Flow is the quality of ease that can be integrated into a life to give it the look and feel of almost effortless achievement. It's not as elusive as it may seem. We all know people who go through life attracting opportunity after opportunity; or those who have a knack for being at the right place at the right time to connect with the right people.

These people seem unusually lucky; life seems to favor them but in reality they have turned synchronicity and attraction into a habit where most people experience them in random fashion. Our culture has been programmed to link struggle with valor and so the tendency is to unconsciously choose struggle over ease.

This struggle mentality validates the assumptions that life is hard and you have to work hard to get make ends meet or to get ahead. It places the under-achiever in declivity while setting the high performance achiever up for burnout. This struggle mentality is a sickness that is perpetuated by both the unsuccessful and the successful. There is a high price attached to success that is adrenaline-based; there is this unending pressure to go faster, work harder, jump higher, sleep less, and do more. This model of success is very unattractive, very expensive, and is simply a more glamorous form of failure.

The high performance achiever may be relentless at first, but eventually as the burn intensifies, they begin to ask themselves, "Is this all there is?" There is a better way that leads to success that can be achieved and sustained without amputating other important aspects of yourself and your life.

Steven Lane Taylor, author of the book Row, Row, Row Your Boat; A Guide for Living Life in the Divine Flow", suggests that we can intentionally tap into the flow of life's benevolent energy. When we do, we begin to move gently toward our goals instead of racing past them like an Olympic runner being chased by a herd of frightened elephants. The high performance achiever is often the one who is most at risk in becoming trapped in the work harder, faster, longer paradigm.

In Steven's book, he uses the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to provide a simple model for unlocking the mystery of flow.

Robin Harris

Robin Harris is a Certified Natural Abilities Consultant, a Certified Coach, a published author, a keynote speaker, an instructional designer, and a technology buff. She spent 20 years as a consultant in the IT industry. Robin has her Masters of Education in Instructional Technology with an emphasis in Performance Improvement and Training and is currently working on her Doctorate degree in Learning Management. Robin has used her coaching and instructional design skills to customize coaching and training programs for companies such as IBM, Headstart, and Creative Learning Systems.

Robin's passion for useful knowledge and the process of learning to unlearn and live by design has inspired her lifelong journey into spirituality, wisdom, and knowledge.