Creating in the Flow
When we create, we are presented with potentials, possibilities and ultimately choices. And as we make our choices it is likely we will find ourselves somewhere on a spectrum between two profoundly different experiences. On one end is the experience of being in the flow where everything seems to be working, and on the other is the experience of being absolutely stuck in the mud…or perhaps traffic. Nothing seems to be working no matter how hard we try.
Unless our secret intention is self-sabotage, which is sometimes the case, most of us prefer being closer to the first type of experience, the experience of creating in the flow—the experience that the choices we make are being supported by the unfolding reality around us. And that these choices are leading us to desirable outcomes.
But can we create this way? Is there any correlation between our creative intentions and the events that appear in our external reality? And if so, how can we determine which choices will lead us to the first type of experience and help us avoid the second?
When evaluating choices, most of us grab whatever surface level data is available, and then use a fairly narrow set of criteria to determine our best options, say a list of pros and cons. This seems like a completely rational thing to do…except that, very often, it’s not at all rational. When we make our lists, we take what little we know and then build in all kinds of related assumptions or preconceptions. These might be based upon our past experiences, personal histories, projected desires, our relationship to the opinions of others, our relationship to money, time, our hidden fears and so on and so on. And while much on our lists might have value, as stand-alone criteria how reliable is it for evaluating the potentials of an unknown future? Can we really expect to reason our way to optimal choices when our foundational knowledge is, at best, somewhat fictional?
But what if we could determine the best choices for ourselves based upon a broader and more reliable set of criteria—one that has less to do with our hidden assumptions and more to do with who we are, the observable reality within and around us, as well as the reality around the choice itself? In other words, what if we considered ourselves in the process of deciding what is best for ourselves. And what if we took into account what is occurring within and around us when deciding what is our best way forward. To do this requires only a small leap, a slight shift in perception—the simple consideration that perhaps we are more than objective choice makers in an otherwise abstract and disconnected reality.
Creating in the flow is the recognition of our fundamental nature as both the participants and creators of our experience. It is the understanding that when potentials present themselves to us, they never do so absent of us. A potential or possibility might stream in as a thought, image or feeling. Or it might—and often simultaneously does—demonstrate itself through an event or circumstance within our lives.
Whether perceived as internal or external to us, our reality is embedded with information directly related to and reflective of our individual relationship to the potential presenting itself. How does this choice sit with me? Do I feel a sense of openness or confinement? What is happening externally when I take a step in this direction? Am I met with resistance internally or externally? Or, am I being supported?
When we interface with our reality this way we begin a dialog between the two seemingly disconnected parts of ourselves. And in this, we soon discover that each of us has a built-in direction finder, a compass of sorts, specifically designed to peer around the corner of the unknown, to steer us away from hidden pitfalls and lead us to our grandest potentials for unlimited growth, prosperity, satisfaction and fulfillment.