You crave those times when inspiration moves through you like magic. The times when the hours available in each day abundantly line up to meet your inspiration and convert it into bursts of productive creation. The times when the money plentifully arrives to meet the creation you’re putting out there, leaving you feeling like you have “more than enough.”
And because that flow tends to come when we’re feeling plenty of joy, and leads to catalyzing even more joy, we assume flow can only happen when we’re feeling good. So when the darkness comes — when you feel a need to slow down, to go within, to heal or grieve or cry, when all you can do is surrender to the contraction you feel within…
You assume the flow has left you.
You wonder: Where did it go? How do I get it back? How can I be successful without it? Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not flow. Flow is there in the stillness. It’s there in the contraction. It’s there in the ups and downs, the ebbs and rushes of the tide, equally.
We perceive flow as happiness, as joy, as things happening, stuff getting done, and creation coming into fruition. But that’s only one part of it. We humans are creators. So it’s easy for us to look to the times when the creation reaches more tangible fruition and look upon it as what’s ‘supposed’ to be all of the time.
In order for creation to happen, it has to experience the entirety of the cycle
It has to experience death to find rebirth, contraction to create expansion, stillness to find clarity, surrender to find sourcing, and bursts of inspiration, excitement, focus, and accomplishment.
Here are 5 strategies to support the ebbs to become flow:
1. Feel it.
The flow becomes more obvious when you return to your body and realize that even as stillness or the appearance of darkness takes hold, the feeling is still there – and in the feeling, there is always flow.
When you return to allowing the feelings to happen, you’ll realize the flow hasn’t stopped, it’s just shifting form to guide you through something new.
2. Surrender + feel.
When we make the ebbs in the flow “wrong,” we’re actually blocking the flow itself. As mentioned in #1, flow is in how you’re feeling – so if you’re feeling low energy, sad, in need of some space, or like all you can do is be still – THAT feeling IS the flow.
When we ignore it and force ourselves to do something that’s out of alignment with what we’re feeling, we’re stopping the flow.
3. Stop looking for the flow.
We can’t always see what’s being created inside of the cycles of life and all of its creations. If you get an epiphany of what that particular ebb in the flow is doing for you (e.g., a particular healing, clarity, or clearing out), then great, allow the ah-ha to be there!
But don’t go searching for it. Sometimes what’s happening behind the scenes of the cycle goes beyond what we need to know. And other times you’ll find out why something was stalled or why you needed to go through a particular period after the fact.
4. Don’t be afraid to clear out space for the ebb in the flow.
It can often be unpredictable when we’re going to feel off or as if the flow has abandoned us. When you realize it hasn’t abandoned you, it makes it easier to embrace precisely what’s showing up. And once you embrace it, there’s a chance you’ll actually need more space to be with what’s there – the feelings, the stillness, whatever is asking to flow.
Trust your intuition if you feel guided to reschedule a meeting or move around a deadline to give yourself more space to be with what you’re feeling. Even when it appears to oppose your plans, it’s actually happening for the sake of your highest purpose.
5. Be aware of the “container” available to you in the ebbs and the flows.
When the appearance of the flow slows down, we can get wrapped up in keeping our minds stuck on the lack of productivity, focus, accomplishment, or money showing up as a result. And as important as it is to trust in the highs and lows of the tide, we also have the capacity to increase what can come through us in the lows.
This doesn’t come to us by pushing or forcing, but by consciously noticing, intending, and allowing for an increase over time. When we consciously expand our container during the times of inspiration and creativity, we’ll be able to expand more of what’s possible during the times of stillness, as well as more obvious abundance.
I’d love to hear how you allow yourself to find the perfection in the ebbs of the flow! Comment below or share!
