Living in the Flow

As I’ve grown and matured I have noticed a recurring pattern in my life. Things move the easiest – business, family life, friendships, my goals – when I am in a state of Flow. What do I mean by “Flow”? It is a feeling of happiness in the present while having a positive expectancy for the future.

But let me break it down further. The state of Flow has been described in different ways by different people. Tony Robbins calls it “State”. Jose Silva calls it “Expectancy”. I believe they are both referring to the same thing.

Flow is composed of two ingredients.

The first is being happy in the now. This means being happy and joyful in your present state. It’s about enjoying the journey and not the destination.

The next ingredient is vision. It’s about having a powerful, beautiful dream for who you want to be and what you want to accomplish and contribute to the world in the future.

All of us can therefore exist in 4 states of mind based on these two ingredients.

Without happiness in the present and a future vision, you’re what I call in a “Negative Spiral”. Things feel bad now and will continue to look bad in the future.

If you’re happy in the present but have no future vision you’re “Content”. But you’re not living your full potential. Two of our greatest spiritual needs are growth and contribution. Without a future vision of who you want to be and what mark you want to make on the world you’re really not living up to your true purpose.

Then we have a state that is very common with today’s entrepreneurs and workaholics. A solid vision of the future but no happiness in the present. This is a state I call “Stress and Anxiety”. You have a vision, but you’re unhappy in the now. This is not a recipe for success.

The final and ideal state is “Flow”. You’re happy in the now AND have a strong vision of the future. This is Flow. This is when the magic happens.

Remember that movie “The Secret”. In it, the recipe for the Law of Attraction was defined as “Thoughts + Emotions = Attraction”. Let’s think about that for a moment. “Thoughts” are really your desires and visions for what you want to attract into your life. And “Emotions” describe your current state. The movie advises that emotions should be positive and happy.

See the correlation? The recipe for “Flow” is the same as the proposed recipe for the “Law of Attraction”. They both fit together.

And perhaps this is why, when we’re in a state of Flow, so many things in our life just seem to go right. The right people step into our lives, the right opportunities fall into our laps. It’s as if the Universe is conspiring on our behalf.

I propose that we chose to live our lives in Flow. Set big bold goals, but enjoy the journey. Your happiness should not be tied to your goals. Live life in the moment and express gratitude for the little things that make you happy.

The most important discipline for me is to make sure I’m in that state of Flow every day. I call this “Blisscipline”. The discipline of bliss.