Flow: Threshold

Aboriginal artist at work

Musing…

“One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you, that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own.” 

- John O’Donohue

Charise’s Turn:

I’m here to encourage you, to offer my current view on being stuck. Being stuck feels like a standstill, with no flow… of ideas, energy, inspiration, motivation. It can be a dull and disappointing place. When I sit with it, or allow a kind of non-attachment relationship with my muse (maybe she’s taking a walk, having a nap, or just wants some space) something happens. I realize that I’m not stuck; I’m on a threshold. Whatever is beyond that threshold is not apparent – yet.  At some point the floodgates will open, and flow is plentiful. This is assured.

My most recent threshold moment was the other night when a word – not a phrase or sentence, a word – kept orbiting through me, to add to a poem I‘d been working on that day. Struggling to complete a phrase with this one word kept me awake for a couple of hours while lying in bed. Eventually I gave up for the sake of sleep. The next day, still stuck with the word, I meditated. You may think I’m going to tell you that this is where I got inspired, but no, what I got was the understanding that my fingers would figure this out. Once I put my fingers to the keyboard of the computer the rest of the phrase would emerge. The word was a trickle; I had to wait for the flow.  

Get Fired Up:

Flow isn’t something to force, it’s natural. Think of ebb and flow, and you know when a tide ebbs it will again flow. Keep a quiet witnessing of your creative tide; it will surprise you.

“Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.”

― John O'Donohue

www.coachingmoves.com

Flow: Grace & Ease

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you – a joy.”    - Rumi

Musing…  

This river is akin to the “tap opening to an inner wellspring” when the alignment occurs that Charise spoke about in the last post. It’s as if all the stars become aligned, and, what once was blocked, now seems to effortlessly flow with grace and ease.

Kate’s Turn:

I experience flow as a co-creative endeavor. It seems to result from holding the tension of the opposites: effort and surrender. You know how ducks glide so effortlessly across the water? We don’t see their little feet paddling furiously beneath the surface. Flowing with grace and ease is accompanied by a lot of consistent effort, commitment, and intentional focus. 

I moved this past month because the house we were living in sold with grace and ease. All the effort of clearing, fixing, staging, showing took place – then I surrendered my attachment with a walk around the house, asking the Universe to bring someone to love the house as much as I have loved it - love it! love it! love it!” I repeated. The agent’s text immediately after the next showing was “LOVE IT!  Presenting an offer.” Full price, as is, no renegotiation after the inspection – unheard of!  Now THIS is flow.

We have to aim our energy in the direction we want it to flow before it creates the intended outcomes. We must provide the effort, commitment, and diligence. And while taking full responsibility, surrender our attachment, empty ourself, and ask for inspiration and guidance. Asking for guidance frees us from the constricting effects of our limited mindsets – we co-create with Source, with our Muse.

“We each have a current that underlies our lives. An electric current, throwing off sparks. An underground current of water. It flows, meanders, bounces against things. It moves, changes shape. Always moving, it needs to evolve into something new. The spirit of life, the growth spark. The creative spark.  In touch with that current, my life, my creative work, has a flow. “    - Roderick W. MacIver, Heron Dance

Get Fired Up:   

Place a vibration of love on an apparent obstacle or roadblock; saturate it with the living energy of love, all the while surrendering the final form, trusting the co-creation of the power of Source energy and your own consistent efforts.

“Pay attention to the currents of life more than the obstacles.”     - David Whyte

 www.kroskalifecoaching.com