Flow is Freedom and Ease

Yes, with conditions. The first condition centers on our willingness to be in a state of acceptance of the things, conditions and people that we cannot change. The Serenity Prayer, whose origins are in dispute, reads like this:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

This doesn’t mean that we have to accept everything but if we truly are unable to change certain conditions then letting go and easing into acceptance goes a long way toward creating serenity. This is especially true when it comes to our human proclivity toward believing we can change other people. When I realized that the only person I could change was myself, a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. All the time and energy I was directing toward the fruitless effort of changing a loved one could be directed to the things about me – my mindsets and behaviors that just weren’t serving me or others well and making the changes that I could.

The second condition requires the recognition that we must always stay in tune with the signals and information that we receive from our thoughts and our bodies. This information will alert us when we’ve hit a wall – when we are blocked or stuck. Paying attention to these signals lets us know when we are in a new cycle of change – it’s awareness waving at us again.

The final condition is remaining teachable – being willing to learn something new and willing to engage in the work to develop new mindsets and skills – being willing to be willing to change, if that is what’s required.

We might not always be able to stay in a state of flow but the time we are there will be lengthened with practice and with our ability to be attuned to the barriers that we will inevitably experience and then to be willing to do the work to move through these barriers, growing each step of the way. A beautiful way to experience life, I think.