Flow Project Review

In May I started a big project to transform my life towards hope, resilience, and flow, because these will allow me to be a wise, flexible, creative, and positive leader for my family, community, and for the earth. This project has three parts: 

• I intend to start with personal leadership, asking how can I improve the underlying system of my life?

• I intend to live in the flow, with immediacy – slow down and just BE, in this moment- aware and awake, listening to my intuition and messages from the Universe.

• I intend to be passionate and brave - let go of caution and involve myself wholeheartedly with what I love. Stretch beyond the way I’ve always done things.

I've done some great research and gone off on several tangents. Today I want to draw it all together and plan some next steps.

Agenda:

1. Read "Everyday Simplicity"

2. Systems review

3. Creative mindfulness ideas

1. Read "Everyday Simplicity":

I bought myself this little book, by Robert J. Wicks (2000), as a birthday treat. The subtitle is: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Growth.

I'm on to the third section of the book, which is Fostering Simple Compassion: "When compassion joins an attitude of awareness and the practice of prayerfulness, a 'circle of grace' is formed."

He says that this circle is where the God in me meets the God in you, and grace is received, always in a unique way. "Compassion is the essential activity which helps ensure our prayer life's vitality, reality, and meaningfulness."

He offers five parts, and the first is Living a Life of Nobility and Involvement. "People are not noble because they succeed or are applauded by others. Their lives are honorable ... because they are striving for what is good." He says the seeds of nobility are in us; and we need to faithfully strive for it with our compassion and service. Living nobly is an act of worship.

Practice for this section: Be faithful to my desire to act with love;

bring love to others in my own unique way. 

2. Systems review:

I've been asking how I can improve the underlying system of my life, and I've put a good system in place, that includes my morning review ritual, a simple projects list that is my focus for the week, teamwork plans and visuals, and my favorite new tool, a daily flow plan: 

1. Choose the 3 or 4 essential tasks that will move my life in the direction I want to go - something creative, loving, sanctuary building, and caring of the earth. Give plenty of attention to the tasks that are Important but Not Urgent; to growing skills, improving my character, defining my mission, and changing systems to be more effective.
2. Note a transition plan for how I might get from one task to the next. Use alarms, anchors or habit cues to build structure - like my creativity ritual : Stop, Prep (gather supplies); then Proclaim “I’m an artist creating transformation in the world!” .

3. Creative mindfulness ideas:

The next step then is to more often remember to live in the flow, with immediacy – to slow down and just BE, in this moment- aware and awake, listening to my intuition and messages from the Universe.

I started with a focus on creative mindfulness, because traditional mindfulness meditation doesn't fit my lifestyle. A creative mindfulness practice brings mindful awareness whilst engaged in a creative activity; to focus and notice what thoughts and emotions arise as I create (or cook, garden, etc.).

• Learn to enjoy and soak up the process rather than focusing on the end result.
• Learn not to silence "thought habits" such as limiting beliefs, perfectionism, or self-doubt during the process, but to live with them. To maybe even laugh at them a little and stop taking myself so seriously!

My creative mindfulness ideas are to:

1. Experiment with mindfulness games, and a flow of habits that bring me back to the present moment;
2. Explore hands-on art projects 

   each week that solve the world's problems and soothes me (creative self-care);

3. Say yes more often to random experiences.