I would say I had a disagreement, a little fight, or to be honest, I do not know what it was with someone close to me. I touched on wanting to speak about an event in the past where I was hurt and thought to converse about it, it can clear the air and to build a deeper connection going forward. Let me say that the other person I was speaking is an artist, and one the words in a an artist’s vocabulary box is ‘flow’. As I touched upon this event, he says “can we just stay in flow?”. As I reflect on this a week later and think of the word flow, I feel that flow is defined as a way of being but in different scenarios. And I question, “what is flow?” Flow in a sense of allowing you creative work come into fruition as if surfing a wave as you glide from one end to the other end, feeling of bliss and nothing is happening outside of this very moment. When in flow, we want to protect this state from outside distractions that can sway us away from it. But how does flow translate in everyday life? Since that conversation if a friend, I reflect on this word and think “flow like water, flow like water”. Water is not always calm, water is unpredictable and to be able to flow like water is building resilience. There are currents, hurricanes, waves, and so forth that goes against the calmness of water. Therefore, staying in flow is going through the toughest times, feeling it, embracing it, and learning from it to see what carries on the other side. The other side hold wisdom, depth and strength. With all this being said, when my friend said “lets stay in flow” it was not flow but of avoidance. To surf a wave you have to swim through the waves to get to the point to surf them, getting through the waves can result in being under-toed by the water, exhaustion, fear but once you get to the point to surf that is where the gift lies. Going through difficulty of getting through the waves was all worth it. Avoidance builds avoidance, and that comes with resentments and regret built on fear. In the end, I think that being in flow is different depending on the context.
