Jun

Are You in the Flow?

Have you ever had days or moments when everything just seems to fall into place beautifully? Where you accomplish whatever it is that you want to accomplish and it seems effortless? The right people and resources show up just when you need them. People are supportive and respond to you in a positive way. You feel good about what you’re doing and it seems as though you can do nothing wrong.

We’ve all had times like this. It feels as though everything is right with the world. You’re doing what you love, the quality of your work is high, and you feel a sense of accomplishment. So why can’t you feel like this all the time? What is it that can make everything fall into place one day and yet everything seems to be a struggle the next? What stops you from being in that flow?

I think it all boils down to awareness. When you are aware of how you feel, of what feels good and what doesn’t in each moment. When you honor what you feel in each moment and take action accordingly – that’s when you’re in the flow.

How many times have you ‘needed’ to do something because it’s on your list of things to do, yet you don’t feel like doing it at this particular time? Your heart is not in it. You’d rather take a nap or go for a walk, or do something else. But because it’s on your list and it needs to be done, you buckle down and do it. It’s a struggle. It takes longer than you had planned. Nothing seems to go right with it. You become frustrated, resentful. These are the kinds of things that can take up your whole day because as you attempt to accomplish the task, more issues come up that need to be resolved before you can complete it. This is what can turn a simple item on your to-do list into a nightmare.

This is when you’re not in the flow. You have something to do, but it doesn’t feel right to do it. Rather than paying attention to that, you force yourself to do it. It seems unthinkable that, when faced with things that you need to do that you could, instead do something that feels good to you at the time, such as take a nap or go for a walk. If you did that you’d never get anything accomplished, right?

Actually that’s not right. I too resisted this idea at first. If I had a list of things that needed to be done today, but I didn’t feel like doing any of them, I would force myself to do them. With the result that a list of things I planned to do today might end up taking me the whole week because of delays and difficulties, distractions and obstacles. What I have learned to do (and I warn you, this is not easy) is to only do something when it feels right to do it. So, for example, if I have to write an article for a publication and it’s due, say on Thursday. I will have it on my list at the beginning of the week and I might plan to write it on Monday. But on Monday, when I sit down to write it, I can’t think of what to write. I really don’t feel like writing it then. I can force myself to write it and it may take me the whole day. I wouldn’t feel good about it, I would feel frustrated with the amount of time and effort put into it and I probably wouldn’t feel good about the end result.

If I pay attention to how I feel though and honor that, I wouldn’t try to write the article on Monday. Each day I would check in with myself to see if it felt right to do the article yet. And I wouldn’t attempt it until I felt ready. This is the scary part, because I might not feel ready until Thursday morning. But here’s the difference. When I sit down to write the article on Thursday morning, it will simply flow. It will probably take me about 10 minutes to write. I will be happy with the result and I’ll get lots of positive feedback from it.

This is exactly what happens to me all the time. The more I pay attention to when it feels right to do something and when it doesn’t, the more in the flow I feel. That’s when things come effortlessly. Of course, our minds say that’s ridiculous. We have to be logical and structured, we can’t just do things when we feel like it.

But I encourage you to give it a try. Do it with small things at first and just see what a difference it makes. I have had times when I’ve had a whole list of things to do that when I look at it feels totally overwhelming. When I ‘check in’ with myself to see what I need to do first to get this list of things accomplished, I may get the feeling that I need to do something completely unrelated to anything on the list. Usually it will be something like go for a walk, or clean the kitchen, or tidy the papers in my office. Of course, my mind screams “are you crazy, how can you go for a walk when you have this list of things you need to do?” If I listen to my mind I will tackle the list and I will not be in the flow – that’s when it may take me the whole week to accomplish what’s on the list, and none of it will feel good.

When I pay attention to what I feel and do it, I find that I return to the list with completely different energy. In this way, the things on the list simply get done and I may easily breeze through everything on there in one day, instead of forcing the issue and taking much longer. I’ll feel good about what I’ve accomplished. My energy will be strong – I’m in the flow.

You can apply this not only to things on your to-do list than need to be accomplished, but with everything. Pay attention to how you feel about different people and situations. If something doesn’t feel good – it isn’t good for you at that time. If you force it, you will not be in the flow and you’ll experience struggle.

It’s all about energy and being aware of your energy and what you need in each moment to feel good. That’s when you’re in the flow. Next time you are in the flow, pay attention to exactly what’s happening. And then resolve to create more flow in your life. Unless of course you prefer the struggle!

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