Pain is a sign of being stuck and resisting change. Suffering is resisting what is and not flowing with what wants to become. When you hold on to something past it’s point of presence in your life, you literally get torn apart. You’ve moved on and yet you’re holding on.
Close some doors, not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but because they no longer lead somewhere – Paul Coelho
When things don’t flow, check if you’re being less than you are. Are you ego-mind, not Self-led? Are you re-energizing old thought patterns by allowing them to run through your head again? If you stop this, life can flow as it’s meant to. Practice non-attachment, not to deprive yourself, but because of the freedom of flow and movement it provides. You evolve naturally when you move along unencumbered.
In mind and time, you’re out of synch with Now and Flow and you feel that tension no matter what the actual thought – good or bad. Let go of the need to give situations name, shape and meaning: your attachment to these is your bondage. Try not giving anything out there more than fleeting attention. Any detailed analysis brings down your energy. It becomes heavy sludge and the flow stops.
Focusing on the one thing, you freeze it in time. It takes discipline to stay in the flow, not to grab anything. Flow must be your constant focus especially when you’re tempted to stress about stuff potentially going wrong. Without hooks, life simply flows and that is how it is meant to be. I am grateful for my experiences, but I try not to engage with them before or after they happen.
Slip through the crowd
Think about it this way. When you have a crowd to get through on your way to an appointment, you don’t engage with people that cross your path. You don’t grab them, dragging them with you as you go, or reach forward to pull them towards you. You just pass them by and keep walking, threading your way through. Some people you see, some you just glance at, but you don’t stop. It is the stopping that creates the bottleneck.
Aim for a continual clean slate from moment to moment. Keep emptying your hand to receive the new. Free the receptors for new input. To truly experience, you need to forget all in each moment anew. This allows you to enjoy the juicy plum and then move on to savor the crunchy apple. If you’re still holding on to the plum, you miss the apple’s unique taste and texture.
One of the signs of being in the flow is synchronicity. Synchronicity doesn’t suddenly appear; it is always there. The more present you are, the more you can tap into the flow of things and the more in synch you are with everything around you. So, it’s not some secret wavelength that you plug into now and then when luck is on your side. It’s actually the natural flow of things, but you can’t pick up the cues to enter the flow if you’re caught up in mind.
When synchronicity disappears from my life, I know I am not in synch.
Without hooks, you can stay in step. It’s important to be where you are. Still tangled in a thorn bush branch while trying to negotiate slippery rocks just beyond, you’ll land on your butt. You have to untangle yourself first. This way, you move from one experience to the next without creating snags in the tapestry. You don’t bring past stitches into the present one and you also don’t mess it up by trying to get it finished in a hurry.
Live ‘Captain Sparrow’ style
In ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, Johnny Depp, unperturbed, after having lost his ship yet again, gets into his little rowing boat, pirate flag and all and simply starts sailing. He is perfectly present, open to whatever the future may bring and unencumbered by the past. Unless you move forward and take the plunge, you won’t know your own creative power. Start sailing and then simply respond to what your power draws to you.
I have dedicated my life to the unfolding power within. Since I am a fearful by nature, for me that means living more Johnny Depp Style with absolute trust in Self. If I keep clinging to the sides of the flooding tunnel, I will drown. I have to let myself be carried by the flow of the current.
In the opening scene of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, Johnny Depp seamlessly steps off his sinking boat onto the jetty. He is perfectly present. Physically, he is not afraid for his safety. Emotionally, he is not grieving his just-sunk boat. He greets the deck master jovially. He pays him the mooring fees he is asked for and takes the payment back with interest out of the takings bowl at the end of the jetty in a moment of mental absence on the part of the deck master. This money is rightfully his because it can be argued that it is wrong to charge mooring fees for a sinking/sunken ship.
Swimming ducks are dignified and perfect as only a mindless creature can be. When they fight, it is brief. Afterwards they vigorously flap their wings a few times to release surplus energy. This stops it from becoming trapped in their bodies and turning into negativity. Then, peacefully, they swim away – Eckhart Tolle
The more you flow with the Now, the more you rediscover who you are.
Click here if you’d like help with some stubborn hooks that keep snagging you.