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Zoe Girl
4-4-11, 10:28am
I am following up with a thread I started in the work area. i have been 'pushing' for a certain career or income level for sooo long. I keep on trying and then I got close and the economy dumped. It also is that I have had really bad luck, or something pushing me in another direction.

This sparked a MUCh larger thought process about our society being an 'output' society and not enough of an 'input' society. Like we tend to pray, in school we are asked what we want to be when we grow up, we visualize our life and how we want it. All forms of 'output'. I don;t see a lot of input (although it may be growing) like meditation, finding your calling by going and working, and creating a life with the raw materials we have instead of inventing it.

I am working on this and trying to write a longer peice, but I work better if i think 'out loud' some times.

razz
4-4-11, 12:44pm
That thought governs everyone all one's life. I am still working on the input and personal growth and will forever as it is what keeps me grounded and sane. The world outside at times resembles a maelstrom and I am at peace.

domestic goddess
4-4-11, 12:46pm
If something keeps interfering with you getting where you think you want to be, then maybe you do need to stop and re-examine. Maybe this is not your "right livelihood", even if it seems to be. Maybe you will find your true satisfaction away from the job, in volunteer work or some other activity. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the difference between creating and inventing; they seem similar to me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you mean by "inventing" something that is more fantasy than something that can be rooted in this life? That is not a good expression of what I mean, but I hope you can see where I'm going. A life rooted in a fantasy is surely not going to be as satisfying as a life rooted in the here and now, which can cope with the inevitable up and down swings of fortune.
Whatever it is, keep trying! If something seems to be pushing you in another direction, you might let it, for a while at least, and see what it is really pushing you toward. I often feel called to some sort of nursing in another country, but I also recognize that my physical limitations would preclude such a thing. So I work on making my nursing here and now a mission. Once in a while, it all comes together, and it is magical. That keeps me going through the days when it is all pretty routine. Good luck to you!

chord_ata
4-4-11, 4:18pm
I'm not sure it is just our society that appears output focused. I think the output focus is for youth to quickly start doing something with their energy, while they slowly collect the experiences that give them support for starting to collect and use the inputs that they have learned to recognize.

mattj
4-4-11, 5:18pm
I've earned 90 cents since starting my blog 2 months ago. I got a royalty check for sales of previously self published books for $29 and change today. I'm clearly in the "phase" of artistic pursuits where most people give up. I am fortunate that I don't "need" the money... but it's the BEST money I've ever earned. I think the false push/flow dynamic with you is due to a mistake I make all the time. I don't factor myself into it... I assume any strong desire or "push" coming from me is not very flow. It is and can be flow if I just let it be and go with it. I am a part of all of "that" and when I want or need to assertively stand for something it can be as flow as anything. Oh, the key for me has been to fully embrace the desire and the zeal but to let go of the outcome (that might mean a JOB that covers the basics while pursuing that which the cells in your body tell you need to be pursued).

JaneV2.0
4-4-11, 5:25pm
In my (admittedly limited and personal) experience, when you have to work and work and agonize to achieve something, you're moving in the wrong direction--you're swimming against the current--not with the flow.

Also, it's not just input and output, but perhaps throughput that matters--if you believe in the collective unconscious.

nithig
4-4-11, 5:44pm
he he ... we think we are in charge, in control, that we can make this happen or that ...
what is we are perfect already and just need to learn to get out of our own way?
what if we are not separate and thus being integrated into the whole simply need to
allow the current to carry us? what might happen when enough of us awaken to the
real nature of contemporary materialism (want this, deserve that ....blah blah blah)
and start being what we already know ... that things don't bring happiness etc...
but no ... we hang on the the reeds on the river bank, effort-ing, trying so hard ...
eventually we get so tired we have to just let go .... and guess what?

Zoe Girl
4-4-11, 11:05pm
Yeah, I am trying to find the flow more, and hoping that my flow includes enough income as well. I have great flow for things that are not income based! It really works out well to do projects, know how much it will take, know when to change gears or quit, etc. There just still seems to be a block around earning money for myself.

This may be silly but actually I was an excellent partner/housewife/spouse type person. I did so much and managed our family well. I may just not be so great at earning which is okay.

rraupers
4-6-11, 1:23am
Yeah, I am trying to find the flow more, and hoping that my flow includes enough income as well. I have great flow for things that are not income based! It really works out well to do projects, know how much it will take, know when to change gears or quit, etc. There just still seems to be a block around earning money for myself.

This may be silly but actually I was an excellent partner/housewife/spouse type person. I did so much and managed our family well. I may just not be so great at earning which is okay.

Judgement is always the voice of the ego, and the ego is just a story, stories aren't real. In procuring satisfaction of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, cash flow falls within the realm of "acceptance", according to Eckhart Tolle the first step in aligning what one does with their divine purpose. This step is not of primary importance over the second step "enjoyment", nor the third and final step "enthusiasm" which is goal oriented such as an artist recording an album.

It behooves an individual to kill the ego whenever it is recognized so that the true self may arise. Paper money holds no water. The stage is set, the fraud envelopes all constructs. Invoking reason reveals that benchmarking your identity to flow and output in a thoroughly corrupt environment is less rational than withdrawing your participation from it. Simple living affords the best strategies to facilitate taking the rational path when surrounded by factions of chaos.

chord_ata
4-7-11, 4:23pm
I'm really not into killing things off. Judgement is an ongoing mental activity that seems unkillable anyway. It is useful for functioning in the society we live.

I find it more useful to recognize the limits of the usefulness of judgement and restrain myself from misusing it in places where it is unfit to be used.

Zoe Girl
4-9-11, 11:04am
So it really comes down to the middle way in many things. I know when I seriously looked into right speech I found that unlike many others I did not need to speak less, I needed to speak bravely more. The biggest regrets in my life are for NOT speaking up instead of speaking too much or harshly.

So I went along with the flow very much for many years and didn't push anything. Then my life changed and I was in a position to push more for our survival. I got into deciding what I wanted and going for it and making the hard choices. I had so many nights I just wanted to tuck my kids into bed and stay home without studying, maybe watch TV but I got up and kept working. That was the good kind of push. Then the teacher community just didn't invite me in. You can invite yourself only so long before you realize it isn't going to happen.

I think I am letting go of some of that big push however I still cannot go back to passive. I have many things I need to be assertive about, but holding too tightly onto the outcome tends to be bad. In my work situation I need to handle many things, I am confident I am in the right job at the right time but the reason seems to be so that I can make some chagnes and get things done. Not always feeling like a flow environment just because I am doing some new things that are uncomfortable.