Flow And Buying A House

In my last post on Flow And Intention-Manifestation, I mentioned that my husband and I had recently purchased a house. One of the commenters on that post, T Edwards, asked:

Congratulations on your new home. My question is: do you give credit for bringing it into your life to ‘The Law of Attraction’?

I gave a brief reply to the comment at the time, although I realised that there was much more that I could say on the subject, so much so that I thought I’d take this opportunity to devote a post to it!

I think I should start by saying that I use the term Law Of Attraction to describe principles of how the universe works on an energy level, mainly because it is a term that many people know these days and which can therefore be used as a reference point. For me, however, the principles behind what is popularly termed Law Of Attraction represent deep spiritual beliefs, many of which I was first introduced to as a young child and which I’ve come to understand more deeply over the years. I’m still learning! So, while my answer to T’s question in the comments is that I do give credit to the Law Of Attraction for bringing the house into my life, my use of these principles is a much more spiritual one than popular products like The Secret describe.

My husband and I started looking for a new house to buy in January this year. We had owned our own home in South Africa, but had decided to rent when we moved to Scotland until we had become more settled and familiar with the city of Edinburgh and its surrounding countryside, and had a good idea of which area we wanted to live in.

I had started thinking about our ideal house when we first made the decision to move to Scotland and I knew a house purchase would arise in the next year or so. I developed a picture in my head of what it would look like (based on both my and my husband’s intentions, which are thankfully exactly the same when it comes to houses and decoration thereof!), and even drew a floor plan and a 3D picture of what it looked like. This picture was continually refined, and by the time January came round, I could see our ideal house extremely clearly in my head. It had the same status in my mind as the house we owned in South Africa, in the sense that it was as real to me as a house that I had actually lived in. I knew our ideal house intimately!

When it came to the details of our ideal house, we had some non-negotiables as well as some nice-to-haves. We were also clear that the house had to reflect the Divine qualities of love, peace and joy. We were looking for a house that felt like home the second we stepped through the door. In terms of finances, we planned to use the money from the sale of our house in South Africa as a deposit towards buying a house in the UK. Houses in the UK are a tad more expensive than in South Africa – our many Rands gave us a great deposit amount to use here, but unfortunately not enough to purchase a house outright! Nevertheless, we were grateful that we had that money to contribute towards the process as it would keep our mortgage down and make us more attractive to lenders.

The first few months of the house-hunting process were frustrating. Each property we saw matched our requirements to a certain extent, but none included everything we wanted, even when we considered doing renovations. Those that were closer matches were outside our budget, but even those didn’t have the energetic qualities we were looking for.

About four months in, I became very despondent. I started to doubt that we would ever find our ideal house within our budget. I hated the idea that we would have to settle for something far less than we wanted. Even though this was a dark time for me, it was out of this period that I began to clarify my thinking around Flow. I spoke to my guides about it, and I started practicing it in all areas of my daily life. I changed my focus from details and specifics to making Flow my primary focus. I learned to trust that if Flow is present, all else falls into place.

At about this time, the UK started to experience a so-called “credit crisis”, and the news was full of doom and gloom – mortgages were difficult to obtain and house prices were falling. I took the latter quite positively, however – if house prices were falling, it meant we would be able to get more house for our budget! I also chose to ignore the news reports about mortgages, and instead maintain my focus on Flow.

Shortly after this, we walked into the house that we ultimately ended up buying. It felt like home. It matched our intentions perfectly on an energy level. At first glance, it only had some of the non-negotiables that we’d wanted, and none of the nice-to-haves. But, upon closer inspection, we realised that we could easily renovate the house to obtain all but one of the non-negotiables and all but one of the nice-to-haves! Honest reflection showed me that these two unobtainable characteristics were in fact ego-driven wants. I released these, and in the process I realised that these two things that I had thought so important actually weren’t so important after all!

Had there not been a credit crisis, this house would have been out of our budget range by at least £10 000. As it was, we were able to buy it for £30 000 under budget, leaving us with money to spare for all those renovations! Thanks also to some helpful family and friends who are involved in the building trade, we are likely to obtain some hefty discounts on things like kitchen units and bathroom suites.

The actual purchasing process was a beautiful example of Flow. Our dates for giving notice on our flat matched up perfectly with the sellers’ moving date. Through our solicitor, we were put in touch with a financial advisor who organised a mortgage for us at a very good rate. The mortgage application process itself was easy and hassle-free. Our solicitor was amazing – he was efficient and thorough and kept us updated at each step. We essentially sat back and watched the process unfold, doing our small bit (e.g. signing a form, making a telephone call, making a bank transfer – nothing too onerous!) as and when required. In a telephone conversation with the seller at one point, he mentioned to me that he was amazed at how smoothly and easily everything was progressing – I could only agree! With Source energy directing the process, how could it be any different?!

If you’d like to see some pictures of our new ‘hood, you’re welcome to browse through those on our other personal blog.

Flow And Intention-Manifestation

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts (Make up your mind!), I’m a Libra and a Scanner. Consequently, I’m not always clear on the specifics of what I want to do or what I want to have, since there are so many experiences and things that are equally attractive and meaningful to me. No one thing stands out.

Yet, despite this, I am absolutely unequivocally clear about what I want to be. I know exactly which energetic qualities I want to be present in my life.

Clarity is important when it comes to intention-manifestation. But, how specific do we need to be? If we want to manifest a new car, for example, do we need to imagine every detail, from the make and model to the colour and engine size? Or is it more effective to focus our attention instead on the energetic qualities that we associate with having a new car and to be that now?

These are questions that I’ve been putting to my guides. Their response: flow first, specifics later.

Allowing Flow brings us into alignment with energetic qualities such as love, joy, peace and abundance, As such, our physical world will start to change to reflect these. We do not have to direct exactly how we want these qualities expressed, although we can if we so choose.

If we do decide to create something very specific, aligning with the flow of Source energy first makes manifesting these particular features easier. It takes far less effort to channel energy into specific details when we are already in a state of Flow than it does when we are impeding the stream of Source energy.

In addition, the more aligned we are with Flow, the less likely it is that we are attached to any specific characteristics that we decide to include in our intentions and creations. When we find ourselves intending to manifest something very specific, it is a good idea to reflect on why we want those particular physical characteristics. This can entail being very honest with ourselves – do we want a BMW, for example, for ego-based reasons (usually fear-based, such as “people will think less of me if I don’t have an expensive car”), or simply because, to us, it is a fun expression of the energetic quality of freedom? It is when we are truly not attached to specifics that it is best to introduce them into the equation.

I had the opportunity in recent months to undertake some of this reflection for myself. My husband and I bought a house (the legal and administrative process is now complete, and we move in today in fact!). When we first walked through the front door of the house at the initial viewing, it felt like coming home. The house was a perfect energetic match for what we had intended. Yet, very few of the specific physical details that we had wanted were present. Upon reflection, I realised that some of the characteristics that I had wanted to manifest in my ideal house were very much the choices of my ego. It was an eye-opening process, but one from which I was able to bring some more limiting beliefs into my conscious awareness to work on releasing them. As for the other characteristics to which I had no ego attachment… well, it turned out on closer inspection of the house at the second viewing that we’d be able to make some fairly minor alterations to the property to bring it in line with what we wanted!

All in all, our house-hunting and house-buying were a wonderful example of flow in action. The timing of the purchase and move for both us and the sellers was spot-on in terms of our respective life circumstances and requirements, and the entire legal, financial and administrative process has proceeded very smoothly and effortlessly. I’m certainly intending for the flow to continue on moving day itself!

I’m also intending for the effects of flow to extend to BT (British Telecom) and our internet service provider connecting everything at the new property as arranged, so please leave your comments – I’ll be popping in to reply to them!

Row, Row, Row Your Boat… But Mind That Obstacle!

This is Part 2 of a series on Flow. If you haven’t yet read part 1, you can find it here.

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

The feeling of free-flowing Source energy is beautiful and blissful. The stream of Source energy may be powerful and deep, yet it is also gentle and supportive. Whether we choose to surf the flow, or row our boat down the energy stream, the experience is one of effortlessness and joy.

Or at least, it can be. Often, however, it seems that we’re determined to turn what can be an easy journey into an obstacle course! The following are some of the most common obstacles that we tend to create and which end up impeding flow.

Barriers
Resistance is supposedly futile. Yet, even though we may know better, we often find ourselves resisting what is – we should be in a more enjoyable job, our parents should stop treating us like children, our children should be more polite, our financial situation should be better, the world should be a safer place….

The more we resist, the more drained we feel. Emotions like anger, worry and fear deplete energy. And so we start building barriers with the best of intentions – we want them to protect us by keeping what we don’t want out and by keeping our precious energy in.

The thing is, Source energy doesn’t stop moving. By its very nature, it flows. This means that it keeps building up behind the barrier, placing pressure on the structure. At some point, the barrier will break. If a barrier is small and weak to begin with, breaking it down will be fairly easy and the aftermath minor. However, for many of us, barriers are not so easily broken down. We’ve been building them for years, adding layers and layers to our defences until they are really thick and strong. When the structure finally breaks, it is often explosive and destructive as all the pent up energy is finally released – we have a nervous breakdown because of work stress, for example, or we lash out in anger at our parents or children, saying things and taking actions that we later regret.

Diversions
When we build barriers, we place a great deal of our attention on the areas concerned. We’re constantly vigilant, maintaining our defences and always wary of attack. In contrast, there are sometimes areas of our lives from which we choose to totally withdraw our focus. These may be areas that we are uncomfortable looking at, or areas in which we’re unsure what the next step to take is. For example, we may be unsure how to change our work situation to one that we are passionate about. Maybe we’ve tried a few things that didn’t seem to work, and rather than give more creative energy to this area, we decide to give up. We go through the motions, but our energy investment is nil.

What we’ve done in this type of situation is create a diversion, channelling Source energy away from one area to instead focus it on others in which we feel we can make a difference. When Source energy isn’t allowed to flow into a particular area, however, the result is that we experience stagnation in that area.

Hooks
Whereas it’s very clear that barriers and diversions are self-created, being hooked usually feels like it is caused by someone else – as you row down the Source energy stream, someone standing on the bank casts out their fishing line, hooks onto you, and reels you out of the flow and into their drama.

The irony is that we can’t be hooked unless we’re hook-able. Hooks are all about attachment – others can only hook us if we provide the attachments for them to hold on to. It may feel like they are the ones attached to us, but the reality is that we are the ones with the attachments to others’ dramas, and it is only us that can release these.

If you’d like to read more on hooks specifically, I’d suggest that you delve into the excellent series that Christine Kane did on the subject.

Heavy Baggage
Some of us just can’t pack light – we need ten suitcases for a weekend away and wonder how on earth others manage to fit everything they need into one little carry-on bag!

Energy-wise, we can also carry tremendous metaphorical baggage with us. All those old unresolved issues weigh us down, making our journeys in the stream of Source energy slow and sluggish. We think we need all this extra “stuff”, and we are so used to carrying it around with us that it has become part of our identity.

Undercurrents
Undercurrents work below the surface of our lives. They are insidious and subtle, yet they affect every aspect of our lives and they can prevent us from fully experiencing flow. Undercurrents are the often unconscious scripts that underlie our behaviour and choices. Some common scripts include “I’m not worthy”, “I’m unlovable”, and “I’m insignificant”.

We have to look closely at our lives to identify the patterns that keep repeating themselves. In this way, we can identify the undercurrents and bring them to the surface. In the light, we can see that these scripts do not represent who we truly are, and we can change them to ones more aligned with the energy of flow.

Over to you… Have you ever come across these obstacles to flow? Are there any further obstacles you experience in your own life or that you’ve noticed in others?

Surfing The Flow

Don’t you just love it when life flows? I certainly do!

In psychological terms, the word flow is used to describe a state in which we are so fully immersed in an activity that we feel energised, focused and involved, and as a result experience a distorted sense of time and effortless of action. It is an ego-less state in which we are completely present. Flow is a concept integral to the field of Positive Psychology, and its main proponent is the man with the virtually unpronounceable name, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (those in the know say it is pronounced Mee-high Chick-sent-mee-high-ee, but apparently his friends just call him Mike!).

In spiritual terms, however, flow is quite literally Source energy flowing through us. It is possible to feel this energy flow tangibly. It is a strong and powerful energy stream that contains within it a deep sense of love, joy and peace. It is graceful, abundant and expansive. When Source energy is flowing freely, we experience the psychological state described above in relation to our daily activities.

There is an element of surrender involved in the process, in that flow can’t be forced. It can only be allowed. It is when we get out of our own way that we can be a conduit for Source energy to flow through us into the world. That said, once we’re in the energy stream, there is an interplay between letting it carry us forward and co-creating our journey along the way. We’re not so much going with the flow as we are surfing the flow!

I’m going to be exploring the concept of flow over the next few blog posts, looking at subjects like work, health, relationships and money from the perspective of flow. I’ll also be discussing the topic of how flow relates to manifesting intentions, and the different types of blockages that affect flow. I look forward to you joining me throughout this series, and as always, to hearing your thoughts as we delve into the subject!