Going With the Flow

This is an excerpt from my blog originally published Nov 5, 2017, but I noticed the subject was what we talked about his week & the timing was right. Having had such a warm Winter so far, the weather changed last week & it's more like winter again. Accepting this is always a struggle for most of us. Some of us would like to skip winter altogether, but this is Calgary & winter is a part of our cycles. Instead of fighting things, go with the flow of life & meet what comes.

Tonight has an extra special event, a total lunar eclipse. It starts about 7:30pm & is at it’s peak around 10:15pm. It is called the Super Blood Full Moon as the moon is super due to it’s closeness to the earth & red due to lunar eclipse when the moon passes into the earths shadow. The light that falls on the moon from the edge of the earth turns it red, or so I’ve read :) The cycles of the moon effect us & change how we ebb & flow. Take a moment to go with the flow of nature & witness an amazing event that won’t happen again for a couple more years.

Well, looks like the season has turned to Winter. If you have lived in Alberta for any length of time, you know that the weather & temperature can change radically & quickly. I read that Calgary dropped 42 degrees in 1 week. Brrrr. Seasons don't seem to meant too much, as winter will come when it is ready. The change with all the snow & cold can effect how our day to day lives play out. Making it more difficult to get around & even dangerous if we are not patient.

A grumpiness can come over us, as we realize that winter is now upon us & we are not ready!

Instead, can we be prepared that things will change, the weather being only one example. We tend to want things to stay the same, that way we know how to be with it. But that is not life, it changes & will take us with it if we are ready or not. Can we not learn to respond to life & go with the flow of it?

Change to me is like a river. We could try & stay on the banks, not involved in life, but that is not living. We could jump in the river & swim upstream to try to stay where we are. This is so much work & we can only keep this up for a short time.

Instead, can we learn to go with the flow of the river itself? If we stay present, we can respond to what comes up when the river is calm, we can take time to relax, when we see a bend ahead, we can prepare ourselves that things could change suddenly. We might hear the rapids ahead & choose another way around.

Sometime we can't avoid the difficult water & need to do our best to navigate it. We may come out a bit bruised & worn, but when the calm water comes again, we can recover & take what we learned with us.

Going with the flow is easier said, than done. It takes a certain amount of faith & vigilance & knowing that the ride is not easy, but is worth taking.

When I think of how we can respond to what life gives us, I look at my kids. When the snow comes, there is an excitement that they get to go play in the snow, go sledding & making snow angels. The accept the change & find a way to make it be about fun. They move forward in life, meeting what is there, responding accordingly.

I know they don't have the responsibility we have as an adult, but let's tap into some of our childlike nature, it is all about change & embracing it!

We may not want to go jump in the snow, but we can take this change as a reminder to slow down. To take more time to do things or as an opportunity to take a pause from the doing. Read a book, play a game, meditate, do your yoga practice, spend time with yourself, your loved one's.

Taking time to be more still & reflective, we may find things that feel like obstacles in our way. Again, I come back to the picture of the river. There are stones in the river, that the water runs by. Over time the water affects the stones themselves, wearing them down & changing them. Eventually, the stone itself might be moved or destroyed by the water, the obstacles that appeared permanent, are not so at all.

In our body, our breath is like the flow of the water, we can use it to change the things that we hold that don't serve us. To change the obstacles that might come from our body, mind or emotions. It takes persistence, patience & time. Just like the river that is always flowing & changing, so are we. Instead of fighting the flow, we can choose to become part of it. To enjoy the ride & the unknown of where if is taking us. But knowing, that if we go with the flow, stay present to the journey, we will find our way to where we are meant to go.

If you need some extra help with keeping your head up on your journey as you go with the flow, join me for a workshop in February: