2020: An Invitation to Flow
Each year, we set a theme for the upcoming year. Typically this theme reflects an opportunity to ground our practice and our engaged life in an attitude that supports our sense of wellness. For 2020, we’re issuing an “Invitation to Flow”.
As we move through life, we can begin to pay attention to the kind of energy that we bring to everything we do. With that awareness, comes the realization, often, that a subtle energy of resistance or struggle may be seeping into our endeavors. When we do some exploring, we may find that this energy of resistance comes from a constant subconscious belief that things should be different than they are, or from a habit of leaning into the moment just after the moment we’re currently in, so that we’re always on the brink of arriving, but never actually make it to a place of peace. This energy isn’t simply unnecessary, it’s depleting.
But life doesn’t have to be like this. We don’t have to lug this heavy bag of resistance everywhere we go; it needn’t sit on our shoulders as we work, or weigh on our chest, keeping us from breathing freely when we tuck in at night.
So how do we shake this subconscious behavior? First, by bringing attention to it. As we walk, for example, we notice if we are simply waiting for the moment to arrive when we will reach our destination. The same few steps can feel completely different if we notice and shift our energy. That exhausting clenched jaw, hunched shoulder, forward leaning walk from A to B feels completely different when we see each step as the arrival, letting our arms swing, sensing into the “flow” of the moment, feeling the body move through space, the breath move through the body.... The same short walk becomes a refreshing connection to the present moment, a chance to marvel at the world around us.
One trick to access this sense of flow is to remove the constant, subconscious judgement with which we tend to color each action. We can do this by imagining that every past moment of the universe led up to this very moment. Even acts as mundane as reaching your hand out to pick up a glass of water can take on a new sense of magic - watching the arm reach forward through space, feeling the heft of the glass in the hand, the smooth, cool surface, noticing the light refract through the glass, and the subtle movement of water as the glass is lifted…… marveling at how all the conditions came together in such a way that this moment became exactly what it is.
Your whole day need not be one long extended study of each moment, but peppering your day with these conscious moments of flow (“flowments”?) will begin to create a habit that supports your well-being.
So we invite you to flow with us in 2020, bringing curiosity, attention and maybe even awe to moments throughout your day.
As Thich Nhat Hanh (Nobel Peace prize laureate, Vietnamese monk, human being) says, “We have arrived.”
May all beings without exception find peace in the flow of life,
Your friends at CMP
For past themes for the upcoming year see:
2019 Mindful Listening + Speaking
2018 Celebrating the Wabi Sabi nature of life: Celebrating life as it unfolds, recognizing it as perfectly imperfect.
Guided Meditations
You can find Guided Meditations and Discussion on the Guided Meditations page under the Resources tab.
We Need Your Support
CMP thrives on donations. All of our weekly sessions are free and open to the public, but donations are essential to our sustainability. CMP is a licensed charity in the state of CT as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Checks can be given to facilitators at our weekly sits or mailed to Community Mindfulness Project, P.O. Box 1713, New Canaan, CT 06840. Credit cards are accepted in the Giving section of this website. For donations of wired funds or appreciated securities, please email welcome@communitymind.org. Thank you!
