E186: Flow Over Force

There is magic in action… AND there is magic in in-action. It’s not about forcing ourselves through different energetic phases of our journey, but rather flowing through them…

[00:29] Hello there! Welcome back to the Women’s Empowerment Podcast. I am your host and Healthy Habit Mentor Valerie LaVigne.

If you’re new to the show, welcome! If you’ve been here with me for a while, thank you so much for joining me on this incredible journey of empowering women in their health, wealth, and happiness to live deeply meaningful lives.

And if you didn’t already know this, I have an intention for each episode in this podcast and this intention is to leave you feeling inspired to TAKE ACTION!

As a Healthy Habit Mentor I understand the importance of being in action and repetition to build better habits, routines, and rituals. It’s not about doing the habit one time, it’s about consistency and commitment, over and over again.

Very recently though I found myself in a stuck spot. I have been feeling creatively blocked, uninspired, unmotivated. I have been lacking excitement – and even when there is something I do feel excited about, the feelings are fleeting.

[01:36] This lack of creativity was coupled with feelings of doubt, shame, and discomfort. It is very unusual and uncomfortable for me to feel this way. Many people know me to be creative! And energetically I have just wanted to do “nothing.”

My first thought was, “what can I do to shake up this stale energy?”

I tried moving my body at the gym, pilates, going for walks in nature, jumping around, dancing in the kitchen. All of those things were so fun and so great – but didn’t make me feel creative.

I tried connecting to the colour orange. The colour of our creative sacral energy centre. I ate orange foods, wore orange clothes, wrote with an orange pen… still not feeling super creative.

I tried writing, reading, pulling tarot and oracle cards, journal prompts, personality quizzes, flipping through magazines and after ALL THAT, still feeling pretty BLAH.

Hence the shame, the doubt, and this discomfort.

If you receive and read my weekly emails, you would have read a little bit about this last week when I sent an email about feeling BLAH and how I hesitated to send it. I have type A tendencies and strong masculin energy, and those parts of me really wanted to push through this stuck spot.

But, as all of us do, I also have a feminine side to my energy. This side whispers “slow down, surrender, be present, be still.”

This was met with resistance. But in my email last week I shared that I was lying on the floor of my office, staring up at the beautiful big leaves of my Bird of Paradise plant. I’ve had this plant for several months and it is growing so big! As I was staring at the leaves I was really in touch with the lesson of allowing, of being. This plant was teaching me in the moment to exist without force and without action.

I wrote in my email that I still believe there is magic in action. There truly is so much growth and abundance and lessons through taking action.

And at this phase of my journey, I am learning how there is magic in in-action too. There is beauty in being.

After vulnerably hitting send on the email last week, I also felt a sense of relief from sharing an honest truth. I decide to let go for the rest of the day and surrender my need to take action and just allow myself to open up and to receive.

Later that afternoon I had a call with my business coach and she led me through a meditation. In the meditation she asked me what shape I was. In my mind I saw a circle. It was the outline of the circle and it was a very thin line. I saw the circle as one continuous line, to me, a sign of limitlessness. Then this circle started to bend, it birthed a second identical circle.

The two circles represented masculine and feminine. They connected to each other and shapeshifted again creating an infinity sign. I saw energy moving through this infinity sign, as if I was watching a birds-eye-view of a race car moving around a track – a never-ending flow. Like electricity in a current.

[05:21] The shape represented me, and I could see that my energy was currently moving through the feminine side. I am in the receiving phase vs the giving phase. I am being rather than doing.

It was a beautiful visual and I believe that because I let go of force, and chose to FLOW I was able to receive this creative download; this beautiful shapeshifting circle.

After my coaching call I taught pilates classes – this feels more like a doing/giving mode, however I really enjoy being around my community and it also is being/receiving. The last class I teach is a Candlelit Slow Stretch and I brought an oracle card deck and pulled a card for each person in the class – including myself.

Guess what card I pulled!? “YIN” and let me read to you what the write-up says because I totally freaked out!

The essential meaning: the feminine principle of receptivity; letting someone else make the first move; gathering information and taking in cues; the art of conscious allowing.

The oracle’s message; this is a time of calculated receptivity as you gracefully await what is coming to you, ready to accept it when it appears. Yin does not involve frozen dreams or even resting, but rather consciously allowing things to flow to you, poised to receive the bounty that will be made available to you. It implies sensitivity as you alertly study the actions of others and contemplate how they will affect you and yours. Remember you must make space for miracles to appear. Be the “shape” not the “shaper” and you’ll see how quickly your dreams manifest.

Are you hearing this!? First of all the YIN/feminine energy. Yin IS receiving and it is the balance from yang which is doing. I moved from forcing to consciously allowing flow, and then it says “be the shape, not the shaper” LIKE HOW CRAZY IS THAT!? I am totally still freaking out about this.

WISDOM OF THE ORACLE CARDS

[08:29] Which is actually a great sign that I’m excited about something again and it isn’t a fleeting feeling.

Also, on the way home from work I received a call from my friend Tasha who was moved by my email and was frustrated for me – not because I was in a state of flow – but because she was like “Why is it that, women especially, are made to feel guilty because we’re not constantly busy or doing things?”

Which is a great question considering the feminine energy of yin is receiving. I recognize that feminine doesn’t only pertain to women, however innately we are born with both yin and yang energies and there is often a stronger connection to our feminine side as women.

All this to say, my intention for today’s episode is to share this personal story with you so that whether you are currently in a masculine or feminine flow, there is no guilt of being or doing; giving or receiving.

[09:50] You can be in a creative flow of action, and you can also be in a creative flow of receiving. I am in the latter.

This week I will be:

Tapping into my intuition more including which tasks I take on, how I teach my classes, and what foods I want to eat and when
Staying open to receiving invitations, compliments, gifts, aligned opportunities
Supporting quality sleep to recharge and receive dream messages
Allowing white space in my calendar for surprises, invitations, and miracles

My invitation to you is to ask yourself:

How am I feeling?
Do I feel in flow or in force?
What can I do, or not do, to be in flow?
What does being open to receive mean for me?

My mantra this week, if you also want to use it is: I am Open and Ready to Receive Aligned Gifts and Opportunities

Before you go: If you’re not already on the email list, download one of my freebies like the Habit Tracker Guide or the Dreamlife Road Map

I send out an email every Wednesday with some life updates, podcast extras, and some fun links/workshops/and sometimes videos I’ve stumbled upon and think you’d like too.

Have a wonderful week, and I’ll meet you here next week!

Podcast Host

Valerie LaVigne

Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!