The Journey of Enlightenment, Part III; The Flow of it All

One would think that flow is all anyone ever really does, as if we have a choice. But that is the very nature of Flow, we do have a choice and yet so few seem to exist there within it.

First, a practical look at the definition and how we apply it to living in the Present Moment.

The dictionary definition simply states that Flow is simply the “moving along or out steadily and continuously in a current or stream: "from here the river flows north" and “The action or fact of moving along in a steady, continuous stream.”

There is another definition to flow that many words are not given and that is from a perspective of psychology.

Flow, in this instance, is defined as the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.

Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.

According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand.

To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow.

The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task, although flow is also described as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions.

Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the moment, present, in the zone, wired in, in the groove, or owning.

What is important to note from the standard definition of moving along or out steadily and continuously in a current or stream and the flow of complete focused motivation, the single-mindedness of it all, is the the principle of advancement in a natural and creative expression of nature. The river flows as it does and when we embark on a Flow within ourselves, we become a joyful creature, a true force of nature that moves at a constant and ever-evolving persona of love.

Flow becomes who we are and embodies our journey. There is nothing that determines how we flow or the way we should flow; We Just do in a way that is natural to us.

Here is where flow is interrupted, and it is at the core of the three step process of Release, Let Go and Flow. At the very heart of the process, there is a Dam that has blocked flow. Something that you have allowed in your life. For what ever reason that it has served you at the time, your Dam has stopped you from your true nature; the very art of Flowing into each new Now Moment.

As a kid, i witnessed the awesome power of the Mississippi River as storms caused it to leave its banks most every Spring. You see, the government, in its infinite wisdom, devised a series of dams along the river to "contain" the flow of the mighty Mississippi River.

Not so much.

When nature would intercede and the river would leave its banks, i was often amused as to the news reports of the damage that was caused because of the river doing what it was supposed to do, the very act of flowing. All of a sudden the river is a destructive force, but it was the very act of the government trying to control nature that was at the core of the destruction.

When nature decides to do what it does, we are simply in the way. Such is the nature of flow and the self-imposed Dams of life are at the heart of anxiety, worry and fear.

You see, we are creatures of flow that are supposed to have a natural rhythm, an ease to the way of living. If you have Dammed up your flow, then you must undo the unnatural aspects of your nature and return your life back over to you.

You must Release by forgiving.

You must Let Go by truly forgetting and deciding that you are the only one responsible for you; that no one else has input unless it is from a mentoring point-of-view that guides, but never insists on its own way.

You must then let nature, the very nature of who you are as an individual, allow Flow into each Present Moment alone, for therein lies your eternity.

Life truly begins when you have learned that the nature of Flow allows the very truth of who we are as eternal beings to enter and create our reality. For we are Love and from Love, all extends outward. Love is the creative force for all that we are and for all that we are to become.

Flow is Love and it is our nature to live free within the Flow.

Let me know your thoughts below, get on the newsletter list HERE, and be Social with this Post, for the more people we have living successfully in this Now Moment and discussing the value of doing so, the higher we lift all others around us.

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DA Southern is a Strategic Personal Development Coach, teaching the spirit of living in Now Moments with the principles he experienced during over 35 years as an actor and director in live theatre. DA coaches his clients to rid life of limiting beliefs that have kept them from achieving miracles in all areas of their life by embracing Mindfulness of the Present Moment with a renewed Vision for life. Contact DA Southern for coaching @ directyourownlife@gmail.com

Life Begins When Worry No Longer Impacts Your Journey

In such a climate of fear that we have seemed to allow ourselves to arrive within in this Present Moment of living, one must wonder how it is that we have come to such a place. How is it that souls of love that we are all truly destined to become, allow this fear of living, fear of life to pervade our very existence.

The common thread, it is my belief, is worry.

Let me come at it in a different way than most would. Worry is that common emotion of the soul that has no place, ever, within us, yet we seem to excuse it in ourselves and find it repugnant in everyone else.
My, oh my, the ego is a powerful little beast, is it not?

How often do we tell someone else not to worry, when that is our inclination. It is almost as if we are expected to worry about life in so many ways and if we don’t we, of course, are “flighty” or “cold-hearted” or we are irresponsible in some way. Imagine that, the very act of NOT worrying and staying true to who you are makes you irresponsible.

Can you imagine if you decided to travel the world and, because you set out on a journey of self discovery, you are labeled as irresponsible. Isn’t that the height of responsibility; being labeled as such when truth is what you desire? Isn’t the very act of discovering yourself indicates that you are in search of becoming a better person of love to enrich the human condition?

If you find yourself living is such fear as to not make that journey, then merely look at the program, The Amazing Race, where teams travel around the world in a short amount of time. What most take from the race who participate is the journey within that transforms them and their relationships with not only one another, but with humanity.

By seeing other cultures and participating in tasks that many times test their assumptions about themselves, the individuals find that their fear of truly living was baseless. That their worry about life, in general, was nothing more than the ego’s attempt to “protect” them.
Protect them from what? Not sure, but the ego tells you countless things to worry about in life.

Really, however, the journey is from the allowing of love to enter them. Love of themselves, love of humanity, love of life and love of the journey within that makes the journey without all worthwhile.

Worry is so baseless that it cripples us from truly living life. The sad fact is that society breeds that fear from childhood on. Oh, I'm not saying that we aren’t aware of our surroundings but we don’t live in a constant state of “what if” this or that happens that we have to do this or that to cover the "what if" to begin with.

As i said in the last post, the ego can play out a scenario to its end based on a “what if” so compelling that you actually believe it to be. Sometimes even so much as to manifest the very worry the ego has so cleverly ‘what if’ed” so the ego can say to you, “See, i told you so.” Then once the ego has you there, you actually feel guilt about not worrying.

Do you see the insidiousness of worry?

There is another component of worry that really is at the core. The ego masks it as “making sure you are good with yourself.” It is the “What others think of me and my decisions” thought pattern as a guide for living truth in your life that is your journey alone. Yes, we impact others with our lives, that is the very nature of living. However, if you come from a place of truth, from a place of love, then you will not be a concerned how you impact others. There will be no worry about your actions or the actions of others.

The very thought that your belief that others thoughts the ones that you assign to them, about you, are somehow a determinant for living your life is bizarre.

However, It happens all the time.

Someone gives you a look and you assign that look a series of thoughts, usually based on experiences from the past of a similar look. So then you get angry, do something completely different or think a new series of thoughts all based on a look. The ego goes into full-protection mode to align you to the world as it sees it, which is not reality at all.

In the next post, we will delve into the very nature of the living in such a Now Moment state of love that there is nothing any one can say to take you away from your journey. It is a conscious decision, but a freeing one.

By the way, the thought you must take from the whole “What others think of me” situation is this:

It is none of your business what others think of you!

Just be true to yourself and come from a place of love in all you do and say.

Let me know your thoughts below, get on the newsletter list HERE, and be Social with this Post, for the more people we have living successfully in this Now Moment and discussing the value of doing so, the higher we lift all others around us.

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DA Southern is a Strategic Personal Development Coach, teaching the spirit of living in Now Moments with the principles he experienced during over 35 years as an actor and director in live theatre. DA coaches his clients to rid life of limiting beliefs that have kept them from achieving miracles in all areas of their life by embracing Mindfulness of the Present Moment with a renewed Vision for life. Contact DA Southern for coaching @ directyourownlife@gmail.com

Guilt: The Other White Meat - Part 2

 What is guilt? Guilt is the pledge drive constantly hammering in our heads that keeps us from fully enjoying the show. Guilt is the reason they put the articles in Playboy.

Dennis Miller

Oh, great! Now I have guilt!

T. Rex, from Toy Story

What is it about humanity that we have decided that guilt is the way we relate on such interpersonal levels to one another knowing that it is based in fear, as discussed in the previous post (part I)?

What is it about the ego within us all that we have decided that to keep our little superiority acts in check, we have to be the ones to guilt others into complying with our wishes? Are we so non-trusting within ourselves that we feel that we have to control others, not to mention ourselves, with guilt?

Ego and Guilt Work Hand-in-Hand

In living in Now Moments, guilt can really have no hold on us as it only seeks to keep the past ever present and living and the future looming within us, usually as nothing more than some type of dishonor of our past. The Now Moment is then completely obliterated as non-important, which is exactly as the ego has decided needs to happen.

By the way, the ego completely hates Now Moments.

You see, Now Moments are designed for us to have clarity in this moment so we can plant seeds of greatness in the next Now Moments to come. Guilt robs us of that clarity and keeps our disgusting past that guilt tends to persuade us exists, forever present so that the beauty of this Now Moment is completely abandoned. The ego desires you not to have peace in each and every Now Moment as then what would be the reason for ego to exist in the first place?

Trust me, I have heard more than my share of why “healthy guilt” is a good thing speech, so no need bother. Is the very term not an oxymoron to begin with, and, quite frankly, when people use it they usually have to justify the existence of the term at the very outset.

Guilt is associated with fear and there is no justification for giving fear to another person or living in fear as the spirit of fear is a debilitating spirit that robs you of all joy.

3 Step Process To Plow Through Guilt

Let me give you a quick three-step process that will help you with guilt.

1. Release. This is the first step of taking back your Now Moments. Release yourself, first and foremost. If you want to say it another way, forgive yourself. The past is the past and whatever is done is done. Keeping some past mistake alive forever in the throws of guilt does nothing for your ability to make this Now Moment precious. So you must first release yourself.

2. Let Go. This may seem to be like release but it is all together different in that you must truly let go of guilt by putting space between you and it. Release is the willingness to do so, Letting go is the action.

3. Flow. This is now the most important aspect of the process as it is based in peace. The peace of this Now Moment is a simple allowing of life to unfold all around you so you can become that ever-moving force of strength to yourself and to others around you. In peace there is tranquility within and that always presents itself as a quiet strength without.

Guilt is not healthy, EVER.

Release, Let go and Flow into each and every Now Moment for there the seeds of greatness live.

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DA Southern is a Now Moment coach, teaching the spirit of living in Now Moments with the principles he experienced during over 30 years as an actor and director in live theatre. DA coaches his clients to rid life of limiting beliefs that have kept them from achieving miracles in all areas of their life by embracing the beauty of this Now Moment with a renewed passion for life. Contact DA Southern for coaching @ directyourownlife@gmail.com

The Past is Past: Live Free Without Baggage

Now Moments are but a culmination of the past. But here is a concept, the past is past, so why let it allow itself to influence future Now Moments, which don’t exist yet, and, certainly, should not affect this Now Moment unless it is something that must be dealt with now.

First a discussion about the baggage we carry around with us that is our past.

It is my assertion that whether the baggage is “good” or “bad” and that, my friend, is always subjective, that baggage serves you as you carry it around for whatever reason. I know you are saying “I don’t desire this pain or this burden” but still you have decided to carry it with you and allow it to affect you in this Now Moment in some way, even to the extent that you make decisions that are not ideally logical or sensible based on the fear of the past.

For Fear That

Yes, that is what the past intrinsically is based in most of the time, fear. The fear of not repeating the same mistakes. The fear of being labeled this or that. The fear of ultimately being judged and is that not the ultimate fear? Isn’t that what most peer pressure is based on? The judgment of peers or not being part of the group.

So, I guess you could say, fear and acceptance go hand-in-hand, right? Because we all want to be accepted at some level into a group, maybe we should take a note from the great comedian from the past, Groucho Marx, who said when talking about joining a club, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. “ In that quote we find the ultimate attitude of not allowing others to dictate your actions.

 

The Past is The Past

Fear is that constant of the past that cripples us in these Now Moments. Rid yourself of fear and many items of the past would come crumbling down. As I often tell those I coach that the thing about any suitcase, what we would think of baggage, is that they are always equipped with latches or zippers in which you are free to open them and empty the contents AT ANY TIME.  The challenge is that, for some reason, many believe that once they are latched or zipped, that it appears that some type of super-secret code or key is needed to undo it.

In reality, the super-secret code or key is your own mind and your decision to release it. The real secret is to determine how the baggage is serving you, I mean, getting to the core emotion as to why it benefits you to carry it with you. When you get to that point, you will find that the suitcase you are holding, that which is holding you back with its weight, is easy to unlatch and empty out.

Now Moments

Now Moments should only hold the seeds of the past as a way to understand the journey now not hamper it going forward. There is much more to be said along these lines, but suffice it to say, we are all on the journey of self-discovery but allowing the past to dictate your Now Moments is a journey we don’t share.

Calm yourself and look at the suitcase and ask yourself why you carry it. Be honest, really honest with yourself and get to the emotion of the heart of the fear for there will be your release.

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DA Southern is a Now Moment coach, teaching the spirit of living in Now Moments with the principles he experienced during over 30 years as an actor and director in live theatre. DA coaches his clients to rid life of limiting beliefs that have kept them from achieving miracles in all areas of their life by embracing the beauty of this Now Moment with a renewed passion for life. If you desire one-on-one coaching contact DA Southern @ directyourownlife@gmail.com