Being in the flow

(Nimue)

Sometimes going with the flow is a good choice, because it is the choice that involves least fighting. It’s an idea that comes up a lot in Taoist thinking and in the Tao Te Ching – the idea of being like water, flowing, and not trying to push back. Taking that approach can result in more peaceful and gentle ways of being in the world.

There’s also a line of thought that says ‘Don’t go with the flow. Dead things go with the flow.’ Fish tend to swim against the current to stay in one place in moving water. Salmon and eels have to work their way upstream to reproduce. Sometimes what’s called for is resistance and pushing against the direction you are being carried in. If you aren’t in a gentle and safe space, then the flow might be going somewhere vile.

I have an experience of flow that goes beyond this. It’s not about being carried along by whatever immediate forces bump into you. It’s about being in tune with something deeper and more underlying and being able to work with it. This is more like managing your sails so that you can go where you want to go even if the wind isn’t blowing exactly that way. Or it might be about working with undercurrents. It’s the spring tide that comes up the river even though the river mostly flows the other way. Life is full of such moments and opportunities.

Going with the flow can be a very superficial, unconsidered sort of thing. Seeking the flow, looking for what aligns and how best to navigate is a more deliberate process. It means being open and sensitive, and alert. Sometimes it requires wild leaps in the dark, acts of faith, trust and optimism, but I often find those work better for me than being cautious. Getting to where you want and need to be isn’t always going to be a smooth and easy process, sometimes you have to get in the metaphorical river and wade upstream.

It’s such an exciting feeling though, when it works. Like riding a wave, freewheeling down a hill, there’s a letting go and also a second by second process of working with what’s around you. When it works it is wild, and beautiful and Things Happen in unexpected ways. Sometimes you can even become the flow that lifts and moves other people.

(With thanks to Wanne for the inspiration.)