flow | Dare Boldly

When you embrace the flow,

the energy of life

comes alive within you.

Last Friday, I had the joy of attending TEDxCalgary‘s event FLOW.

As an artist and writer, I am continually immersed in creative energy—whether I call it the muse, collective consciousness, my creative essence or simple, The Flow.

FLOW is dynamic energy. Quantum physics teaches us that energy exists as either particles or waves. In our daily lives, we mostly function as particles, but in our creative endeavors, we ride the waves.

Creativity is like a river, constantly flowing, shifting, and creating. Every day, I sit at my desk and gaze out at the Bow River, its ever-changing flow reminding me that all life is energy, and energy never stagnates, just as creativity is part of the energy of each and every human being on this planet.

So, where are you in the flow? Remember, you are not the river; you are part of the flow. Are you stuck in a belief that your current state, no matter how uncomfortable or sublime, is the only place you can be? Or can you embrace a belief that celebrates your creative nature which is an ever-moving, ever-changing state of being human in the flow of life?

Be like the river and flow free.

Attending TEDxCalgary’s event reminded me of a powerful moment I shared in my TEDxCalgary talk, Lessons in Love. In it, I retell the story of becoming so lost on the road of life that one day I stood at the side of a river and wished I could unhook gravity’s hold on my body, allowing myself to fall into the river and be washed out to sea. I was not that powerful, thankfully. But I was powerful enough to change my state of being and reclaim my love of life so that I could unhook myself from the trauma that brought me to that moment and flow with grace and ease through all life’s changing moments.

I invite you to watch my talk, where I delve deeper into this experience and the lessons it taught me about love, resilience, and the power of embracing life’s flow.

Wordcloud created by Tagxedo (www.tagxedo.com)

I made the wordcloud of the words that appear most frequently on my blog. (Thank you Tagxedo)

I was surprised to see that ‘breath’ is the most frequently used word on my blog. It didn’t surprise me to see that heart and love are used pretty often too!

It’s all about the heart.

Our hearts send more messages to our brains every day than the brain sends to the heart. (source)

It’s important to know this because we think what we think is what is real. Yet, if we stop to listen to our hearts, we’ll the real answer is beating quietly beneath the thoughts pounding wildly to keep our fears at bay. We think the rapid beating of our hearts is all about fear, but it’s not. Backed up by our thinking, our hearts beat faster in a desperate attempt to get our attention. But, we’re too busy listening to our minds telling us to run, hide, lie, cheat, deceive, freeze and every other thing we do to avoid the things we fear the most, pain, loneliness, rejection, abandonment, looking stupid, being ‘wrong’, being shamed, being shunned…

On Sunday, I walked along the frozen river. Above, the sky was a cerulean blanket of clear sky sailing into infinity. Below, the snow covered river lay still, it’s capacity to move freely held tightly in winter’s icy grip.

Around me, the air was crisp and cold. Inside me, my heart beat freely. My mind wanted to scare me with its worries about how solid was the ice, especially when occasionally, the icy surface of the snow-covered river would crunch beneath my footsteps.

My mind screamed, “Get off the ice!” My heart knew the truth. There was nothing to fear.

And so I kept walking until the shoreline on the other side of the river called out to me to cross over.

Again, my mind chattered away about the insecurity of the ice.

I took a long slow breath, calmed my thinking and crossed the river.

My mind wanted me to believe the ice would crack and I would fall into the frigid waters flowing deep below the frozen surface of the river.

My heart wanted me to experience the beauty and wonder of walking amidst the open spaces. Of feeling the cold crisp air against my cheeks. Of hearing nothing but the silence of the river valley. It wanted me to visit the site where in July, we carefully placed two heart rocks in the woods along the river bank to honour the wonder pooch. And, just as Ellie once helped me walk fearlessly in the sunshine, my heart wanted me to conquer my irrational fears and flow into and with the serenity surrounding me.

I chose to flow freely with the beauty of the day and let my fears rest quietly in my mind.

They were only thoughts and thoughts can be changed.

Namaste.