| George Russell, M.A., D.C.
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FLOW - HUMAN
CURRENCY
We're in a moment of national
panic and contraction right now. Many people are
stunned, and many are frightened, and many are
bewildered, and what I'm seeing a lot is people being
contracted, pulled in, not in their
flow.
It's as if people are suspended
waiting to see what can happen next. And some
people are pulling inward, holding back, like people
that don't want to step on thin ice.
I don't understand the economy, and I am
beginning to suspect that nobody does. But one
thing I am observing is that the economy fails big time
when people stop letting money (a form of energy) flow
freely. A lack of confidence (or you could just
say "fear") makes people pull back, and it's not a lack
of money, but a lack of flow - socially and economically
- that makes the system fail.
From what I can observe, this is happening
on an individual human level too. People are
pulling back from their bodies, and I suspect that some
people have pulled back from really discussing what is
going on with them, and feeling it. The physical
equivalent of a lack of flowing currency (currency
means, after all, energy flow, as in a river) is a
shutdown of the circulation system which leads to
death.
We need to reverse that, even when
we are afraid, and there are ways to do this consciously
which are not hard, even for the perennially anxious or
the truly terrified.
1. Don't pull back
from relationships or friends. Stay in touch, go
out, do new things, talk, play, laugh and
dance.
2. Be willing to risk shame by
exposing your vulnerability. Let people know a
little more than you normally do where that is
appropriate. Don't just share that you are
anxious; let people know exactly what you are thinking
and feeling and what is going on even if it makes you
look bad or weak.
3. Change your routines
to invigorate your flow. Those of us that live in
New York know that when we travel an unusual route on
the subway or go to a different part of the city we
experience it anew, and that we often run into people we
haven't seen in a while, or see celebrities (oh
joy). They're all around us all the time, just
like pleasant possibility, but we miss it when we're in
our routine.
4. Be open to
possibility. Steven Levine, who teaches and writes
on death and dying, says (I paraphrase) "when we are
wholly present, unseen possibilities arise that increase
the breadth of action rather than narrowing it."
Avoid cultivating one-way scenarios that may not
occur.
5. Step forward in intimate
relationships. I recently had a conflict with a
friend in which I found myself stepping back because I
felt rejected and abandoned by her. When I turned
that around and stepped forward, toward her, with
open-hearted honesty, I felt pain, but the contracture
went away. I was back in flow. Often,
relationships go awry because each person steps back,
successively, until the parties are utterly contracted
and out of any kind of significant
touch.
6. Breathe. Circulation of air
comes even before circulation of blood in increasing
internal energy currency.
7. Ground
yourself. Our dynamic relationship with gravity is
a form of circulation - we push the earth away to move
and live, but the earth holds us down like a Velcro
mother at the same time, and when we consciously feel
this, we get better.
8. Remember, as the
12-step slogan says: "Things may not get better,
but I always can."
9. Give. Find
things to give to other people: objects, support,
opportunities, networking connections. Make dinner
for someone. Give them one of your farmer's market
apples. Help somebody you don't know without
warning and without needing thanks. Think of this
not as an act of generosity - although it is - but an
act of promoting circulation in our community
system.
10. Understand that you are part of
a bigger circulation, and that the current situation is
part of a larger series of transitions. Place
yourself in the stream - accept your situation.
Let's face it, baby, you're soaking in it, as Madge the
manicurist used to say on TV. Let your
understanding of that allow you to let go of the need to
personally control your life, and start managing things
by engaging your creativity in community with the
environment - natural, social and economic.
If this helped you,
please use the Forward E-Mail link below to send it to
others who you know need it. Think of it as
getting a current
going.
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Listen
to George's first podcast. It's easy.
Go to www.georgerusselldc.com and
you'll see the link on the homepage. Press play
and you'll hear
it!
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| Read
an interview
with George
written by Christopher Murray of Gay City
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