Flow

One of my more interesting writing projects was to create the content for deschutespassage.com for Portland General Electric and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The site was designed to inform the public about the efforts to restore fish passage on the Deschutes River.

When the original dams were built on the Deschutes River in the 1960’s, they were designed to allow migrating fish to pass through. But what wasn’t well understood at the time was the three rivers feeding in to Lake Billy Chinook were very different in temperature. When the warm and cold waters met, it created a disturbance in the current, resulting in swirling eddies rather than a strong flow. Without a strong current, the fish simply couldn’t find the exit. The current project involves building an underwater tower to properly mix the warm and cold water, creating a strong current that guides the fish to exit.

It’s a perfect metaphor for my life these past months. I’ve been running around, putting out fires, meeting urgent needs and just trying to keep up with outside demands. My energy has been scattered, “swirling eddies,” with no focus or purpose other than to just get through it all.

But when I started focusing my attention on “extraordinary collaboration,” it was as if a huge wind swept through my life, clearing away everything that didn’t belong there.

Yesterday I finished the last project. This morning I could just feel all the parts of my life start to line up and point in the same direction. I can feel the energy, the spirit, the life force of the universe flowing through me again. This time I can actually see the resources of the universe heading my way.

Funny—while I was thrashing about, I kept trying to “make things happen.” But when I stopped and simply allowed myself to line up with the flow of energy, things started falling into place. I even got a new contract today. Amazing!

Intention

I’ve long been familiar with the idea that if you state what you want clearly enough, it will manifest in your life. I think the part that always tripped me up was the “what I want” piece. It always sounded so egotistical, so self-centered. I also knew that my own vision was limited—“what I want” didn’t seem adequate to address the needs I saw around me.

Yesterday I picked up Wayne Dyer’s book “Manifest Your Destiny” and I’m gaining new insights.

If you were to zoom in on an object and see it with a powerful microscope, you’d see the molecular structure of the object. Zoom in further and you see the atoms themselves. Zoom in again and you see the parts of the atom – proton, neutron, electron. Zoom in further and what you see is pure energy. Everything around us, at its fundamental level, is pure energy. We are all made up of the same stuff. We—all of creation—are literally one.

I’ve read this from so many sources over the years, but somehow this time it stuck. All I need to do to create something in my life is to manifest a part of me that has been hidden.

As I sat under a tree this morning, I realized that stating my intention is an essential part of the process. Yes, my vision is limited. Yes, I don’t always know exactly what I want or even what is good for me. But this is a collaboration with my soul. When I state my intention as clearly as I see it now—and stay open to being guided—my soul leads me on the way.

But if I just sit there and say “I dunno,” nothing happens. My soul can’t guide me. A ship that is dead in the water can’t be steered.

So I make a beginning. I state what I want to achieve as clearly as I can. I listen for guidance and I act as if it had all been accomplished. In the process I gain more insight, see more clearly, glimpse a broader vision. Then when I sit down under my tree tomorrow, I have a more defined intention. I can state it more clearly. And the cycle begins again.

Discourse

Listening to the national conversation, it is clear that we are in desperate need of a better way of interacting with one another. We’ve become so polarized that we talk right past each other.
Indeed, what is the nature of discourse, of dialogue?

• Listening – When I listen for the truth in what the other person is saying, I am humbled. Not one of us knows everything. And no one is completely devoid of truth. We each have a piece of the picture. When we listen, really listen, we discover those gems of truth in each other and in ourselves. It is that open-minded search for truth that allows us to see what is right in front of us.
• Courage – Very often, the truth is not comfortable. It requires me to look at myself, to examine my motives and face my own prejudices. This is not easy work. But it is essential. We cannot make progress if we cling to our old preconceptions.
• Compassion – It is so easy for me to become impatient with others’ blindness. I want to pick people up and shake them so they see. But then I realize that I, too, am blind. And in danger of hardening my heart. So I step over to where they are standing and look at the world from their point of view. Amazingly enough, their argument makes sense from that vantage point. And then when I look beyond the current conversation to the experiences that built us, I realize how much we have to overcome. I take a deep breath and seek a way to bridge the gap. 
• Time – It takes time to listen and to think. It’s not easy to examine my own views and honestly seek to understand the views of others. Yet we live in a world that is speeding up—everything must be done NOW. It takes fortitude to resist that pull to rush things. Building understanding is essential to our progress on this planet. And the stakes are getting higher. We may yet discover that our very lives depend on our ability to slow down and really look at what is.
• Letting go – Sometimes, for whatever reason, it’s just not possible to bridge the divide between people. Or maybe it’s not the right time. Whatever it is, I’m learning there’s a point at which I must simply let go. Perhaps the right opportunity will come later, but for now it is time to wish the person well and move on.

We have so much potential, we human beings. And our current trials provide us with an amazing opportunity. It’s up to us how we respond. Do we continue to argue? Or do we seek to understand and start building together?