One of the key aspects of the creative feminine principle - creative stillness - is the ability to discern the difference between free will and flow. (Putting free will into creative action is the masculine principle’s job.) I find this to be a significant challenge and a pretty important discernment to develop in order to manifest outcomes with ease, and in harmony with the world.
We all have free will, and most of us know and recognize it. It is an important aspect of our creative existence; we use it to choose and take action all the time, to create outcomes in certain directions over others, and so on.
We also have life’s natural flow. Some might call this ‘destiny;’ I choose ‘flow’ over ‘destiny’ because the latter has come to mean, in the minds of many, a fixed thing that is outside of one’s control. Instead, I perceive that flow (or divine destiny) is also a choice – a higher choice – that which one’s soul has made in terms of life purpose. It is a constantly shifting contract with the Universe – an individual soul purpose in interaction with the needs of the Universe at any given moment. So, it is also a live, dynamic thing.
The difference between free will and flow, then, is that free will exists independent of soul purpose. It can be used to either aid or counter one’s soul purpose, depending on one’s level of consciousness. Most of the time, it is slave to one’s little self, operating in the area of survival – of one’s ego wants and needs – even when one thinks it is being used to create “positive” outcomes for the world! One’s flow, however, is always in the direction of one’s higher, soul purpose. And therefore, it is also naturally aligned with higher benefit - to both oneself and to the Universe.
Thriving in creative power comes with recognizing the direction of flow, and then aligning free will with that direction. This leads to a powerful synergy and exponential increase in one’s ability to create the right outcomes.
A recent example of this is the attempt to create the right impact with my book Thrive! Falling in Love with Life. This book was written because it had to be – it was part of my creative flow. And yet, of course, it also serves a purpose in the Universe. My partner Shirin and I hold a vision for it to reach the right readers – those who will truly be impacted and inspired by the book. Conventional understanding (and free will) directed us to doing a press release, contacting bookstores, finding the right distribution channels … and we did all those things.
Immediately after the book’s launch and in the direction of my life’s flow, I was in New York to train with my Guruji in classical music. One of my Guru-bandhu (a traditional term for someone who trains under the same Guru) had just read my book and was so excited to share it with others that she spontaneously organized a book reading and dialogue. Twenty-five people attended at short notice, and one of the attendees was moved enough to tell the Program Director of ITV about the book and my short stay in the area. He, in turn, took one glance at the book’s title and cover description and decided on gut feeling that I should be interviewed, and even came out personally to my Guruji’s home to speak with me on camera. Not only that, it turned out that Mr. Vyas was in perfect resonance with the content of the book and asked me deeply meaningful questions, resulting in a wonderful interview.
All this happened in a matter of 4-5 days, and I was discombobulated by the whirlwind turn of events. It would have been easy to buckle under pressure and say I was unprepared, but I knew from the synchronicity of events that they were in the direction of flow, and I needed to align my free will with the flow as it was being revealed. I did the spiritual, emotional and physical labor to deliver – both at the book dialogue and at the interview, but the events themselves materialized without any organizing, managing or directing on my part; they took care of themselves.
Quickly in the heels of this, due to a creative collaboration with another friend, another book dialogue event materialized at the Kirkland Performance Center, and from both the NY and Seattle-area events, people approached me organically to ask if I would coach or teach the principles I speak of in the book. It so happened that I had run a pilot series of Creativity Workshops in the Fall of 2011, also organically conceived of after I received requests from participants of another collective creative endeavor that I had guided in 2011. Now, I was able to respond to these new requests with a second series in Spring 2012, and turn the Creativity Workshops into a regular offering at Flying Chickadee.
Shirin and I realize that our vision to have the book’s content change lives is manifesting – but how it manifests has its own flow, one governed by our joint higher purpose (-teaching is a significant aspect of mine-) and the Universe’s need at the moment. Had we chosen solely out of free will, we would have continued doing press releases and trying to get the book into various bookstores and so on… in general, focusing efforts to increase readership of the book. But by recognizing the flow of the moment, we aligned our free will with it, offering the principles of the book in an active, participatory, dynamic engagement in a dialogue or workshop format, to tangibly impact lives.
So, you know you are successful in discerning flow and aligning free will with it, when events and outcomes manifest with ease and immediacy, without much “work” on your part. Sure, you do the hard work, but this is in the area of your purpose and creative interest, not in tactics or maneuvers to manage and coax things into happening your way. Synchronicity occurs – there is a greatly increased incidence of serendipity, coincidence and organically unfolding events. Other people step up to make things happen in the direction of flow. Whatever occurs feels like “just the right thing” and “in just the right time” even if it takes you by surprise and you feel momentarily unprepared to meet the challenge or accept the outcome. You experience creative exhaustion, but not the ”drama exhaustion” of a maneuvering (survivalistic) existence. You are energized and inspired to keep going every day … you are thriving!
