Finding the Flow

In my religion, we work on soul alignment a lot. It's the state of having all three of our souls working in concert with one another and the Divine. Far from a constant state, it is something you must keep doing, and something of which you must always be aware. When we are aligned, we can tap into "the flow" to do our Work and make things easier. Former Grandmaster Cora Anderson used to say that if you souls "were straight within you", you could ask for anything- and get it. One of the reasons for this is because when a witch's will is aligned with God Herself, what you ask for will be in the flow and come easily.

Finding the flow isn't always easy, especially as an adult. We get caught up in "shoulds" and deadlines and other people's expectations of us and it is then that we lose the flow. It's when we think that our created human world trumps nature and its natural patterns and cycles that we lose it. And often when we think we are in it, it is our ego telling us what we want to hear. It's easy to be fooled about flow once we lose the ability to feel it so naturally as children do.

Children naturally follow the flow- they exist in that timeless state that mystics and physicists all talk about- they innately know what flow is deep in their bones. They follow their own patterns and time lines and when we work to speed them up  or slow them down, children naturally resist. Even as babies- I keep hearing from my mama friends from birth class "The baby only takes a long nap when we have somewhere to go!" or "It takes forever to get out of the house now- I'm always late!" It's been the same here, with my child: I always hated those people who ran late, and now I am one of them. When we first brought Rowan home, we were amazed at the passage of time. The days zipped by as we cuddled in our blissful cocoon and we lost track of what day it was. My partner wrote as his Facebook status then, "Babies EAT time."

And they do eat the false measured time that we adults adhere to, that much is sure (That's their superpower!). But I think that a more accurate thing to say would be that babies refuse to pledge allegiance to such a silly concept as linear time and listen to their own inner clock- the very same ones that we were taught to ignore and distrust as children by well meaning adults.

Because after all, we don't live in that kind of world do we? I'm talking about a world where we can trust and listen to our own bodies as the final arbiter of what is right for us personally. We do not live there! Most of us base when we eat and sleep (the two main things that determine our bodies rhythms) on an outside influence- such as when we have to be at work or when someone else gives us permission to do so.

We live in such a state of disconnection to the flow as the norm, that we get angry when our children follow it! "They are being disruptive to a 'normal' and/or 'productive' life", we think to ourselves. To which Zen Master Mary Jaksch and I reply, "What could be more 'productive' than producing another human being?" What could be more normal, more mindful, than living with your child, in the present?

Photo credit: Nezdoiminoga

Our children have a lot to teach us about finding the flow, about being mindful and present. If only we would stop foisting our agendas onto them ( "Come on! You are going to be late to dance class if you don't stop playing around and get dressed!") and stop and listen for a while.