experience_flow

Be like a pond

There is a variety of bacteria, algae, plants, tiny creatures and fish that live in a pond. The overall health of this ecosystem is determined by the quality of water. Moreover, a healthy flow of water is necessary for a pond to stay alive. Healthy water supports life, has a proper ammonia level to keep both tiny creatures and fish well and is enriched with oxygen.

Moving water is therefore necessary. It causes the water to break into droplets, which can pick up more oxygen thanks to their large surface area. In addition, fresh water helps removing any decaying vegetation, which is important for the well-being of a pond.

What you want is to experience flow in the pond of your life

You need a regular inflow so there is no drought. You need fresh, moving waters which bring you more oxygen and support you in developing your ideas and taking action. You need a regular outflow so there is no flood and, moreover, the old material is being removed. You basically want moving waters of a good quality in order to support life.

What you want is

Flow.
Fresh waters.
Movement.
Change.
Excitement.
Progress.
Being alive.

Strive for the balance between inflow and outflow

So there are things you need to let go and there are things you need to take in.

  • You need to share your ideas and thoughts (outflow) and you need to collect information (inflow).
  • You need to teach (outflow) and you need to educate yourself (inflow).
  • You need to respect others (outflow) and you need to appreciate yourself (inflow).
  • You need to talk (outflow) and you need to listen (inflow).
  • You need to work to earn money (outflow) and you need to relax and rejuvenate yourself (inflow).
  • You need to give away your possessions (outflow) and you need to receive gifts (inflow).

Moving waters bring new ideas and new concepts to your life, but also new things. Moving waters also remove the old patterns and old habits that no longer serve you. They flush out all the things you no longer need. Such things are called clutter.

Clutter is all decaying material of a pond. It is there, has served a role, but is disturbing now. Moreover, if it stays there for some time, it will significantly reduce the quality of the water. This will stress your fish (big ideas or projects) and thus making them much more vulnerable and susceptible to disease. With fish illness, prevention is much easier than treatment. It is worth your effort to maintain a healthy environment of your pond so that all complex relations between living organisms (thoughts, ideas, feelings, projects, actions and rest) are supported.

If you want to experience flow in life, pay attention to both inflow and outflow. There are two main challenges here: accepting quality inflow on your personal level and organizing quality outflow, especially on the material level.

Take care of your quality inflow

The first challenge is to learn to appreciate yourself and enjoy spending time with yourself. It is about a life in balance, between work and relaxation, between action and inaction, between contemplation, ideas and application. It is about working on your healthy self-esteem and self-image.

Take care of your quality outflow

The second challenge is to accept quality outflow by removing clutter from your life. Take a challenge and get rid of 20% of the things you own but no longer use. You keep them because of sentiment or in hope that you will need them one day. It is very unlikely, though.  And even if this happens, you can probably do O.K. without them as well. If you really want to experience a great freedom in your life, give away 50% of your belongings.

Learn to give with joy.

Let the clutter out of your life

Inspect your cloths and give away 20% that you do not like, do not fit any longer or have not used for the last two years. Make a space. Let your wardrobe breathe.

Examine your collections of books, CDs, DVDs, magazines or papers… Get rid of 20% of them. Even better, get rid of 50% of them! Sell them. Find charitable organizations. Give them away.

Look at your bookshelves, tables, lamps, wardrobes and furniture. Get rid of chunky or non-functional pieces that you are not happy with.

Look at your old gadgets, cd-players, ipods, ipads, mobile phones, cameras, and so on. You do not use them any longer, while somebody else can. Give them all away.

Look at your laptops and computers. Do you need more than one? More than two???

Your children are likely flooded with toys. They will happily do with the 50% of toys that you leave. Bring some fresh air to their plays. Give 50% of toys away. Find some charitable organizations or individual children. And bring some joy to them.

Look closely at your relations. Are any of these toxic or dysfunctional? Perhaps some of them need to be removed as well.

Stop being in relationships that bore you, dis-empower you or bring you down. Discontinue them. Let them die with no regrets. Look for relations with people who support you or lift you up. There is too little time in life to get yourself to a web of dependencies that block your progress and diminish your possibilities.

Free yourself!

Dedicate yourself to removing clutter from your life. You will experience remarkable changes. Freshness, new ideas and new possibilities.

Be like a healthy pond. Experience Flow. Enjoy achievements. Support life. Have fun!

And … don’t give up.

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Photo courtesy www.martin-liebermann.de (zeitspuren), available under the Creative Commons license on Flickr.

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