To have a vision (for your work, your relationship, your finances… for anything) is one thing. To manifest it is a different story. We all know that.  

”It’s as if I’m running on a treadmill, full speed and not getting anywhere. It’s a frustrating feeling. But it also makes me curious. What the heck is going on here?”. Penille wrote that in a comment a little while ago.

Here’s a way to look at it:

What was the real reason why Amelia’s vision ended with a crash?

Perhaps you’re familiar with Amelia Earhart’s story and her purpose from the film “Amelia”. In any case, what you’ll see in the short video below is a different perspective on what might have been the actual problem there:

“To make sure your vision doesn’t end with a crash follow these 3 golden rules” Click to Tweet

How communication often times is the main barrier

To manifest a vision requires a great deal of communication and openness. Or, in other words, flow.

First, there must be an open flow from the place within where the vision is born. If you are to succeed in manifesting your vision you need it to come from a deep place, a real place. It needs to  be more than merely wishful thinking or a seductive dream. With all due respect for the latter by the way!

Also you need to be relatively open to your inner flow in general. You need to know yourself good enough so that you have a realistic idea about what you are and are not able to create, what you have to learn, where you need help, when is the right time to jump into it and when it’s best to wait or change your direction entirely. And you need to be able to bring into play the many different aspects of yourself.

Last but not least you need to be able to communicate i.e. be in a flowing relationship with the people that are part of your vision. Writing a book for example requires an open communication with your potential readers. Creating a great relationship with a man requires good communication skills with men in general. Creating a satisfying money flow requires an ability to communicate with potential clients or employers.

But how exactly do you do that?

Let’s take a look at a few “trivial” examples

In a recent Danish documentary an author, Lone Frank, is standing in a bookstore holding one of her own books, saying: “This is a damn good book (…) So why don’t people buy it? Why do they read bad crime novels and shitty books by a celebrity that sells tens of thousands… I’m thinking no, I won’t bother experiencing this anymore. This is the last time ever. Because it’s happening again. I have to find some other way to make a living.”

God knows she’s neither the first nor the last author who, in this place, basically doesn’t get or embrace her potential readers’ choice.

It becomes a barrier for her communication with them. She speaks her language, based on her preconditions and preferences, rather than their wants and needs. And that results in them not buying her books.

If she was willing to listen to them she might have chosen a different form. How about a crime novel about the scientific questions that Lone wants to explore? How about including a few celebrities? Dan Brown and the Da Vinci Code go home!

At my local paper they really get the significance of this. If they didn’t they could just as well close the business. Here’s what they wrote in a recent advertisement: “We are looking for an editor who has the skills to write in a light and uncomplicated fashion for the uninformed read and to facilitate great cooperation between sources, clients and readers”.

Or, expressed differently in a context where advanced technologies and sophisticated visions (outer and inner!) lead to practical and successful application:

”It’s simple, really: Understand people. Explore what they want. Give it to them. This being said the process itself is usually a whole lot more complicated than these three steps.” . Says, with beautiful clarity, Lóa Stefánsdóttir of  Innovation Lab.

The above is true whether you want to publish a book, create a relationship, expand your money flow or something entirely different. Because, if your vision is to become a reality and mean something in this world, it can only happen in an interaction with other people. 

Which can be a rather bothersome thing at time – but then again, what a joy eventually! This being said, it’s still your vision and thus your responsibility. Meaning:

You have to take the first step, and the next one

Yes, manifesting your vision is a complex process. But then again, all you have to do is to take the first step (or the next). So let’s get going:

• Find out who is the object of your vision (is. what group of people that your vision is addressing)
• Spend a while listening to this group of people. Be as open as you possibly can.
• How do they express their needs and wants?
• Is your vision in alignment with what they say they want?
• And if not, how can you bring it into alignment?

By the way, the above has a nice “side effect”: it will contribute to more flow, joy and richness in your life – here and now, not just in the future!

If you would share in a comment what you find out (or what you find challenging in this respect), that would be super exciting. Also all other kinds of questions, reactions and comments are warmly welcome. I do read and respond shortly to all comments.  Depending on the context some comments are being selected as subject for future blog posts.

Technorati Tags: flow, joy, manifesting, vision

© ClipArtIllustration.com

What if rather than waiting for an e-book you could get inspiration, advice and answers to your questions right here on this blog?

I’m saying it  because I’ve been in the process of writing an e-book  (the kind that brings answers and inspiration) for quite some time now and I imagine some of you getting seriously impatient.

So where is that e-book anyhow?

Well… it has been expanding. So much so that it is becoming too much of a good thing.  It is becoming too big a ship. At least for the purpose that I had in mind.

Fortunately life has its way of showing us its purpose:

When a spring dries out one place it’s just to break through somewhere else:

While the e-book seems to go into a stand by phase, I feel very inspired and energized by creating and writing this blog. I’m also seeing a similar interest from more and more readers. So naturally, I will be going with the flow and the joy of this process and (for now) focus primarily on the blog.

I apologize for having promised you something and then not delivering it (at least not now). But I hope that you will see this as the good news that it is. OK, bitter-sweet news perhaps.  (My favorite taste in chocolate by the way).

Because what it  really means is that you will be able to receive the inspiration you’re looking for much faster.

Here’s how you can get your questions answered:

Obviously, to get answers you’ll have to ask questions. More precisely, they need to come in the form of comments to any of the posts on this blog.  I mean, I’m not so sure that I’m always able to guess what you want or need or are interested in. )

In fact, one of the comments to the previous article (the one about keeping up with your vision) has inspired the next article — the one that will follow this one. The comment appeared on the Danish version of this blog, so here’s a translation (because I know there so many people having a similar experience)

“Dear Halina,

I enjoy your posts, as always, and your perspective.
Thanks for sharing it.

I’m thinking: I know what kind of a fish I am right now.
And yet there isn’t much flow around my vision.
Even if my vision is a real good match for my “fish type”.
It’s as if every time I move forward I’m being set back again – and I think it’s me doing it – yet cannot find out how or why.

As a matter of fact, my thoughts and feelings are very positive, and I continually work on them and feel what’s there. I’m really  happy and grateful for my life. I feel great and there’s so much that I get to enjoy every day.

But when it comes to my vision… It’s as if I’m running on a treadmill, full speed and not getting anywhere.
It’s a frustrating feeling.
But it also makes me curious. What the heck is going on here?

Many greetings from Penille”

So this is what I’m going to address next time.

Meanwhile, let me know what’s on your mind, with regards to vision, living it, or anything else that you’d like to share, comment or ask. I do read and respond shortly to all comments.  Depending on the context some comments are being selected as subject for future blog posts.

Technorati Tags: flow, joy, purpose

© ClipArtIllustration.com

You’d love to live a life with more freedom and joy, wouldn’t you? Perhaps you have created a bright vision for your future. And you are all on fire about it.  You invest tons of energy, heart, time and money into making it happen. And yet it doesn’t. Not quite.

One of the reasons why this is pretty common is a bit of a taboo. Or at least controversial. And, if you take an honest look at it it just might get you in sync.

But before we continue I want to make something very clear:

I’m not addressing this subject to spoil your joy of having and manifesting a vision for your life! On the contrary. This is meant to support you!

So what I’m doing here is offering a way that hopefully will make it a little bit  easier for you to create what you really want.

I hope you’ll keep this intention in mind throughout this post…

So let’s move on!

Why a wonderful vision can stand in the way of your joyfulness

Please watch this video first…

How your vision can lead you into a life of purpose, flow and joy  – but only when you know “what kind of a fish you are”

It’s simple: When you have a clarity about your own nature, it’s not all that difficult to see and sense whether your vision really is in alignment with who you are and what you want in life. Regardless of anyone’s opinion on that matter, regardless of any ideals or expectations.

Plus, the more you’re able to stand by yourself, appreciate yourself, enjoy and be yourself, the more you will experience flow and joy here and now. And that makes it so much more natural and less strenuous to actually manifest your (authentic!) vision.

Here’s what you can do here and now

1. Sit comfortably, close your eyes and relax for a litte while
2. Now ask yoursel1f: “What kind of a fish am I?”. Remain completely open to what happens next
3. Perhaps you’ll experience an inner image, or words, or a sensation of some kind….
4. For a little while, just stay with whatever is there
5. Now take a piece of paper and write (spontaneously, with no editing), what that image, words or sensation says about your nature, your needs, your wants
6. Take some time (a day or a week – whatever you feel like), to explore that experience – and don’t try to change it
7. Allow yourself to be and enjoy the kind of “fish” that you are, here and now and also when it comes to your vision of a future

Remember, not all of us are born to be a blue whale. Hey, that’s not even a fish!! Long live the ever increasing diversity of fish!

Embrace your ordinary life with all your heart

Discover how extraordinary joyful it is

To be you in this marvelous world

So how is it to be you? Let us know  (this or anything else that you’d like to say or ask) in a comment below  (even if you don’t usually do it  )

Technorati Tags: vision

Honestly, I feel that I’ve become slightly too serious lately. It’s almost as if I’ve been writing about joy rather than expressing it. I guess it’s a Winter thing… Whatever the reason, it’s time to reconnect with our joyful and inspired nature! We can start this anywhere. How about… with a glass of wine and a hangover?

A groggy beginning:

Not so long ago I overheard a woman share how on this particular morning she woke up all groggy. That’s what happens sometimes after a glass of wine before bed… And since that’s how it was, there was only one thing she felt like doing: stay in bed and get more sleep. Rather than picking the most obvious and healthy solution: Get up and attend her usual morning yoga class.

It seemed to me that this turned into a mighty discussion inside her tired head. And that her common sense got the last word. She got up, attended her yoga class, and felt so great afterwards, that her conclusion couldn’t be anything but:  “Stick to what’s good for you!”.

“Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this, to know so much and to have control over nothing” (Herodotus)

It was lovely to see her so glad. And I also noticed something more: A controlling will that doesn’t entirely trust life’s impulses.

What would have happened had she stayed in bed that morning?

I found myself wondering… and a few days later, my life invited me to:

Give the “the less healthy option” a chance

The thing is, for a little while now, I have felt a bit under the weather. Not really sick. Just a little drained energywise, a little less joyful than I can be. And I didn’t even have any wine! (how fair is that??).

Anyhow, a couple of days ago I simply gave in. I went to bed to rest. And to sense how I was feeling.

I lay down and felt waves of  weariness flow through my body. There were multiple layers to the experience, kind of (there always are, even if we’re seldom aware of it). There was sadness and beauty, tiredness and an energetical richness. I didn’t make any attempts to understand any of it, but then all of a sudden I remembered this:

This is how we usually feel around Easter:

I know a lot of other people that experience it too. Even if I’m not religious in the traditional sense of the word, and so don’t celebrate Easter as such, the experience of darkness, of something dying is unmistakable. I remembered that – and then I sensed something else. Something that had nothing to do with any of this, or so it looked:

There was a hunger! A plain physical hunger, that is, for some very specific foods. Let me tell you: this was not something that you’d usually find on the list of healthy food.

I could have let it go, easily. It was just a desire – not some irresistible temptation. But then, I didn’t have to let go. So I got up and went out to buy this which my body asked for in that moment.

One thing led to another:

On my way home, joyfully looking forward to this for me rather uncharacteristic  meal, I sensed something more.  There was something in the air… something almost unbelievably refreshing… Something that I haven’t felt in a very long time: I had to see the beach. I just had to!

So I went home, enjoyed my special meal (which by the way turned out to be a much needed nice energy-kick!), and then – to the beach.

It was while I was walking along the shore that…

Something magical started to happen:

I felt more refreshed and more alive for each step, my pace was increasing, my body felt stronger.

It felt like reconnecting – with myself, with nature, with the flow of all there is. It felt like Spring.

It became the longest and most joyful walk I’ve experienced in a long time. On my way home I noticed how there were more people in the streets than usual (that’s a sign of Spring in my little tourist town). I saw flowers. I saw leafs. I saw life.

And joy, flowing through my body and soul.

The day after something even more magical took place. A call and with that a completely unexpected and thoroughly positive closure of a process, that I thought had failed and was irrecoverable. As it turned out, it had unfolded in a more  beautiful way than I could have hoped for. It just needed time. Plenty of time.

And there are plenty of other signs

It’s as if the message all around… the message of the Spring if you will… is that we don’t always need to pick “the right and the most appropriate option”. We don’t necessarily need to control our impulses – not even the “unhealthy” and the “negative”.

Whether we do this or that is not necessarily all that important. How we experience it is however is essential.

Whatever you experience, one thing is for sure:
There are more layers and colors to it than what appears at first sight.
Notice them.
Create a space for them.
That’s where joy flows.

What are your experiences? Share them (or anything else you feel inspired to say) in the comment form below (even if you don’t usually do this )

Technorati Tags: body, control, flow, joy

There is the journey. And then there is the journey within the journey within the journey…
Flow is infinite and within it a new journey begins every day, every week, every month and year…

Even if it’s part of the journey to be caught unprepared and even if this journey is about traveling light, there are a few “things” that you definitely want to bring along — and you can prepare through asking yourself  a few fundamental flow questions

Purpose and vision

Even if a Flow journey is by design and to a certain degree a journey into unknown, more often than not, you do have a sense of direction or purpose.

How do you currently envision your purpose (or your direction in life)?

Dedication

Every journey has its challenges and, as we all know , some challenges do require a strong dedication.  Having a sense of direction certainly will strengthen yours.

How strong is your dedication, presently? How far are you willing to go? How deep?

Being true to yourself

At the end of the day your ultimate destination is you — you coming home to yourself.  This perhaps is the most important guiding light for your journey: To the degree you can, be true to yourself at all times  – in your choices, expressions and actions.

At this point, what does  ‘being true to yourself’ mean to you?

Fundamental values

It means a lot of things I’m sure, and it certainly does include your values. You don’t necessarily need to have an intellectual list of what your values are. However, when it comes to making choices, your values  — what you feel is of value to you at any given time — are of greatest significance.

What feels like fundamental values to you, currently?

Intuition and trust

I hope you included your wonderful intuition there. Because a Flow journey is by design a journey where intuition plays a significant part.

When do you trust your intuition? When do you doubt it?

What is inner trust for you?

Acknowledging the Flow way

Going with the Flow is really as simple as it is complex. A Flow journey is not a straight line. Rather it consists of ripples, waves, currents and spirals.

There is a cumulative effect to it all. It means that the effect adds up along the way — and it also means that you cannot always see that effect right away! Therefore, this journey also requires:

Willingness to doubt, learn and expand

Doubt is part of the journey too. Because, even if a journey is not a school, there is always something for us to learn (and unlearn ).

Such as the fact that life is always, always greater than we think and we are always, always greater than we know. It is when we think we have figured it all out we are most certainly fooling ourselves.

When it comes to in-sight there is always a lot of space for expansion, for all of us. There is no final answer — other than YES, perhaps?

With questions like the above, the answers change as we change. Sometimes even daily. So even if you may think that you have answered them already, take your time and be open to new answers. Sharing them  will certainly support the journey too (yours and your fellow travelers’) – so do share them in a comment below:

Technorati Tags: flow questions

I was recently invited to contribute to a telesummit which is called “Unlock the Secret To How Successful Entrepreneurs are Attracting a Continual Stream of Hungry Clients Eager to Buy What They Offer, Consistently Making 6 and 7 Figure Incomes Through a Magnetic MindShift Empowering You to New and Greater Levels of Success!”.

So why was I invited?!

I’m laughing yet the question is relevant enough – given the fact that the only consistency that I represent is the consistency of flow, and that I have a rather relative approach to success.

Success means something different to each of us, I’m sure but I think that the way success feels is rather universal:

It feels like victory, doesn’t it? Like winning a game, or a battle. It feels great.

Usually, the feeling of success doesn’t last:

Because most of the games and battles we play consist of more than one victory and more than one defeat. They kind of come and go in waves.

In most cases, for most people, life happens in spirals, cycles and waves.  Life is wise, and exciting, in this way too…

Success is just the top of a wave, not the entire flow:

As I see it, if you try to make success last, you will fail. But then, if you try to make failure last, you will fail too!

How about surrender to life’s natural cycle of waves? That way you just might set yourself free…

Let me be a bit more specific about this:

Even if I’ve surrendered to flow when I was very young, it’s not all that long time ago that I became aware of…

How I enjoy surfing the waves of my life:

Mostly, “success” comes as a surprise, and mostly, I know that it won’t last… because life goes on… so I  enjoy it – totally! – while it lasts …

Also “defeat” comes as a surprise, typically, and, typically, I know that it won’t last either… because life goes on… and there is peace and joy in that too… (just another shade of joy)….

It’s like enjoying the last glass of wine or the last minute of a sunset… and then enjoying the last hour of intense thirst… or the last hour of darkness… . Fully being there, fully sucking the best out of that passing moment …

It’s not the “enlightened” “all things must pass” detached neutral sort of an experience … It’s much more sensual and joyous and alive than that!

What is success anyway?

I’m sure there are as many answers to that question as there are people on the planet.

Also there are lots and lots of perspectives on how to achieve success. Including my way:

I know and cherish the realization that every single moment of the flow-journey is a miracle and success by design!… including the waves of “success” and “failure” and everything in between ...

Including the inspiration and mindshifts that we bring to each other thanks to our amazing diversity!

And so, it is my pleasure and great honor to contribute and to invite you to accept contributions from all the speakers at the upcoming “Achieving A Magnetic MindShift” Telesummit hosted by Cathy Gettings:

Technorati Tags: success

“Between A Rock And A Hard Place”

The above is the title of the auto-biography by Aron Ralston — a  story of a man who became trapped by a boulder in an isolated slot canyon in Utah. (It later became the film “127 hours”).

The fact that he was stuck and unable to move wasn’t his main challenge though.  Getting him out of there wouldn’t be rock science .  The problem was that he didn’t tell anyone where he was going, neither did he take his cell phone with him. And so, he could not be found and he could not be helped.

The  underlying major issue was that he was not open to receive. He was not open to receive the abundance of help, love and connection that was actually there.

Does it ring a bell?

He was a highly talented mountain climber, passionate about guiding others too. But he was not open to receive. It almost killed him. And then it became his rebirth.

From what I see, most people on a spiritual journey struggle with a similar problem – psychologically, spiritually, practically – even if not necessarily in such extreme ways and often times without even  being aware of it being a blocker.

This is one of the most common reasons why we get stuck and/or disappointed in our attempts to create/manifest more money, love, purpose, joy, success, inner peace:

Half (or more) of the creation/manifestation process is really about being receptive:

I mean, you can have an abundance of fresh, clear water (and money, and love and whatever else you want) in the world – but if you don’t open your mouth… you’ll remain thirsty.

So that’s why  receptivity is what the first Flow~Integration e-book is going to address – in profound, expansive and yet practical and specific ways (because obviously, there’s more to it than just opening your mouth )

On this note:

Are you open to receive a free copy of the e-book?

Title Comment Contest – Win a Free Copy

I have an idea for the title of the e-book, but perhaps you have a better one? I’m open to that!
Submit your title idea in a comment below and I’ll pick the winner of a free copy of the e-book on Monday January 30 — but only if there are enough comments. So be sure to share this post with as many people as possible and invite them to participate! (in this way you also help them find a unique resource for their transformational journey!).

Winner will receive a personal message on January 31 – and a free copy of the  e-book (50+ pages packed with information, inspiration and practices) as soon as it’s finished.

Technorati Tags: flow and abundance

What is the greatest challenge in your life right now? Let me know and I’ll do my best to support you through it with an e-book, that shows you ways to move forward while following your own flow.

Technorati Tags: e-book

[This post is the essence of the recent New Year's Eve discourse]

There’s been a lot talk about 2012 and what it means… Here’s one comment I’m particularly fond of:

I have to say though that  it doesn’t freak me out…  I mean, I have no idea what’s going to happen in 2012. But then I also had no idea what would happen in 2011…  so here’s what I’m thinking about how to deal with the uncertainty of it all:

In all its simplicity I believe that the best approach is to be open and receptive to what life brings along. It’s a good idea in general and even more so in changing times, in times of transition.

Because such times are like traveling across an unknown territory. You don’t have a map — but you can open and  receptive towards the landscape, the people and the experiences that come your way.

Allow the journey to lead you, and you will probably find out that it goes up and down, in waves big and small, uplifting and challenging… and also from time to time there are these giant creative waves that kind of make it all fall into place. You can’t plan these ways anyway…

Because, as I see it, our present times, which could be perceived as a global crisis, call for new ways of living. We are in the midst of on one hand stagnation and on the other hand changes happening so fast or in such unpredictable ways, that we cannot depend on the old maps and calendars anyway.

We need something more flexible than that I feel. We need to combine our wisdom and our knowledge with what we experience and learn every moment. We need to travel light.  “Travel Light” is by the way the title of the book on Flow~Integration that I’m writing!

When you travel light, it is easier for you to adapt to changing circumstances – and you can also enjoy the journey more when you’re not being burdened by a lot of baggage – be it past experiences, expectations or plans for the future.

When you travel light you don’t carry a whole lot of food and drink and whatever you may need with you. You are open, aware and receptive  to the gifts and resources that become available to you as you go, even if  yo have no idea what they will be. Isn’t that far more exciting than eating can food and dry soup… (figuratively speaking).

The same goes for planning your route really. You have to create and find your path as you go, and make choices as they emerge. And these choices and decisions may turn out to be of a very different nature than you expected them to be before you embarked on your journey.

Perhaps you’ve been thinking about how you want to step into your full potential, spiritual, personal and financial, have big goals and intentions and do whatever it takes to get there.  Or perhaps you thought that all you wanted was simple living and just being. Perhaps along the way you will find out that what you really feel attracted to is something entirely different, a third way, a flexible way of living, living in waves, living in alignment with a flow that has more variety to it than just big or small?

Perhaps, before you embarked on this particular part of your journey, someone has advised you to build a big and heavy ship – a perfect vessel for crossing the ocean.  But then it so happens that your journey takes you along a river instead, where the big ship will just get stuck and block everything else. Perhaps what you really need is not a big ship but a flotilla of light boats?

Or perhaps someone has said to you: There is nowhere to go and nothing to do . And from a certain perspective that is so very true, you know. Except, perhaps such total  beingness is not what your life and your journey is about at this time. Your journey may very well be about creating something indeed and definitely going somewhere and if you refrain from that what you will find is not bliss but a state of confusion, powerlessness and lack of fulfillment.

So traveling light is very much about making choices that are right for you, here and now, in a flexible way, and a way that can change again and again as you go with the flow of your life.

And by the way,  “going with the flow” doesn’t necessarily mean that you are very passive/reactive and just go from impulse to impulse. Yes, your presence is a primary key and door to it all, but then so is interaction, both with life as such and with the people and the world that you live in. 

Really, when you think about a river flow for example, it is one giant co-creation. The river follows the landscape but it doesn’t so passively. It also affects it in all kinds of ways, big and small. The life within and around the the river – plants and fish and animals and people – they all follow the river but that’s not just a passive following either. It is a living inter-action.

And by the way, just to bring these big ideas down to earth a bit: even if I’m very open towards 2012 (and 2013 and on… ), I do have some specific creations or intentions or goals in mind. They can change – I am not attached to them. But definitely committed to:

Finishing the “Travel Light” book (and other books that are on their way as well), and to continue supporting and inspiring you through Flow~Integration coaching and teaching — although in ways that will be more flexible, more adaptable to traveling light, easier to adjust to your individual journey.

The first change is in place already, namely in the way the one-on-one coaching process has been redesigned: both the mutual clarification process and the program as such are now much more open and flexible than what I started with.

See the new one-on-one program here.

Technorati Tags: flow-integration