Flow: Real, Powerful

Once we made the decision to sell (nearly) everything, travel, and move, things happened quickly. Most of our furniture sold in 3 days. We would look at each other and say, “What are we going to do with that?” and someone would answer our Craigslist ad, or we’d run into a friend, neighbor or family member and give the item away. Within a week, we were sleeping on the floor of our living room, in a tent.

This movement—this flow of everything lining up in support of our decision—was in stark contrast to the dead stop in my business this year. I mean: no motion. Bone-chilling silence.

How quickly, and relatively easily, things moved out and moved forward for us in this transition, how we were supported in every way, proved to me that flow is powerful, and it is real. I reflected on the rest of my life—the periods before I owned my own practice—and everything I had achieved had great flow. It was not that everything was easy (it wasn’t), or that effort and commitment had not been made (it had), but it all fell together: I identified what I wanted, the opportunity arose, and I landed, as if that was all that was necessary. While there was effort, there was not a lot of striving . . . and effort did not consistently go without result or reward.

It became clear to me: there is not, and there has not been, flow in my business, with few exceptions. More often than not, growing it has felt more like a mule climbing a mountain (dragging a cart of boulders) than water carving a canyon.

It was time to stop and watch for, feel into, flow again, and allow for it to open up (and open me to) unknown possibilities for my work and my life.

So, I ask you:

What has come to a stop for you?

Where can you see and feel into flow?

Can you allow it to take you in an unexpected direction?

(And believe me, I had a moment of stark terror when I realized, heading into this, that I did not have a plan and I’d always had a plan.)