Living in flow to me means following your light, following your soul. It means trusting the guidance leading you on your path even if you don’t understand it at the time, even if you have absolutely no idea where that path is headed, although you will probably receive intense ‘knowings’ every now and then.
This, to me, is really living. And the way I differentiate this living from a lot of other people’s ideas of living (and how I was living previously) is by following what feels GOOD. Following what captures my attention. I tried the strict, tight schedules that are designed to follow a way of life that my mind and everyone around me has told me is the way to live. This didn’t really work, to say the least. Sometimes following your light leads to planning and scheduling, but this it a totally different thing.
Living in flow also means cycles. Sometimes it means rest, sometimes it means action taking, healing, growing, having fun, feeling what sometimes seems like too much, or sitting in amazement at your life. We cannot be taking action and growing constantly, just as we cannot be in a deep state of healing and feeling all the feels constantly. It is about allowing what comes up from within you, from above you, and following it. Think of nature in the seasons, just look at what happens to the trees during Autumn (Fall) and Spring, look at the flowers, look at the animals and their cyclic behaviour. They are all in flow.
Sounds amazing I know. But…how? Keep on reading!
Trust
Without a deep trust in something, living in flow would be impossible.
Whether that something is Source, the Universe, Angels, God, Allah, Mother Earth, your Ancestors, your Intuition – in my opinion, you need to trust that you are divinely guided with every inch of your heart. If you doubt this guidance, how will you ever act on it? If you doubt the niggles, the ideas, the emotions, you will be following your mind. And the thing about the mind is, it only knows what it has been taught… and it loves comfort and safety. But your source of guidance – it is infinite and loves a good completely-out-of-comfort-zone-high-growth-high-reward step.
And by completely-out-of-comfort-zone-high-growth-high-reward step I mean the crazy ideas that flow into you AS WELL AS the allowing of all the overwhelming and sometimes painful feelings to be felt. It is all for you, it is all on your path. Don’t avoid your path.
No judging
As a lot of you know, March was a very long month for me. The first week of March I had one of the most difficult periods (period as in menstruation) that I have had yet, and I have had very difficult periods in my life. It took everything out of me, and I was in bed most of each day. The rest of the month I tried writing multiple times, and it was as if I was back at University trying to force an essay out – stuck in my head, constantly writing, deleting and writing and deleting. Not fun. I was crippled with self-doubt and fear almost every day. Meditation wasn’t doing it for me. I was completely anti-social and hardly left my apartment. I slept a lot. I rested a lot. I cried a lot.
But the worst part was how much I was judging myself. I felt lazy, I felt as if I were doing everything wrong, as if I were failing, and definitely not ‘hustling’ like so many posts online are telling me I should be doing.
Learn from my month just as I have – don’t judge yourself, allow what comes to come. Sometimes doing nothing is exactly what you should be doing. Your resting periods are just as, if not, more important than your inspired action time.
A book I read earlier this year used a pretty great example (Thank you 5AM Club). Think of the gym – you go to the gym and strain your muscles, creating tears in them until you just about can’t use them anymore. Then, you go home, and you rest, sometimes feeling all the DOM’s for a day or two. Then suddenly you can walk again! No more hobbling around with painful butt muscles.
If you didn’t give your muscles the time to heal you would injure yourself, and you would eventually completely burn out.
You grow in your rest period. Allow the rest periods. Allow the feelings to come up to be held and healed. Allow the immersion in nothing but fun and beauty. You are not lazy. You are doing enough. You are enough. Don’t avoid. Allow.
Rituals/practices
“All of the answers to all of the questions you seek are waiting for you in the portal of your heart. But you cannot hear them unless you carve out time each day to listen.”
– Rebecca Campbell
Living in flow is a whole lot easier when you are connected – connected to guidance and connected to yourself. And it is definitely a whole lot easier to listen when your mind isn’t flooded with thoughts, distractions and fears 24/7.
Ideas:
- Spend time in Nature, sit down on the Earth bare foot, swim in the ocean, marvel at flowers. Soak up the energy of Mother Earth – she is always holding love, inspiration and space for your soul. Let her speak to you. Let her move you.
- Allow your body and mind to quieten and soften, to create space where it was once cluttered. Close your eyes and sit in silence. Put on calming music and allow it to take you away. Follow a guided meditation connecting you to your guides, visualising your dreams, or allowing gratitude to flood through your soul. Whatever you feel pulled to. Just try, as often as you can.
- Get lost in creating art, creating music, creating poems. Paint, draw, build, write, dance, sing, love. Let life flow through you and into your creations. Express yourself.
- Gratitude and Intentions. I feel like I’ve harped on enough about both of these. Sit down and let gratitude flood through you for every single thing you have come into contact with. Then, write down your intentions for the day, month, year, however long feels right in your soul.
For my Morning Rituals, read my blog here!
Get inspired
Whether it’s other people, whether it’s Nature, words, art – fill your life with it and allow your heart to spill over with inspiration and love every day.
I love plants and beautiful colours in my home, it inspires me. I love so many authors and light-workers, their words liberate me. I allow myself to feel inspired by music, my beautiful partner that is always filled with ideas, my Mum who never gave up on her children, beautiful souls in my life and online, myself and how far I have come, and, you – the thought that maybe my words are sparking a light in you inspires me so deeply.
What inspires you? Flood your life with it. Let the inspiration flow through you and take over.
Live for you – not others
Living a life for others is so tough, and you don’t even realise that when you’re in the thick of it. Don’t get caught up in what others are telling you is how you are supposed to live your life. You are not living for your parents, you are not living for your boss, you are not living to be a pawn of society, you are living for you.
Follow what lights you up. Not what lights them up, and definitely not what the ‘rules’ say you should be doing. Allow your true self to come out and shine.
Lots of Love Always,
Jordane, X
