"All that’s being asked of you is to shift from the mindset of swimming upstream and attempting to force an outcome, into the mindset of going with the flow and allowing that which is meant for you to come. Simply leave the door open and trust."
This message on surrender was sent to me recently which reaffirmed that if I don’t surrender to the flow, stress and anxiety will prevail. If I can keep these words close I can be present to my life and the people around me.
Thinking about #Goingwiththeflow reminded me of a fascinating book,
Flow -The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, who describes happiness as a result of controlling our inner experience. “Only direct control of experience, the ability to derive moment-by- moment enjoyment from everything we do, can we overcome the obstacles to fulfillment. When we are deeply and effortlessly engaged, concern for self disappears and the sense of time is altered." We become so involved in what we are doing the activity becomes spontaneous and we are completely present.
“The purpose of the flow is to keep on flowing, not looking for a peak or utopia but staying in the flow” There is no goal. You lose yourself in the experience and are one with all. I am learning to let go of resistance and allowing the potential of the universe to flow through me. This is definitely easier said than done. Do you resist or adapt to change?
The following excerpt from Thoreau's 1838 journal, Consciousness is timeless and one of my favorite pieces of writing. It describes the flow of consciousness in such a beautiful way.
13 August 1838. Concord, Mass.
Thoreau writes in his journal:
"If with closed cars and eyes I consult consciousness for a moment, immediately are all walls and barriers dissipated, earth rolls from under me, and I float, by the impetus derived from the earth and the system, a subjective, heavily laden thought, in the midst of an unknown and infinite sea, or else heave and swell like a vast ocean of thought, without rock or headland, where are all riddles solved, all straight lines making there their two ends to meet, eternity and space gam-bolling familiarly through my depths. I am from the beginning, knowing no end, no aim. No sun illumines me, for I dissolve all lesser lights in my own intenser and steadier light. I am a restful kernel in the magazine of the universe."
As soon as I decided to write this post everything that life presented to me for several days was about #Goingwiththeflow! I participated in Saqib Rizvi's - The Tao of Flow on Insight Timer earlier this week and he suggested we learn from water. Water keeps moving, embraces impermanence, adapts to change, is fearless, is soft yet powerful and flows without goals, while connecting to the intuitive guidance of the universe. Connecting to the rhythm of water comes so naturally it must be the universe's way of helping us enter the fluidity of life.