Last week I finished my piece with the statement:
The harmony of thought, expression, and physical reality creates a sense of flow, which is critical for positive change to happen.
Expressed another way – Our ideas, words and actions have to be consistent to create positive change. When these things are aligned, there is a sense of harmony or flow within the body and the energy system opens, allowing positive change.
When these things contrast or contradict each other, the system closes or becomes stagnant, blocking the flow necessary to create positive change. I am amazed at how often we use language, either consciously or sub-consciously, to block our sense of flow and well-being.
For example, last week I discussed the use of the word “fine.” To me, the word is an acronym for Frantic, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional. When used on its own, any of those words will kill a conversation and the flow necessary to create change.
It seems to me that people, consciously or more likely subconsciously, like to use individual words like fine, okay, easy, and hard to limit the conversation and block flow. Flow requires the use of language. A conversation is necessary to open the flow of energy and create positive change.
Over the last couple of weeks Ben has been discussing the use of the words Easy and Hard. When you say either word aloud, neither one has any sense of energy or flow around it. But, if we change the context we can create a sense of flow that helps to shift our perception of what easy and hard might be.
So let’s say that I bring you 5 feet from water’s edge and demonstrate how to throw a rock into the water. I show you how I hold the rock, how I’m balanced in my stance and the motion I use to throw the rock into the water. Then I have you do it. I applaud your success and verbally confirm what you were already thinking, boy that was easy. Then I move us back to twenty feet away and repeat the process. Each time building the sense of flow within the accomplishment of throwing the rock into the water.
Soon, we’ll be at a distance that challenges our physical ability to throw a rock and hit the water. I throw my rock, and barely miss the water. This time, before you get to throw your rock, I confirm what you’re already thinking, that this is going to be more difficult. In fact, you might not even hit the water. But let’s see how close you can get to it. You throw your rock and I congratulate you on the distance, it was quite an accomplishment to get that close. Your rock had great trajectory coming out of your hand and really had a chance to make it. With a little work and effort, we could hit that water in no time.
Notice, it never got hard. It may have become more difficult to coordinate body movements, trajectory, and effort as the distance became greater, but we never let it get hard. We kept the energy positive and built a sense of flow as we both moved forward. Now, at some point we will reach a distance that is physically impossible for us to throw a rock into the water. That’s OK. When we have reached the farthest distance that we know we can throw a rock, there’s no reason to struggle throwing it further. We have maximized our potential.
The language of flow is one of thought, expression, and physical reality. When used properly, we can learn almost anything. By keeping things from becoming hard, we can open ourselves to maximizing our potential.