Living is like making music: right after you have played a note the sound disappears into the past, never to be retrieved in its authenticity. It drops into the ravine behind you and the present moment expects you to offer a new sound, to play your music now, and now, and now. What melody are you producing, what harmony are you playing in? Ask yourself: “What music would I most appreciate now?” You are the one holding all the instruments. You are the composer, the orchestra, the conductor and you decide the key, the intensity, the color, the flavor. It is your creation.
What Flow Are You In?
It is up to you, entirely. Whether you sail by default or by design is always entirely up to you. You are at the steering wheel. When you do not take charge, you allow other forces to have their sway and co-determine what your experience is. When you take charge, starting where you are, here, now, your experience will show you what type of charge you have taken. Surprises only happen when you have allowed other forces take over your job.
You could also talk about this in terms of influence by determining the dominant influence at a given moment. Ask yourself throughout the day: What flow am I in right now, positive or negative?
Positive or Negative Flow
When the current flow is positive: Continue what you are doing and appreciate it.
When the current flow is negative: Stop and realign with your inner being. The place from which you are relating to something in your current experience is apparently not the place you have previously told your inner being to view things from and now your inner being is calling you to move up towards where it is. When you do not heed the call you feel negative emotion. (Esther Hicks explains this dynamic very clearly here.) Your inner being is calling you to play your music.
Inner and Outer
The outer world is a reflection of your inner world, the outer mirrors the inner back to you. And so it does not make any difference where your positive or negative feeling is coming from. It is all inner. However, in daily life you engage in this or that in the outer world and so in daily life there seems to be a distinction between inner and outer. The good thing about knowing that they are really the same, one finding expression in the other, is that you have two different points available to you for effective engagement. That is convenient when you want to make a change.
When you realize you are in a negative flow it does not really matter what seems to have caused it. It does not matter whether it is an inner mood—like restlessness, fear, depression, etc.—or an outside occurrence that throws you off. Both signals are telling you that you are not operating from the place that your inner being is calling you from. You now have two points of engagement open to you: your inner world and the outer picture.
Working on the Inner World
If you choose to work on the inner world in order to change the flow from negative to positive you can do the following: Find the highest place in your inner creative stream and decide what quality you would like the situation to be influenced by. (Edgar Cayce calls this the spiritual ideal; Esther Hicks talks about segment intending or prepaving.) Align with that quality, and now drop the entire subject. Go for a walk, go ride your bike, go do the dishes, take a shower, meditate, read a book. Anything to interrupt the negative momentum of the experience that triggered the negative flow. Just know that the experience (which really is an instance of your inner being calling you to move up) is serving you. That’s all. You wouldn’t grow if it weren’t for your inner being calling you, and your inner being wouldn’t call you if you weren’t making any new decisions on the basis of experience.
Working on the Outer Picture
If you choose to work on the outer picture in order to change the flow from negative to positive you can do the following: Focus on those aspects of the situation that are pleasing to you and ignore the rest. Find statements about the situation that are true and that soothe your discomfort because they approach the situation positively. Other options: Ho’oponopono: (link), moving up the emotional scale (link), and the work by Byron Katie (link), etc. They may take a bit longer but can be very effective.
The idea is to no longer dwell on the thing that does not feel good but take it as your springboard for a re-orientation. Attention to negative emotion prolongs it in your experience due to the law of attraction. Where your attention goes, your power flows. Wallowing in it or venting it will only keep you in the negative flow. And so, you would be better off focusing on something positive.That will allow you to play your music.
Shining Your Inner Light
However, when you notice that a certain type of negativity keeps popping up either inwardly or outwardly, it means you need to shine your inner light on some supposition that is active in your field and that is not in harmony with how your inner being is viewing that particular situation. If moving up the emotional scale, distracting yourself or aligning inwardly with a creative quality and streaming it towards the situation are not giving you enough relief, or put differently, if they aren’t effective in interrupting the momentum of the negativity, then you would need to shine your inner light on it.
Play Your Music
You do not do that by wallowing in negativity. You do that through understanding what is going on. In other words, while you examine the negative feeling you keep your higher self switched on. Its light is your guide, not some prescribed therapeutic process or venting spree. When your inner being is on board it will guide you into the balance and timing that is right for you: the balance and timing regarding delving into the dynamics in order to arrive at a new understanding, allowing you to move on into a positive flow and play your music. Practice makes perfect.
