Manifestation and Flow

On Wednesday, I led a workshop on manifestation journaling at Radiance. We had a good turnout. The bulk of the workshop was spent making a manifestation collage for the New Year. Cutting and pasting images and words. Infusing them with intention as we glued them into place. The resulting pieces then gave us a visual on which to train our minds.

I like giving workshops because they allow me to study and practice the subjects that interest me in a way that gives my study purpose other than my own enjoyment. (In other words, I get to tell my husband that I am preparing to teach a workshop when, in fact, I am just reading about something that interests me.) Last month, my workshop was supposed to be about FLOW in journaling and in life. We didn't have enough participants to make that fly. I was hoping to do that workshop before the workshop on manifestation because I was going to concentrate on the phenomenon of flow (which I describe as a river of energy that moves us in the direction of our goals). When we align ourselves with the flow, we are able to accomplish things with more efficiency. In discussing flow, I was going to focus on impediments to the flow and how to move past them. You can see why I would want to address this before moving on to manifestation. Now, I will be giving this workshop in February. And yet, it is working according to plan. While we were collaging, someone recommended a book on flow that I had not read. Most of my research came from people who were looking at flow as a spiritual force, a universal energy reserve that individuals can tap into and activate as they simultaneously lose themselves in the collective.
The recommended book, one that I am half-way finished reading, is called Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It deals with flow as a psychological experience which imprints on the quality of life. I find it fascinating as I see the same phenomenon through a scientific lens. The book is anecdotal enough to keep it from being dry, but this is no self-help tome. Still, it offers insights on personality and the mechanics of the optimal experience (Dare I say---happiness?) that can be used to question ones own practices. It is interesting that the more I delve into creative journaling practices, the more I learn about psychology. Jungian interpretation of mandalas, for example. Mandalas were another subject that I first approached from the realms of the spiritual and of art. Art, writing, religion, science: It's all interconnected.