How great is the feeling of being in “the zone”?
In the unfortunate case that you don’t know, I’ll tell you a bit about it.
Being in the “zone”, or in the “flow” is a state of mental, emotional, physical and energetic alignment. This state is idealised because it doesn’t just feel good, it feels GREAT, and better yet, it feels right.
Finding the flow can be tricky, but it is worth striving towards. From my point of view, the more you can get there, and the longer you can stay, the better off your life will be as a whole.
Now, how rarely or regularly you are in the flow is determined by a number of things, a lot of which have solely to do with YOU. Your behaviours, actions and decisions. So how DO you get into the flow?
Here’s a few things that I know to work:
1. Start your day right
I don’t know if I can say I’ve ever found the flow on a day that I’ve slept in. This is especially the case if I’ve slept so far past my wake up time, that I’m rushing around like a chicken without a head.
In fact, I’ve spent entire months, seasons, DARE I say YEARS completely out of the flow. These were hard times, times when I found no reason to get up from my bed, times when nothing inspired me. Coincidently, they were also the times before I learned about energy work and how to put it into practice.
Finding the flow is pretty much all energy work. Sometimes, rare times, you can fall into it accidentally. But really, finding the flow is a conscious effort, a destination with a roadmap. Part of that road map is starting the journey early, getting up with the sun, maybe even before it. This is known as a “mindful morning”, and it is essentially using the first hours of your day to prepare for the rest.
How does this look? Well, as they say, different strokes for different folks… Some people start their day with a run, others with a cup of coffee, or maybe a shower. If you’re daring enough, maybe even try a cold shower.
What I think is a necessary element, no matter what you do, is stillness. If you’re not still, even for a moment, how can you find the current or natural rhythm?
When I manage to get myself up that early without needing to be somewhere immediately, I like to start it with a fresh face and a cup of green tea. First thing I do after brushing my teeth, is splash my face with cold water. If I’m feeling particularly self-careful that day, I will spray my face with some rose water immediately after.
Then, I’ll head downstairs and start the kettle.
Yoga has also made it’s way into most of my mornings. On these days it feels so great to stretch out, take deep breaths, and revel in the need to not be anywhere else but right there. Again, a chance for stillness.
Now don’t get me wrong, waking up does not come easily to me. In fact, I very regularly wish I was a morning person, because it is actually such a nice buzz. There’s a certain magic about the early hours of the morning, and if you can use them to your advantage, the more likely you’ll find yourself in the flow.
2. Keep yourself healthy
In order to find the flow, the body mind and spirit need to find a rhythm, or alignment. If you eat a load of processed foods, drink lots of alcohol or sugary drinks, and/or take a lot of stimulants, it’s going to be difficult for you to find that alignment.
Your mind needs clarity, and your body needs sustenance. It needs strength and nourishment. Both need adequate sleep and proper hydration, so obviously a hangover is not going to get you where you want to be.
For many, this takes discipline. And at first you might not enjoy it, but when you start to feel the benefits, you’ll understand WHY you’re doing it.
Finding this rhythm doesn’t even take very long. Just a week of dedicated effort will feel like a significant difference, trust me, I know. And the biggest key to this, is to keep with it.
I know first hand how easy it is to start to see results, and stop there. It’s this weird psychology thing I don’t fully understand, that says,
“Yup, I did it! Now I can take it easy.”
I can’t tell you how frustrated I am to say that, I do this ALL the time. And what I need to learn is how to catch that part of myself and say “NO, we have to keep going”.
There are obvious times for action and times for rest. If you don’t know how to find them, I’ll give you an easy clue: just look to the moon.
3. Work with the moon.
It’s definitely more than just a pretty face, in fact, to me that’s the least interesting thing about it.
The moon is often overlooked. Summed up to a glorified satellite with nothing more than rock and dust, right?
Wrong.
The moon is more than just the brightest light in the night sky, it has a massive stabilising factor for us here on Earth and dare I say, it has allowed for life on our planet.
You see, the moon creates the tides, which create movement within the water and allows for a natural rhythm and circulation within the oceans. The moon is the reason for the earth’s sideways tilt, also known as the axis, and it is because of this tilt that we have seasons.
What many people don’t realise, is that just like the seasons cycle through and change, so do we experience cycles and changes. The trick is in becoming aware of these cycles, and once we are aware of them, working with them.
It’s knowing that starting something new comes easiest, and has the best rate of success, if you start it with the new moon. Or that starting something after the full moon is more likely to fail. It’s knowing that the Full moon is the peak of energy that month, and that the different types of intentions must be set in accordance with the resonating phases of the moon.
I know a lot of people who would roll their eyes at the ideas of the moon’s effects or astrological influence all together. Personally, I find this sad. I see this as closed-minded, ignorant and even stubborn behaviour that stems from either fear or laziness, or both.
What I have found in my own journey of discovering the moon and astrology, is both the flow, and myself.
In learning to respect the cycles, and understanding the coming and passing seasons, you will find a rhythm that feels so natural, it is as if nature was speaking to you herself. This is what I call the flow. When you are so aligned with source, life and all that is, that you receive unmistakable signs confirming you are on the right path. These may come as subtle winks or blinding flashes of the obvious, but none the less they have something more to them than just happenstance…
This is how you know you have found the flow.
