Many of us complain about feeling drained, as if all our energy empties out from our day to day responsibilities and encounters. To feel more vibrant and sustainable energy, it’s helpful to distinguish between the water-based concepts of Drain and Flow.Living in the Flow
Many of us have heard of “flow” states – where effortlessness and ease move through us and we enter, as many athletes call it, “the zone”.
Living in the Flow is allowing more of the Divine to move through you and as you, as Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith says. It is as much about receiving as it is about doing and giving, just as the tides of the ocean come in and out.
Allowing the Good: Open to the Flow of the Universe
Just as we allow the rain to fall on the earth and nurture the land, we can allow the good to rain down on us from the Universe without effort.
We have entered the rainy season – at last – here in drought-stricken Northern California. We had our first good rain a few days ago and I was filled with gratitude. I opened my arms wide and let in the sweet droplets of life-sustaining water.
It caused me to reflect on the process of allowing. I’ve written about receiving in my blog, but allowing, although similar, addresses the idea of receiving in a different way. Allowing has many powerful meanings that can open us to the Divine Flow of the Universe.
Be in the Flow
The morning I wrote this post, I took a Tai Chi class. I find this practice challenging in a different way than I’m used to with yoga. Every time I have taken a class – only a handful of times – I try my best to “get” the movement of the energy and enjoy it.
I’m not that great at it. My mind is too focused on getting it right and not allowing the flow to happen. I get glimpses, where I feel the energy and simply allow the movements, but most of the time I’m looking at the instructor in the mirror and wondering, should I have my elbow up higher? In Waving Hands Like Clouds, does my hand pass by my face or my throat? How far out should my foot be turned? Should I be inhaling or exhaling?
Intellectually, I know that the idea is really to feel the energy and move it around. And I can do that. But not usually at the same time that I am trying to learn a precise action. I get stuck between being in the flow, and being correct. This is a common problem with our minds.
