Let Everything Flow Unconditionally

Just for today, let it all flow without affecting you. Just for today, prevent adversity from driving you to the bottom, from snatching your hopes and the will to live. Just for today, let go of everything that troubles you with cold winds, get rid of that which wipes the smiles from your face and simply move on …

These simple principles should be remembered not only today, but always. Because when every morning we open our eyes to the new day, we are faced with so many new challenges that, for a moment, we really believe that we have forgotten that we are happy.

One of the leading exponents of flow theory is undoubtedly the psychologist Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi. Just as he explains in his famous book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience”, man wastes too much psychic energy due to unimportant stimuli. We live in such an information-laden society that our bodies are completely focused on the outside world.

We have therefore lost that wonderful bond that united us to ourselves and that allowed us to advance, in freedom and happiness, along the “wave” of life … We invite you to reflect on this.

Let everything flow, let nothing hold you prisoner

All of us, in one way or another, are prisoners of something or someone. We are afflicted by the words of that fatalistic colleague, it affects us what our partner expects of us, we worry about having to fulfill all the goals we have set ourselves by the end of the day …

We are so tied up by the tangle of other people’s influences and the demands we impose on ourselves, that we allow much of our life energy to vanish like smoke coming out of an open window. What’s more, interesting research carried out at Harvard University has shown that one of the most common sources of unhappiness lies in practicing what is known as “the wandering mind”.

Man spends most of his time worrying about things that have already happened, or worse yet, have yet to happen. This is also a form of “imprisonment”. According to the author of this study, Dr. Daniel T. Gilbert, a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. When the brain moves out of the present dimension, we lose the opportunity to experience happiness. We miss the opportunity to feel good about ourselves.

Instead of being trapped in an erratic mind conditioned by the din of the world, by the expectations of others, by yesterday’s mistakes and by tomorrow’s fears, it is time to “drop anchor” and let everything flow unconditionally.

Scroll for happiness to flow

According to what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi himself explains, happiness does not happen or arise like the light of the beacons that turn on to guide ships. Most of the time, it does not depend on external phenomena but on our own ability to create value for our life. It depends on the “magic” that resides in us, on the ability to turn on the light of our inner lighthouse.

The keys to learning to get carried away

In order for everything to flow and nothing conditions us, it is necessary, first of all, to bring about a profound change of one’s conscience. We have no control over much of what affects us, yet we can improve the way it happens. If, for example, a friend of ours is constantly late, we may not be able to change his behavior, but we will certainly be able to make it ourselves five minutes later.

• Many people plan and postpone happiness until the weekend, the holidays, until they get the promotion. Well, happiness should not be postponed nor can it be bought with a last minute offer in a travel agency.

• Well-being, in reality, hides behind the so-called “optimal experiences”. The wind that caresses our skin, the embrace of our child, the feeling you get when you start a new book, a date with friends … don’t plan your well-being, let yourself be carried away.

• It is equally important to take into account that the best moments in life are often not passive or relaxing. Often the very fact of facing adversity means “letting it flow”; it means deciding not to remain stranded like stones at the bottom of the sea, but to flow like the wave which, apparently weak, faces the dangerous currents and emerges victorious. That triumph, that goal, also brings us happiness.

The art of sliding has nothing to do with achieving higher and higher goals or constantly overcoming oneself. It is simply a matter of being present and advancing in a harmonious way with our conscience, in freedom and in all integrity, relying on that inner peace that allows us to live in the “here and now”.

Just for today, therefore, let everything flow without affecting you.