Day 319/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
There's a difference between going with of, being in the flow, and riding a sudden surge of energy, a wave that transports you into an unexpected success, then wanes again into the ordinary flow.
And I don't think that you'll experience that wave without being in the flow. That seems to be my experience.
Today's inspiration from Sarah speaks to flow and that wave of energy that you lose yourself in with total absorption, oblivious to the world around you, as one and the same. It might be true. It hasn't been my experience. In this I have limited knowledge.
My experience has been something akin to moving with the natural flow of the day, attending to the next thing, noticing that everything lines up to deliver me exactly what I need next. At this point in time I have yet to experience that surge of energy, that wave that I can ride as it crests and delivers.
Well, that's not entirely true. I believe I have experienced it two or three times, and for most, not all of those times, I've acted and achieved. Those were times when I had to get off the wave before it crashed, having followed the wrong path for too long, and ended up in a current far greater than I could handle or wanted to submit to.
On one other occasion the wave took me by surprise and I faltered. I didn't believe it. There was no trust. I didn't act until it was too late. It had lost its momentum, I was catching on as it was waning. Then it was gone.
The only other person that I've heard talk about this wave was Richard Branson. In a recorded conversation he spoke of waves of energy and inspiration coming that was fully aligned with his direction, and that it was important to recognise them and to ride them to their conclusion.
Perhaps it's like an artist who loses themselves in their work and after many hours finds that they have produced a magnificent painting or piece of art without any knowledge of how it would turn out until they stepped back and observed it.
Or a musician who can take their instrument and simply begin to play something new and fresh without planning and thinking too much about it.
Sarah mentions the book Flow: the psychology of optimum experience. Author Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi. I want to read that book. That may soon be the next thing. It feels right, it feels as though I'm in the flow of the river of life, my life.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.