The Healing Power of the Flow

The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and their destination.
(John Schaar)

Many of us know Yoshua’s teachings by heart. We intuitively get Buddha’s Noble Path and have experienced Eckhart Tolle’s ‘The Power of Now’ firsthand ourselves. Yet when life’s stresses get the better of us, all that serenity, compassion and love is going to pieces  and we are still left wondering, ‘Why can’t I be like the enlightened folks?’ We know that we are ‘here’ where the trouble is and we so desperately want to get ‘there’ where the enlightened folks are presumed to be. In frustration we listen to the advice of the sages, ‘breathe’, ‘meditate’, or ‘be mindful’ but it isn’t working on those days when we really need them to work. The times when we are sitting depressed at home, or the days when our blood is boiling at work as we have to interact with our obnoxious colleagues, not to mention the stress when there is even trouble at home. What to do?

The problem could well be in spirituality itself. Most other people would just shrug their shoulders and say, ‘So what, I had a bad day!’. We instead want to live up to the noble ideals of our spiritual community and the lofty demands of the enlightened folks. We realize that we are ‘here’, where life is not so perfect, while our gurus tell us not only that we can be ‘there’, but that we should be ‘there’. They claim what we can be in the Holy Now this very instant. ‘No one but your self can take this God Connection away from you’, they say. They are right but they forget to tell us that it requires healing of our self to get from ‘here’ to ‘there’. The problem statement is ‘spiritual by-passing’. It is the attempt to get into the ‘no-self’ or ‘higher Self’ state without having first healed the self. We cannot perceive the Way at that moment because the self is in the way. So instead of wishing life’s problems away we should appreciate them as an invite to heal ourself.

Projection is the psychological equivalent of spiritual by-passing. We know that deep down inside something requires healing so we look for spirituality for help. The problem only is that by looking up to the gurus we avoid healing ourselves. We forget that these spiritual giants had to embark on the same healing journey as we do. The way to avoid spiritual by-passing is to focus on the transition period instead; the healing of our self, rather than always eying the destination of being enlightened. When you observe, life offer us healing opportunities all the time but we have to grab them if we want to get anywhere. Daily we are confronted with the aspects for our self that require healing. If we always face them head-one without judgement, just accepting the dirt that is coming our way without having an opinion how life should be, the flow of life heals us.


As a writer and coach I am obviously into spirituality. As it turns out, I have struggled with conflicted energy over the years and I fear many fellow-travelers do as well! What should we do if we feel conflicted and miserable? Say we enjoy beautiful things and luxury but we don’t want to work for a profit-obsessed company. Say we enjoy steamy sex but the spiritual community keeps telling us that we are not our body. Say we are out to catch souls but deep down inside realize that we enjoy being looked up to which is not a spiritual mind-set at all. All these questions need our answer, not the answer of a guru. Our soul needs to decide how to proceed. Discover that going ‘left’ is as ok as going ‘right’. No matter what we do, life will always wrap itself around us and get us to our desired destination one choice at a time. The only time when life can’t help us if we just sit there conflicted and paralyzed. It’s like swimming in a stagnant pool when life invited us to flow downstream right into the ocean.

I had a ‘Conversation with God’ the other day. I asked God about impasses, stalemates and conflicts; the time when we are caught between two opposing forces and we are sitting right in the middle of it, suffering, but unable to move in either direction. So I asked God what to do. God’s answer was straightforward. ‘If there is tension in the system, release it by moving. Your immobility comes from asking the question, ‘wrong’ or ‘right’; ask ‘left’ or ‘right’ instead! Think of a river, the river moves. It will not stop until it has released all the tension into the lake or the ocean—move forward!” What an answer! No more ‘spiritual by-passing’ but facing tough choices as they come about. Let the flow of the river forge its way!

You tell us what to do with the inner conflicts. Just accept and embrace them and find a way to combine your passion and purpose. You face obstacles on your spiritual journey that are often self-imposed? Fine, circumvent them just like the river does but get going and be mindful of stagnating energy. That’s where all the trouble lies. I have discovered in my Awakening journey that life is geared towards healing us. Moment by moment we are guided on a journey that allows us to manifest our deepest-held desires while encouraging us to let go of the weight of the past. Make a choice today; forge a path, the flow of the streaming water will do the rest. In Lao-Tzu’s words:

Life is a series
of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don’t resist them.
That only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward
in whatever way they like.

Use the healing power of life’s flow and everything is taken care off. No more confusing mental images of ‘here’ and ‘there’. Jump right into the river and float Home.