Living in Flow | The Key to Creativity & Inner Peace

Mother Nature’s Flow vs. Modern Stagnation

Mother nature lives in a state of flow, though modern society fosters stagnation. We live in a world that has evolved beyond our own physical evolution, and this mismatch leads to a variety of complications. However, I think a lot of us can relate to feeling overwhelmed or stuck at times or out of flow with life’s natural rhythms. Whenever I exist in this state of flow, it becomes easier to cultivate bliss and peace. Despite the fact that society itself doesn’t work around these natural seasons, both physically and emotionally, I am always in a constant pursuit to align my existence more in ways that are suitable to how we, as human beings, are actually meant to be living.

As always, we need to work with what we have and focus on the areas we can change. Maybe there are areas of our lives leading us to feel “stuck” or overwhelmed that we can’t necessarily get out of, but I find that aligning myself with the things in my life that are within my control makes life as a whole more fulfilling, including the overwhelming bits. 

What if each moment of friction or stagnation we experienced became an invitation to build a life fuller of contentment and meaning? I think a lot of these answers lie within attuning ourselves to the flow and natural rhythm of life, both internally and externally. So, here is how I have been working towards achieving this.

Understanding Life’s Natural Flow

External and Internal Cycles

1. Seasons as a Framework for Life’s Flow
   Seasons have been an obsession of mine this year. Not only nature’s seasons but seasons in any context that might be affecting my life. These seasons dictate the natural flow of life. I’ve been viewing this in two main ways.
   • External Seasons: This is how things around us change. The phases of the moon, the changing of nature’s seasons, and the way life progresses for those around us. This external flow surely has an impact on us, but the beauty of external seasons is that we have great autonomy when it comes to perceiving how we deal with them and how we can use them to help or hurt us. They’re a gift we either get to appreciate for what they are or dismiss for what they are not.
   • Internal Seasons: These include things like aging, our circadian rhythms, hormonal cycles, or anything else that is within our bodies and may affect things like our emotions, energy levels, or physical well-being. 
2. When we work against these cycles, we experience stagnation. When we work with them, life feels more inspired and effortless. By recognizing and honoring these rhythms, we open ourselves up to richer experiences and a deeper sense of fulfillment.

External Cycles & Personal Alignment

1. Nature as a Guide
   One way I’ve been realigning my life with this state of flow is by recognizing the symbolism and influence nature has while it shifts and changes. Each season represents different energies (e.g., winter is a time of rest, spring for renewal, summer for action, and autumn for reflection). Bringing some of this seasonal symbolism into my life has helped me guide my goals more appropriately and appreciate the uniqueness nature has to offer in different months of the year. 

2. Working with the Moon Cycles
   However, physical seasons vary from place to place, and one winter or summer looks different from another. One season that remains a constant across the planet is the moon cycle. As of recently, this has been my favorite external thing to attach to my work, productivity, and well-being. The moon’s cycle lasts about a month, leaving only a few days to focus on the energy or symbolism for each phase. It helps keep me moving at an appropriate pace so as to move on from one thing to the next and not get stuck focusing too much on one thing. Aligning my life and goals with the moon phases has served as a guide for productivity, rest, and emotional awareness.
3. Finding Harmony with External Rhythms
   Aligning our habits, goals, and actions with the external rhythms of life, I think, is one effective way to cultivate more harmony within ourselves. I can safely say that the more I focus on this alignment, the more I feel in alignment with a genuine version of myself. A version that feels happy, healthy, and peaceful. Especially when our inner cycles or health feel out of order, focusing on harnessing the energy of the external world can be a good place to start to get unstuck and back into a flow of inspired abundance.

Internal Cycles & Personal Alignment

1. Optimizing Sleep and Energy Cycles
   These past few months, I’ve been trying to improve my sleep schedule, and the quality of my life and well-being has improved so much since I have actually started caring about this. I’m waking up earlier, I have more energy, more motivation, and higher levels of productivity. I think some of those sleep apps are actually super helpful. I like this one. Sometimes, I feel like the biggest inhibitor to improving things in my life is simply not understanding it. Finding out more information about how my body works has allowed me to improve my well-being dramatically, and understanding my circadian rhythm has been one great way of doing this. 
2. Embracing Emotional and Hormonal Seasons
   Even if you are doing everything perfectly, you will still experience the highs and lows of life. I don’t think making the goal to always be happy is sustainable because happiness literally cannot exist without its polar sibling. Happiness is an emotion, and emotions are temporary and fluctuate. We will have seasons of different emotions naturally. Just because some emotions might feel better than others, they all provide insight into ourselves and have the potential to be harnessed and create beauty from it. We need to be creative in how we want to harness that energy. Sometimes, for me, that just means sitting with the emotion and allowing myself to experience it. Similarly, we also experience hormonal cycles, and these can also be a guide to harnessing our energy in specific ways.
3. Reflecting on Aging
   Aging is a slow process, but perhaps it affects our lives more than anything else. Our age dictates things like the energy we have, where we are in our lives, our ability to learn, our ability to move, the knowledge and wisdom we have, and so much more. Aging can mean different things to each and every person, but I think it’s important to determine what it means to you and how you want to make the most of it. 
4. Listening to Internal Cues
   Learning to listen to internal cues rather than forcing productivity, action, or rest unnaturally has served as a plan or rough guide as to where to direct my energy. Most of the time, it leads me to direct that energy in effective and authentic ways. Over time, that feeling of stagnation subsides. 

So, with all of that being said, here are some suggestions as to how to get unstuck and into a more inspired flow. 

Practical Strategies to Flow Through Life

• Identify Your Personal Energy Patterns
  • Track when you feel most focused, creative, or drained throughout the day/week. Adjust your schedule accordingly.
• Work in Cycles, Not Against Them
  • Embrace natural ebbs and flows instead of forcing constant output. Recognize when it’s time to push forward versus when it’s time to rest.
• Align Your Schedule with Natural Rhythms
  • Set seasonal intentions.
  • Organize your tasks based on energy levels. For example, I try to save admin tasks for the evening when my energy dips and prioritize deep work in the morning when I feel most productive.
• Introduce Small Daily Shifts to Break Stagnation
  • Incorporate seasonal rituals like fresh flowers, seasonal candles, or seasonal journaling prompts.

Redefining Progress: Stay Aligned with Your “Why”

Think about your goals, and then think about why you want to accomplish them. I’ve found that making progress towards the “why” is more important for defining productivity than the goal itself. For example, we usually make specific goals to feel good. So, if you need time to recharge in order to keep that pursuit of that goal feeling good, then take that time. It’s still in alignment with your “why.” Stay in alignment with your “why,” not necessarily your goal. When we attune ourselves to these natural cycles, we can honor a more authentic and fulfilled version of ourselves while maintaining our “why.” Stay close to yourself, stay close to your “why,” and flow with life to step into a rhythm that feels more effortless, creative, and peaceful.