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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.

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Vishen Lakhiani is the co-founder of the quirky, award winning-company MindValley, which comprises of 50 incredibly smart young people from some 20 different countries. Their mission is to bring together marketing and technology to help spread enlightened ideas. Vishen and his crew at MindValley work with authors, thinkers, revolutionaries and leaders who have pioneered new ways of doing traditional things: parenting, entrepreneurship, spiritual growth, self-development and more.

The result is a new kind of publishing company; one that merges software, mixed media, video, and social networks to put authors in the personal development movement in front of the internet generation while bypassing traditional media like printed books.

Something special happens when you interact with so many thought leaders, philosophers and business and personal development coaches. Their ideas tend to seep into your business and MindValley over the last few years has become a testing-ground of sorts for new and experimental ways of entrepreneurship and business. What happens when employees share in profits? Or vote for their own salary? What if company meetings are banned and replaced with company celebrations? Or when employees practice meditation, visualization and expressing daily gratitude as part of their everyday work life?

The results have been a runaway success. MindValley has won two consecutive World's Most Democratic Workplace Awards and is considered one of the top places in the world to work. It attracts people from some 21 countries and employees are put through a growth and learning process that is being duplicated by companies worldwide. MindValley itself has seen revenue growth of 500% in the last year.

Vishen is a highly sought after speaker and consultant in the art of attracting top talent, growing employees and creating a healthy work culture. He has shared the stage with Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield and many other top speakers and authors.

As a highly successful online entrepreneur, there is some method to his madness, making him one of the most sought after speakers in the world of internet business building. He's spoken at events with Tony Robbins, Sir Richard Branson, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jack Canfield, President F.W DeKlerk and other luminaries.

For more information, please visit MindValley.com

This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. Hi sir this is satheesh.k. Really it’s awesome… I became great fan of you sir… I am from India last week only I was told about you. But when I came to know about you I found you are the one who can be a great motivator to young people.. Thank you so much for this wonderful article.

  2. For those not familiar with Vishen – I encourage you to check out MindValley and all it has to offer. So much free material along with top notch courses.

  3. I agree with Virginia. I love the way Vishen blends, and combines business, marketing with spiritual principles. I have quoted him many times in my blog innerdimensionsblog.com. In fact I am using a quote from his new book, The Code of the Extraordinary Mind in my next post scheduled to be published this week on the theme of the power prosperity consciousness. Thank you Vishen.

  4. The day is bright and what a wonderful morning it is to be up and start right…. I’m in Flow.

  5. MindValley and Vishen Lakhiani have both grown so much in the 8 years since this article was originally posted.

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