Flowing Faith is the last of our self-belief characters and her flower is the Daisy, which means simplifying and essentially that's what being in flow… simplifying things.
I think people have a misconception around what being in flow is. Sometimes when you think of flow you think of a raging river, and you think that flow is a bit out of control, hitting up against rocks and being tossed around. That's not what flow is.
Flow is a much gentler stream of water that you are totally in control of. A bit like being in a kayak where you're actually totally in control as you go down this gentle stream paddling along. You're going with the flow of the current and it's helping you, but you still have to paddle. Because being in flow isn't just sitting around on a Lilo, coasting downstream. It's about using the momentum of the water and working with that to achieve your goals.
So the two extremes of flow isn’t are:
· Being totally out of control and being flung against the rocks at the mercy of the rapids
· Lying on a lilo soaking in the sun while you let the water do all the work.
Being in flow is in between both of these.
When you are in flow in a logical sense, things feel lighter and easier. It doesn't mean it's not hard work, but it just feels easy and doable. There are little signs along the way that things are moving forward, that things are on the right track; opportunities arising, synchronicities happening etc.
When you're not in flow in a logical sense, it feels like what I like to call “pushing shit uphill”. It feels hard, it feels heavy and it feels stressful. You have a lot of stress when you're not in flow. It feels like hard work. It feels like doors are shutting all around you. You feel really out of control, like somebody else is dictating the way that you go.
So when you can recognise “hey, I'm not in flow” all you need to do is to step back in flow. Do this by choosing things that light you up. Making decisions that bring you joy and feel right. Bringing in your Intuitive Ingrid and tune into your gut and go with what feels light. Start to use the head/heart technique that I discuss in the book to help yourself make decisions when you're not in flow.
It also helps to remember that there is always a higher purpose around why something's not working. Which we talked about in Spiritual Sally that the Universe and out our higher selves are these all-knowing beings. So for example, let's say you had a business deal coming up with a certain person, and you really thought this person was going to be great. And they were going to be good for your business. And you think all the stars are aligned and this is going to be really good. Then for whatever reason they either pull out, or something happens and the deal doesn’t go ahead. So, you thought it was all flowing and you were on track but suddenly a door closes.
This is when you bring in your Trusting Tracey and really try to trust in the process and the higher values of the Universe. You also bring in your Resilient Ramona to help you move forward. Then after some time, you will look back on this closed door and you’ll see the reason why. Maybe you suddenly see a personality trait that you don't like in that person, or a better person comes along and you think to yourself, thank God that opportunity didn't come off, because I wouldn't have wanted to work with them anyway. This is an example of when you feel like you’re not in flow, but it’s happening for a reason and that reason is to direct you back on flow.
One of the biggest things with Flowing Faith is having a high level of self-awareness. So, how I like to describe it is, you live in your life and you do your day to day things, but the same time you kind of bring yourself out of your life, like being an observer to what's happening, so you can analyse it. I recently shared the example of being really angry at the carpet layers, I was in it, but I also got to the point where I could step out and look at how I was behaving. So I became the observer, as well as the person in it. And that's really important, especially with flow.
If you feel like you're out of flow, take a step back and observe it more clearly. I'm now out of flow, I'm not feeling great so I need to step back into flow. To do that you simply use your journaling to help you observe and then start to make decisions based on what feels lighter and easier and more joyful. Then follow that path and see where it takes you.
When I decided to write the Change Journey book, I knew I had a message to share . I tried running a workshop – it was a disaster. I tried running it as an online program – there was way to much content and people went into overwhelm. Then a friend suggested that I write a book. I knew nothing about writing a book and wasn’t really that keen on the idea. So I said to the Universe… if you want me to write a book, I'll write it, but if it doesn't flow, I'm going to stop. If at any point, this feels like doors closing, like mental blocks or heavy and yuck, I’m going to stop. I started writing and it just flowed. Every time I went walking I got more and more inspiration. I had 44 and wasn’t sure how they worked together, the categories came to me and I put them into groups. I wanted them to be beautiful cartoons, I found the perfect artist. Then I wanted the flowers drawn, again I found the perfect artist. Each time I had a “problem” a solution easily came to the forefront… that’s how I knew I was in flow.
That doesn't mean to say it was an easy project, I put in a lot of hours, I wrote all the time. I used to have inspiration at three o'clock in the morning and get up in the dark and write, but it felt manageable. At no time did I think this is too hard, I can't do this. So I went from running a workshop which felt terrible to running an online program which was hard and I didn't feel like running it, to writing a book where I realised that the content was going to be manageable because people could pick a section and read that section and work on that section, and then put the book down and then pick it up again whenever they wanted to and read the next section. And that's the feedback I've been getting about the book is people say, this is a handbook for life. So a lot of my purchasers have bought a copy for themselves which they then hope they would give to other people and pass it on, but instead they're coming back and buying more copies for somebody else and somebody else because they want to keep referring to the book and use it as a handbook for life.
Can you see how the above story is an example of stepping back into flow: I tried a workshop, it didn't work (out of flow). I tried an online program, it didn't work (out of flow). I wrote a book, it worked (stepped back into flow).
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