Flow
We often describe living in a state of flow as “magical” because it can seem as such to the rational mind. When we take even a small but bold step in alignment with our higher selves, the universe will rise to meet us in surprising ways. Our needs will be provided for seemingly effortlessly; we will bump into just the person we need to see that day; we will know information about our next steps that our rational mind would have no way of knowing. Trusting our intuition and living in a state of flow reveals the infinite possibilities of the universe and the love with which we are all always already surrounded. To make this happen though we need both energetic alignment and to take action from that place of alignment.
In the next few blog posts will explore how to balance alignment and action: first, by looking at several common pit-falls that pull us out of balance and then by delving more deeply into what balanced, aligned action looks and feels like.
Today, the first pit-fall: feeling the bliss and waiting for the magic.
It feels good to feel good. When we learn how to re-connect with our intuitive selves more easily, it feels good. It feels so good that we could spend hours, days, weeks, lifetimes just basking in the bliss that is always accessible to us once we learn how to access it. But if we don’t ground these feelings through actions, the world will eventually press down on us and force us out of the bliss.
I have quite often found myself overwhelmed by frustration at having to come back out into the “unmagical” world after being lost in my own inner bliss. Even after having a lot of experience with the magic of taking aligned action steps, I can find myself forgetting that this magic requires more than just feeling a certain state of being. I can begin to think all I have to do is meditate, clear my emotions, ebb, relax, read the tea leaves and sit back and wait for the magic to arrive. That is how it happened before, right? But what I forget is that these magical experiences follow not just energetic alignment but action steps that flow from energetic alignment.
Underneath this tendency to undervalue action is a subtle fear: fear of my power, fear of my light, fear of being seen, fear of achieving my dreams. The fear sucks you back into the seemingly safe space where the bliss, peace, and ecstasy is an inner experience alone. The fear insulates you from the messiness of this experience flowing outward through inspired action steps that can radically shift your material world.
The universe is magical. But it is a earthly magic. A grounded magic. An embodied magic. We can experience all manner of energetic shifts. We can experience peace, bliss, even ecstasy. But if we do not take any action steps in alignment with that state then nothing new will be created, nothing will shift in our world and we will not experience the “magic” of living in a state of flow. Our action steps must increasingly come to us from our intuitive selves and our intuitive selves alone. But we must take action steps. The more we do this the more rapidly and radically our lives will shift.
The feelings of inner bliss can feel so good and safe while the action steps the bliss would have us take can feel terrifying. But magic requires both.
Have you experienced this pit-fall before? If so, be kind, patient and loving with yourself. Try to hold that part of yourself who is afraid with the same love you would a small child afraid of the dark. See if offering this radical love to yourself can open up more boldness within yourself to do the work you know in the depths of your soul that you are here to do. Can you find one small, intuitively-guided action step you can take today? If so, let us know in the comments what happens!
Flow is a pretty popular word around here. We use it a lot. Many people know exactly what we are talking about from their own experiences of flow. But many people also struggle to understand what flow is. 
Sometimes this experience is talked about as if it can only occur while doing certain, naturally absorbing activities. Certainly, this is the easiest way to access flow – to harness the focus that comes naturally by following your innate passions and abilities. But what many people do not realize or experience is that the flow state is one that can be experienced at any time, even to the point of it being a continuous experience of life. 
Through these experiences, you know that love is the most real thing and that healing and beauty and bliss are not only possible, they are the most possible realities. What in non-flow states feels most possible actually requires a lot of effort because you are fighting against the flow of the universe. What normally feels most impossible in non-flow states becomes most possible and occurs with ease and flow. 
But here’s what happens to us often. We get out of flow – our life feels like its taken a wrong turn or we feel like we’ve never taken enough right steps to even know what flow is. We feel stuck in the trajectory of our current life – like being on one of those moving walkways at the airport. You started on this path and now you are stuck on it and have to keep moving forward.