Step Into the Flow

“Step Into the Flow.” Choose. Yes. It’s that simple. The Spiritual Adventuress is talking to herself here, and, if you wish, to you too! The flow of divine energy is always present, always flowing. We can step into it, or step out of it, by choice. It’s one thing to understand this principle intellectually, and another to embody and live it experientially. It’s still another to spend all, or almost all, our time in the flow. Spiritual practice.

Recently, the Spiritual Adventuress has been out of the flow (in a “funk”), by choice, of course, choosing not to RPM (rise-pee-meditate) every morning ("Oh, I’ll just stay in bed a little longer. I’ll get up when I finish reading this chapter. . . this article. . ."). The dot-dot-dots are always there, trailing off into nothing. Nothing. The blog isn’t going to write itself ("It’s not???" Whine.). Devas will not finish the book manuscript and leave it neatly stacked on my oak, roll-top writing desk (“They won’t???" Do you want cheese with that whine?).

The Universe, taking the form of an aquacise companion, lovingly invited me back into the flow. A published writer of young adult and juvenile fiction books, she, too, was “feeling like a zombie” and “saw the look in my eyes,” she later said. She offered to lend me her favorite anti-funk book on resistance and procrastination, one of five copies she keeps around her house for herself: The War of Art – Break Through the Blocks and Win your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. It goes without saying, well, almost, that the book not only applies to writing but also to the creation of our lives.

This week I returned to my RPM and morning-page writing practices. And guess what? As soon as I stepped back into the flow, it was there. It had been there all the time. I just needed to plug my lamp into the electrical grid. Synchronicities showed up. Joyful experiences showed up. Because I decided to show up. W.H. Murray put it this way: “A whole stream of events issues from the decision (to be committed), raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.” A week ago I clipped an intriguing 3-line event ad out of Albuquerque’s Alibi, the independent arts and entertainment weekly: “Duke City Dime Stories, open mic prose reading for 3-min. fiction or non-fiction.” It sounded like fun. Just days later, at the launch and author signing of the second annual edition of the literary journal bosque (the magazine) at a local bookstore, a member of my writing group and I were catching up with each other. She said she was writing about grief with two people she met at “Dime Stories.” I told her about clipping their ad. She then turned around and introduced me to one of the co-hosts of “Dime Stories” who had been standing five feet away from me during the entire presentation. Her business card is now in my wallet. The flow is that close. All the time. When we are available to it.

The Universe, in the form of Alice Brasfield, decided to send along a little loving encouragement too. The Albuquerque Journal headlined a same-day article about her this way: “Woman, 81, Is Now a Published Author.” Alice prefaced her bookstore reading with a few wry comments about the newspaper story: “While I’ve never hidden my age, I didn’t expect to see it in a headline.” A grammatical error in the story referred to her as a “former mother.” Everyone laughed as the editors of the literary journal made it perfectly clear they were responsible for neither mishap. Three separate people introduced me to Alice during mingle time. The third time, Alice asked the person how she knew me (aquacise). Curious, alert, alive, humorous – I told Alice her obvious intelligence and her sense of humor made her an inspiration and role model for us all. Then she told us her son recently informed her, “Eighty is the new sixty.” One of his class instructors is eighty.

By attending the bookstore reading to support others, I supported myself (there’s only one). Not only was I inspired by Alice, not only did I meet the founder of “Dime Stories” personally, not only did I warmly reconnect with friends, I also learned of writing opportunities, submission guidelines and deadlines. I could step back into the flow without having a difficult struggle, without having to swim upstream, without having to be miserable, without having it take a long time. I only needed to know the flow is always there and to choose to experience it. It’s great having life work seamlessly. It’s great being supported by the Universe. All I need to do is choose, then act.

“. . . destiny. . . is the child of action.” Deep Truth: Igniting the Memory of Our Origin, History, Destiny and Fate, by Gregg Braden