Learn to Let Go and Get in the Flow this Year

I’m tired of clinging to what I know—but don’t like—out of fear that, if I let go, I’ll experience something worse. I’m done trying to control the things I can’t control. Clinging and controlling are exhausting. This year, I’m going to let go and get in the flow. I’m going to release control and trust that the Universe will take care of me.

What if this year you let go and got in the flow? What if you stopped trying to control and trusted instead?

Pull up Your Anchor

Navigating life is like being in a boat on a river. Too many people, however, put down their anchors to keep themselves and their boats in place. After all, the river current is scary. There are patches of whitewater and even a few waterfalls. When it gets stormy, the water is choppy; you might have to tie the boat to the dock to keep it from being torn away from shore by the wind and waves.

What would it be like to pull up your anchor and allow the stream to take you and your boat where it will?

Maybe you’ve already pulled up your anchor, but, rather than going with the flow, you’ve been paddling upstream. That’s grueling work and won’t get you very far.

What if you turned the boat, put the paddle at your feet, rested your weary arms, and allowed the vessel to move with the current?

The journey would be easier…maybe not without a few moments of excitement…but easier.

What if you allowed life to be that easy?

Go with the Flow

You’ve likely heard someone say, “Get in the flow.” But what does that mean?

Getting in the flow means not continually fighting against life. It means giving up the need to control. It means letting go and allowing yourself to see what happens next.

On a spiritual level, it means following your intuition or spiritual guidance. It’s being courageous enough to trust or have faith in the messages you receive daily and to take action on them.

Letting Go Takes Courage

As you can imagine, letting go takes courage. After all, the reason you cling and attempt to control is that you are afraid to do something different or out of your comfort zone. That’s why getting in the flow necessitates bold action.

You must have the courage to allow something other than you to dictate your direction and how and where you travel. You have to trust that God, Source, Creator, or Universe (whatever you call divinity) will take care of you on your journey through life.

That’s big! That feels hard and scary.

Believe me; I know. I am a clinger. I am a controller. But this year, it is my goal to take brave action and let go. I intend to learn how to allow.

And I know that, once I take that courageous step, life will be easy…so easy.

Going with the flow…getting in the flow…is an affirmation of action that says, “I trust in the Universe and myself…or my guidance…and have faith that, no matter what, I will be led or taken to the place I am supposed to go. I will end up where I am supposed to be.”

I’m ready to make that affirmation of action. Are you?

A Story About Clinging and Flow

Thinking about getting in the flow reminds me of a story told at the beginning of Richard Bach’s book, Illusions: the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. (I’ve previously shared about the impact this book had on my life.) Let me share it with you:

Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. The current of the river swept silently over them all—young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way, knowing only its own crystal self. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks at the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth.

But one creature said at last, ‘I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.’

The other creatures laughed and said, ‘Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you shall die quicker than boredom!’

But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.

Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.

And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, ‘See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!’

And the one carried in the current said, ‘I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.’

But they cried the more, ‘Saviour!’ all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of a Saviour.

Flow into the Adventure

That creature was no more a messiah than you or me. He just dared to free himself from his life of clinging and thrive in the process. He did something different, and so he seemed special.

Think of the people you admire or who have achieved great things. Maybe you put them on a pedestal, think they have all the answers, or believe they have special abilities. You make them messiahs.

But they are ordinary people just like you. The only difference between them and you (or me) is that they allow themselves to get in the flow. They listen to their guidance. They trust the Universe.

This year, let go and get in the flow. Have a new adventure!

Hitting Rocks

Like the creature in Bach’s story, at first, you might have to learn how to go with the flow. You might begin with a rough ride on the bottom of the river bed. You could hit a few rocks or get tossed along the shore.

But if you relax into the journey, eventually, you will learn to be part of the current. If you allow, the river will lift you, and you will get into the flow.

Where are You Clinging or Controlling?

To start your new adventure in the flow of life, you must first know what you are clinging to or trying to control. With that knowledge, you can decide what to let go of or allow.

Answer this question: What are you controlling or clinging to?

If you aren’t sure, answer these questions:

• Where in your life do you feel you lack control?
• Where do you wish you had more control?
• Where are you cling to a place, a person, a situation because you are afraid of what will happen if you let go?

Your answers indicate areas where you need to let go and allow.

No Try…only Do

Even with this new awareness, you may wonder how to let go. You’ve been holding on and controlling for so long that anything else feels foreign and challenging. The process really is quite simple.

Just open your hands…and release. Stop controlling and allow.

In Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” Indeed, you can’t try to let go. You have to loosen your grip and let the current take you. You can’t try to stop controlling. You have to stop and see what happens next.

Taking Brave Action

If you feel afraid to do this, I understand. But, as a Certified High Performance Coach, I know that courage is not something you wait for before taking action. It is the actual brave action you take.

I intend to begin with small brave actions, and you can do the same.

Choose one small area of your life or one less significant situation. In that one life arena, let go. Stop controlling. Allow yourself to go with the flow.

You don’t have to let go of something big, like a job or a relationship, right away. Start with something a bit less scary, and see what happens. For example, you could stop controlling when your kids pick up their dirty clothes. Or you could stop clinging to a photograph of a relationship that ended.

Build up your confidence. Then, you can do the same in a situation that is scarier or more important.

Wisdom of the Ages

Every spiritual and metaphysical teacher I have encountered has taught me the same thing about getting in the flow. When we stop clinging and controlling out of fear, we allow ourselves to enter the Universal flow of goodness and abundance and joy and fulfillment. The more we let go, the more the Universe takes us by the hand and leads us to where we want and need to go.

Everything you have desired requires trusting the Universal flow and placing yourself into it with full trust and faith that it will take care of you. To do that, though, you must stop clinging and controlling.

Do you want to get in the flow this year? Tell me why and share your thoughts on the process in a comment below. And please share this post with your social networks or a friend who needs to read this message today.

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Photo courtesy of Scott Evans.