Drain VS Flow. . .

I will try to keep my ideas of these big concepts simple and to the point – Drain VS Flow. . . Drain is a one-way system. Water pours into the bathtub; it fills, and then we pull the plug and it empties out. No more water. This is how many of us operate, and it’s based on using our personal energy. Personal energy is like a traditional battery. It has a finite amount of charge, and when that’s used up, it’s dead. That’s how we feel when we’re operating from the idea of using our own personal energy and pouring it out, as if down a drain. Let’s now look at Flow. Rather than energy being retained and stored up, then spent, we become an open, cyclical system. Water flows continuously through rivers and streams; it is replenished in the spring after snowmelt. When the river spills into the ocean, it doesn’t stop there. Evaporation carries it up into clouds, which transport it elsewhere to fall as precipitation ( this is my favorite metaphor for rebirth) on the Earth. This is the water cycle, and it keeps creeks and waterfalls flowing. We can experience our energy more like that Flow of the water cycle by understanding our “selves” more like the energy and fluidity of water than just “what” water does/is . When we allow our energy and mindsets to flow through us rather than using our personal resources, we enter the flow. This is much like what athletes and other performers experience when they describe flow. How do we do this? Let your ego and mind step aside. Allow things to happen through you, rather than by you, using your personal reserves. Let your energies write, speak, move, and act through you instead of creating a to do list and checking things off a list like groceries. It takes a lot less energy than believing that “you” are doing it! Sure there are things and responsibilities that you must attend to and/or be present for – just don’t become attached these things or wish you could will them into a direction or outcome. Work with them and allow them to unfold then “you” adapt like that flowing river and embrace the turns and tumbles. Remember rivers have calm and rough waters but they always flow! Non-attachment supports the continual Flow of energy, like the water cycle. Expectations lead to disappointment and feeling depleted. But when we offer our gifts without attachment to the outcome, we feel lighter and undisturbed no matter how things turn out. The river does not have a caveat on its flow – it continually offers the water downstream, trusting in the flow to bring more.