Finding Life's Flow
Think of the last time you felt in the flow of your life. Your thoughts were clear. Your decisions came easily. You didn’t react to other people’s stuff. The air smelled sweet. Colors were bright. Is that where you live most of the time, or are there only fleeting moments that feel that good? What is it that takes us out of those moments?
This human Earth school has taught us well. We have learned what it is to feel alone and disconnected, always thinking that others have life all figured out. And then there are those glimpses of total connection. The contrast is mind-boggling.
Contrast is how we understand. If we never felt unloved, how would we truly understand love? If we never felt pain, how would we appreciate ease and fulfillment?
We have come a long way. We have learned a lot. And now, in this lifetime on Earth, we have a new opportunity. We can live in the flow of life. We can experience the amazing inner and outer strength that comes when we are operating from all our capabilities — both human and divine. In fact, living as that "true self" is the next lesson here on Earth. That’s the next level of mastering Earth life.
Sounds good, but what does that really mean? Eckhert Tolle’s The New Earth series with Oprah shows how the "pain body" can rule one’s life. This pain body has latched onto a way of thinking and feeling that operates only from the human ego. As you look through its eyes, you see a world that is overwhelming and unsafe. It lays like a shroud over the truth inside. Eckhert offers ways to become the observer of that shroud, noticing how it thinks and how it acts.
I can remember a time when I lived from a pain body that thought everything was my fault. If anyone became upset, I figured I had done something wrong. My energy and attention would be spent trying to do whatever I thought it took to make things right. Wow! What an energy drain that was!
When I could finally step aside from the pain body and see it for what it was, I realized that others were operating from their own set of expectations and pain. With this new perspective, I could decide what, if anything, I needed to do differently — not because others thought I should, but because I felt there was something I wanted to change in me.
But how do you step aside from this pain? How do you become the observer of your life instead of identifying so completely with the painful thinking that says that’s who you are? How can you step into the flow?
Most people (though not all) start life as a happy, carefree soul exploring an amazing world. Then, the human stuff begins to seep in. Parents place expectations on the child from the baggage they are carrying around from their upbringing. They believe that’s what it takes to be a good parent because that’s what they experienced from their parents. And so the pattern gets passed down from generation to generation.
For me, some of that baggage was "Do it right." "Be a good girl." "Do it because I said so." "Be perfect." Think about the messages you received while growing up. Notice that each one is based on a fear of not measuring up to some standard that has been set up, or worry that if you don’t follow the rules you will be separate and alone. This is not the real you.
The real you is often covered over by a series of overlays, which each have their own beliefs and emotions. These overlays are not connected with your intuition or your beingness. Each of them operates separately as a fractured piece of the ego. For some, they are so real the person believes that the fractured piece is who they are. As you peel off these overlays, the true-you can emerge. You begin to feel the connection to universal truth, and a knowing that this is deep inside of you. You see clearly that the fear and the beliefs that spring from the fear are not you — not the real you that is forever a soul.
In many ways, pain bodies represent much of the learning we have been going through in life. Eventually, I had to figure out what "Do it right" meant to me, not to my parents, society, or even my church. "Do it right" meant being in the flow. For me, being in the flow means I am part of my inner truth. Like a river, I am moving toward a goal that is deep inside of me. Each decision I make moves me further down that river. How I spend my energy (time, money, attention) feels good; I feel like there is a reason for what I am doing.
This kind of flow comes from a clear connection between the inner me and the outer me. The inner me is a deep soul connection. The outer me is the human life I have chosen to live. When the connection has been made, I recognize my unique human abilities and capabilities as the tools my soul can use during its time in physical form.
So how does one make this connection between the inner and outer reality? As always, there are many options to choose. You may already know a bit about the chakras. These are energy centers in the body that vibrate as a certain color. Each vibration is needed by the body in order for it to be healthy. As you work with each vibration, you learn what life is all about.
When you use these colors in pairs, you bring together what you experience as a human and what you know as a being, thus the term human being. We are beings (souls) choosing to experience what it is to be human (form). Without the being, we are limited in what we know and how we see life. Without the human, the being has no way to experience Earth and all its complexities.
Breathing and visualization techniques encourage the complementary colors to work together, which means the human and the being are working together. When energy is stuck it affects the color vibrations in our personal physical and energetic body. By introducing a color’s complement into our visualizations, the energy shifts. The stuck energy begins to flow so we can see things differently. Color visualizations work well at home for self-care, or in individual or group sessions with a practitioner. It can easily become a daily ritual to help us stay in the flow, to remind us that we are both human and being.
In a way, this is no surprise. We know that everything is energy. Einstein taught us that nothing is created or destroyed. It is all energy that changes, just as water can be ice, liquid or steam. Each of us is a bright rainbow of changing color that reminds us and the world of the beauty that we are.
Arlene Arnold is the creator and founder of Complementary Color Therapy. See it demonstrated at the Natural Living Expo September27 & 28 in Sturbridge, MA, as well as other locations in MA during September and October. Arlene is author of 3 books and offers CD’s, e-books and more. Visit www.TransformationalTools.com.
