What does it mean to be in Flow?
Hello dear friends
As I sit and write I am asking what does being in a state of flow mean and how does it come about. I feel like my entire trip since leaving Australia end of August has been in flow. What that means is that it has a quality where there is a relaxed feeling and a sense of an embodied trust that seems to invite magic and transformative experiences which open the heart and creates experiences that one couldn’t even imagine or plan.
That has certainly been happening over the last month of travel. It started when I was invited to Tuscany to run art workshops for a group and my husband was able to accompany me. This in itself was a wonderful opportunity. It translated into us traveling round the world to first see my brother’s home in Germany which I’ve never been to (its been 10 years since I last saw him), then train down to Italy, over to NY, and then lastly (not there yet) to see my dear mum in Arizona.
First magic…. Totally unplanned, a friend of ours from NYC was coming to Florence for one day… the same one day that we were going to be there. We hooked up, got tickets to the famous Uffizi Museum of renaissance art and spent a wonderful afternoon together before we both headed off.
Of course there were also moments of tension and lack of flow when facing unknowns, like being locked in the lobby of our B&B in Florence with no one in reception, no one around at all. Our train was scheduled to leave and we still had a 20-minute walk to get there, yet we ended up locked in the lobby with our luggage and no key to get out out of the lobby. (Yes we had to have a key to unlock the street door to get out onto the street and we left the keys up at the reception desk on the third floor not realising, which was also now locked with no one there. No phone signal to call anyone.
Definitely had a panicky few minutes as it seemed like there was no way to get out. Trapped!! I wanted to scream. In fact I think I did scream help help. But no-one was around.
FLOW…
However, it resolved itself as soon as I was able to stop reacting to my mind freaking-out by switching my attention to breathing and relaxing my body. This took great effort and all my yoga practice and meditation came to the fore to assist me. I remembered the words of Thich Nhat Hanh saying practice now, practice now so that when you need the practice it is there for you. Wow, was I ever grateful for having the practice now which helped me to ignore my freaking-out mind and relax back into a state of flow. As soon as I came back into that relaxed state an idea came, I followed through, not knowing if it would work, but it did and we were able to get out of the lobby and we made it to our scheduled train and we were off to the villa in Tuscany.
Next magic …. The villa in Tuscany was amazing. The women that gathered together there as part of the 1st Excellence Collective created an uplifting supportive environment for choosing love over fear, for dreaming, shifting, transforming, creating. I facilitated art workshops there for the first four days. Tuscany was more than I dreamed. Morning sunrise walks, daily workshops and learning exchanges, wonderful connections, inspiring landscapes, wonderful day trips to places like Siena.
Next magic… New York
We stay with our dear friends in upstate New York. But we also were gifted an apartment stay in the city for a few nights. That was magic. Another friend who lives in the city had a neighbour across the hall who was leaving for a few days and needed the cat looked after. Voila, she arranged for us to take the apartment and cat sit. We had a wonderful few days in the city going to art museums and drinking in all that NYC is. I even got quite emotional standing near the flat iron building with memories flooding in of my former life and old stomping ground. I stood there for quite a while feeling all the feels.
F L O W… feeling all the feels and being totally present to it all. Letting it all come and go. No more blocking out, numbing out like I used to when I lived in NYC long ago. Letting it all flow through with gratitude for every bit right here, right now.
Next Magic… It continues with our next stop Arizona to visit my mum. So looking forward to seeing her again. Living in different countries we don’t often get to visit each other.
state of F L O W…
Transformation is happening in every moment and it happens by itself. Life is happening and letting go into life’s flow means dropping out of the ego sense of separation. To let go of the sense of a separate ‘me’ doing life and switching into the really-real flow of life, knowing it has your back, front and sides. To still be in all our humaness with all the feels and yet not identify with the personal. To align with the oneness of life and trust it. This requires stillness, relaxing and listening deeply to your intuition.
And together in all our humanness we help each other to remember to relax into the flow of life…… and the joy and magic of this sweet surrender.
If you’d like support in bringing you into the relaxed state needed to be in flow, you can find listen and download my free short guided meditations MEDITATIONS
I’d love to know if there is something that has helped you, or if you have a question. Please comment or contact me.
With love and gratitude,
