.