Working with the flow, instead of against it.

So I talk a lot about the flow. It is a key piece to doing business the feminine way. I also think it is a key to work/life balance and a happy, fulfilling life. It seems to me the world has been tipped the way of the masculine for far too long, and the feminine spirit has been ignored and devalued, especially in business. If you look at natural cycles, whether in the universe or within our own bodies, you see that there is an ebb and a flow. Even our menstrual cycle is based on this ebb and flow. For far too many of us, we are in a battle with these natural cycles and rhythms, desperate to control everything around us. It makes sense with the lives we have created. When you are juggling 100 balls in the air, if one piece is out of sync, then everything falls apart around us. When we fight the natural movement in ourselves or the universe, things just don’t work. No matter how hard we fight or push or prod, things don’t move easily or abundantly.

I think it is really important to cultivate more awareness of the flow in your life and your business. Sometimes there is a time to rest, to be and sometimes there is a time to do, but unless we know which time is which we wind up in a battle with our own natural rhythms. How do you discern what time it is? You just listen. Take the time to tap into your own rhythm and trust it. I often feel a need to be more inward, to slow, to rest, but being a single mom running two companies, I often feel the need to keep going, keep pushing myself and ignore my natural rhythm. It doesn’t help that the masculine messages I grew up with were “work harder”, “Keep your nose to the grindstone” and “Keep plugging away”. I often fight my own feminine spirit dying to have some time to connect, to rest and to be at peace. Just recently, I recognized this pattern occurring in my life. Here I am pushing myself to the limits, and yet it isn’t producing anything except stress, frustration and a complete lack of flow. I realized that the reason it felt like there was no flow, is because I was moving against the flow, instead of listening and tapping into my own intuitive guidance.

In the business world most of us grew up in, you can’t just stop pushing to rest, it seems from a reasoning mind that this would not produce results, but failure. The pressure to succeed financially, physically and mentally has caused us to ignore our bodies signals to slow down and feel the flow. What I have discovered in my own life, is that as soon as I realize that I am fighting the flow, and I stop and rest or follow my spirit’s needs and desires, the flow increases and the magic in my life becomes apparent once again. This is a big piece to manifesting or creating your dreams. You have to be willing to tap into the flow of your energy and listen to where it takes you. We are still the directors of our energy, but being aware of the natural flow of the river only helps our life or business move more easily. Trying to constantly fight the current is one of the main reasons we get exhausted, overwhelmed or depressed.

Today, as you walk through your day, take notice of your energy, your flow, does it feel like you are fighting against the current, or flowing down the stream?