Finding Flow with The 3 Principles

Are you seeking to access the flow state and unleash your creative potential? Would you like to experience more calm and clarity as you go through your day? Discover how the 3 Principles can guide you in finding effortless performance and tapping into the wellspring of creativity within you in this insightful session with Clare.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the CalmCast,

A time to feel calm and think clearly.

I'm Claire Downham,

The Queen of Calm,

A Transformational Life Coach.

I was a burnt out head teacher who finally made the journey to calm after years of trying,

And I want to prevent you from having to do the same.

The CalmCast is a series of short explorations gently guiding you back to your natural state,

Which is calm and clarity.

Just listen like you would listen to music,

With an open mind and curiosity.

There's nothing else to do.

Now let's relax into today's episode.

So today,

Finding flow with the three principles.

Yet another aspect,

I think,

Of our true potential flow.

I think I should probably sit down and just write all the things down that I think are natural to us,

That have been lost or covered over.

And I think looking in this direction towards our innate wellbeing can really help us to start to see what those things are and that they are many,

Many things that we as human beings are looking for often outside of us,

Which is not where they are,

Of course.

And flow is something that I definitely used to try and find by doing lots of things to fix myself,

To make myself better,

To get myself into the state of mind that I thought I was supposed to be in,

To be in this state of flow,

But doing that endlessly by trying things outside of me.

Now let me tell you why I think flow is our natural state.

And the word natural is vital here because I can see out the window to my right,

It's actually a big patio door,

I'm very lucky I get to see the blue sky again today.

And nature flows,

Doesn't it?

Like there's just literally this beautiful happening where nature is just flowing,

It's just flowing all the time.

You can't get in the way of nature flowing.

Even when things happen like forest fires and Chernobyl and things like that,

Nature begins to flow again very quickly.

It self-writes,

It sorts itself out and it gets on.

And in fact,

I heard something a while ago about in California,

I think,

Where they tried to suppress the forest fires and all sorts of things in nature started to go wrong because these forest fires were part of the flow.

You know,

Imagine if we can see that even the rubbishy stuff that we don't like is part of this flow.

Nothing is not part of it.

So we as human beings did not used to live in brick boxes separated from each other.

We lived in tribes,

We lived in flow,

We flowed with nature,

We didn't have any choice because we ate the food that was there when it was there and we couldn't eat the food that was there when it wasn't,

You know,

We couldn't eat food we wanted,

We couldn't have it because it wasn't there.

So we had to flow with nature,

We had to flow with the light and the dark,

We had to flow with the weather,

We had to move and flow,

You know,

Physically on the planet to follow the food and where it was going to.

That was all just part of our human life,

Really.

And so I think perhaps in the past,

You know,

Before thinking got quite so involved in our lives,

We probably had a natural,

We will have had a natural flow in life,

We would have naturally flowed in and out of states,

We would have naturally flowed with nature.

That is innate to us.

And I think it's always cool to look,

I always find that when we consider perhaps what our ancestors,

Our ancient ancestors were like,

That we can see that essence of who we really are.

I think we can also see in our young,

You know,

In our,

In our young,

They're not puppies,

Are they?

But you know,

That in our young children,

Our babies and our children,

We can see,

We can see it in them because they too flow,

Don't they?

They flow in and out of activities.

So I did my very first teaching practice,

No,

Sorry,

My last and my second teaching practice,

I only did a PGCE,

So I only had a year of training,

And four weeks in a,

Probably a year one,

Two class I think,

And then I did a longer practice in a nursery school.

So I was immersed in small children,

These children were all three rising to four,

Before they went off to reception.

And being with them,

You can see that flow,

How they just move from activity to activity really naturally.

And they're very creative and productive.

And they're making things,

You know,

One minute a child is in the bricks,

Building a castle and then acting out with the castle and the people,

The little characters,

Or,

You know,

The Lego people or whoever,

Whatever,

They're in the thick of it.

And the next minute,

They're off flowing into something else and creating something else.

And it's all coming from,

It's all coming from their intuition,

Which I think it's a shame in a way that in this country,

We do force children into much more of a formal situation way,

Way too early.

Because I think they're guided,

They're so guided,

Our little people at that point,

They're guided by their intuition,

They've got more access to wisdom than probably we have,

We have a lot of access to intellect.

It's not the same as wisdom.

It's not the same as intuition.

So I think that's a good starting point is to see that this is our natural state.

Now,

Let's go back to this equation that I've been sharing recently.

And the equation is,

You know,

Performance equals potential minus interference.

So if we say that our potential is,

Flow is part of that potential,

That is a natural thing that we have.

And if we really do want to perform in the world of form,

You know,

Perform in the world of form,

We want to create things,

We want to do things,

We want to build our business,

We want to have an amazing career,

Have a wonderful relationships,

Look after ourselves properly,

Etc,

Etc.

Then what's in the way of that is thought.

Surprise,

Surprise,

You know,

Like the punchline isn't a big shock if you've been listening to me for a while.

So what kind of what gets in the way of flow,

And I am not sure,

I think it would be different for everybody what gets in the way of flow.

So formality,

Probably,

Like rigidity,

Like it has to look like this.

I was in a conversation yesterday,

And we were talking about,

You know,

How life is flowing all the time.

So if we're,

If we are as a business owner,

Perhaps looking at a way of doing things,

And that's been done before,

And that's already flowed,

Like that's flowed through that person,

That's been the way that person has created an amazing business.

That doesn't mean that that's the right thing for you,

Something else is going to flow through you.

Following the old,

So perhaps following the old,

Having a lot of interference about the right way to do things,

And the wrong way to do things,

Maybe there.

I think what comes to mind really is overwhelm,

As well,

You know,

When we're in flow,

We're present with the task at hand.

We just really focused on that one thing,

I'm doing this one thing for now.

Right now,

I'm just talking to you.

There isn't anything else.

There isn't,

I don't need anything else.

I can just be with you.

And,

You know,

My mind may occasionally go to,

Oh,

You've forgotten to do something,

And the temptation to deal with that.

I'm not going to do that in the middle of recording this,

But,

You know,

That that can pop in.

But what often happens,

I think,

When we're doing a task that's not recording,

Or,

You know,

Speaking to a live audience,

We won't,

Obviously,

During this,

I'm not going to break off,

But what we can often do,

Where we can be in the flow,

We can be really present with the task we're going,

But we,

Then our mind starts,

Our intellect starts saying,

Yeah,

But you've forgotten to do that.

And what about that?

And is that more important?

And we get distracted from being in the flow.

And really,

I'd love to hear from you as to what you notice about this.

What do you notice about when you do get into a flow state?

Because I guarantee at some point,

You will just be in it.

You might not even notice it when you're in it,

Because it's so,

It's so beautiful,

And then,

And so natural,

That it's not something you kind of hang,

You're more likely to notice when you're not in flow.

But start to become,

This is an invitation for us to start to become aware of what is it,

What is going on when you're not in flow?

What kind of thinking is coming in?

How is your intellect distracting you from this beautiful flow state?

Because really,

That's all we need.

Like,

What is the interference?

And observation of yourself,

Just,

Just,

But really,

Again,

As always,

Compassionate observation,

Compassionate awareness,

Compassionate rising consciousness,

Not,

Not the,

The self-development,

You must fix yourself,

Kind of,

Oh,

God,

I'm doing that again.

I'm terrible.

I shouldn't be doing that.

I should know better.

It's not that.

It's not that at all.

It's just,

Hey,

That's interesting.

It's interesting,

Like,

Even that,

That kind of phrase,

Oh,

That's interesting.

Ah,

That's,

That's what's going on there.

That's really,

That's really cool to see that.

It's really,

That's the kind of internal dialogue.

Can you hear it's not got that,

You know,

Angry with myself,

Kind of,

I'm rubbish,

And I'm,

You know,

Like we've just talked about in a previous session,

And I'm self-sabotaging,

And I'm not doing the right thing.

It really is gentler than that.

And so when I,

You know,

When I'm talking about finding flow,

It's,

It's not really lost.

It's a bit covered over,

And,

And all you're doing really is looking for what's covering over,

Just looking at it gently,

Just observing it,

Really.

Nothing more complicated than that.

Nothing more harsh than that.

It's so gentle.

And,

And,

And,

And starting from the premise that it's there,

You're,

You're,

It's your natural state to be in flow.

That's,

That's the essence of who you really are.

So it's almost like a,

A playful,

Gentle looking for it,

Not looking for it outside,

But looking for noticing,

Ah,

Actually I've just worked for half an hour,

And I've been in a real flow state.

It's all just been falling into place.

And,

And,

And I'd also say,

Like the caveat to this is that it's not,

You're a human being.

If you're not in flow all the time,

I'd say that's called being normal,

Being human.

But it's also fun to bring some curiosity to it,

To kind of go,

Ah,

What's going on there?

What,

What am I believing that isn't true?

You know,

Where,

Where is my thinking going that's bringing me towards this state of overwhelm,

That generally is something that takes us away from flow?

So I hope you have a day that's filled with flow and,

And fun curiosity when it's not,

Not any kind of judgment or beating yourself up.

Be kind to yourself.

Take care.

Have a lovely day.

Lots of love.

Thank you so much for listening.

There's nothing to do now,

But bring some awareness There's nothing to do now,

But bring some awareness to how this is working out in your life.

Listen regularly to experience longer and longer periods of calm.

This has been the Calmcast with Clare Downam,

Queen of Calm.

Take care and keep listening.

Reviews

Always returning to gentleness , curiousity, and gratitude to you dearest Clare 💜