Do you remember playing in a stream as a child? And making dams and bridges and setting leaves and sticks and paper boats free to catch the current downstream? The water never stopped flowing, did it? No matter your most gallant efforts, the water always found a way to flow. Well, what if there were no obstacles that could stop the flow of your life? What if every time something happens in your life, something over which you might say you have no control, something which appears out of left field, throws a spanner in the works, and generally screws up your plans, you could find a way to relax, let go and surrender to the current?
Do you remember how your little stream-faring vessel would sometimes get snagged on a rock, or caught in a corner where the current had slowed? It would jiggle and dance on the spot as the water played around it, tugging at it’s desire to go with the flow. And eventually it would let go of it’s stationery affair. All resistance would fall away. It would shore up it’s courage with one deep inhalation, and then it would exhale, bid adieu to inertia and dive back into the dance. When life appears to throw an obstacle in your path, which threatens to slow your progress, or bring you to a complete halt, play with the idea that the universal life force is still streaming all around you. You may be being asked to slow down, or pause, or change tack altogether, but like the little boat on the stream, you are always in the perfect place in the flow. You may have an idea in your head about where you want to go, and how and when you want to get there, but play with trusting that you are always in the right place at the right time.
Inhale. Exhale. Relax. Let go. Surrender.
Ask yourself how you feel in your body. Is there pain and tension? Into what kind of mask do your muscles habitually shape your face? How does your breath feel? How do your words move out into the world? What quality do your thoughts have? Is there resistance or ease? Are you flowing downstream or desperately paddling against the current? Can you lie in the life stream, open yourself to the rays of sunshine falling out of the sky, and inhale, exhale, relax, let go and surrender into the flow of life? Can you fall a little deeper into yourself and open your back to the earth? And fall a little deeper still, so that you fall out of your leaf, or stick, or paper self, out of your body and into the stream itself. Can you play with becoming a molecule of water? With being a hydrogen or oxygen atom? With being a vibration instead of a particle? With being the space between the molecules, or inside of an atom? Can you fall a little deeper into, and then out of, yourself so that instead of going with the flow, you can be the flow?
Be the flow.
Have you ever wondered what happened to the sticks and leaves and paper boats you set free on the stream? Take the opportunity now to find out. Dive in after them. Take chase downstream on your own never ending journey and you will see…
Welcome to the ocean!
