4 years working from home and my secrets to attaining flow
By: Rallim Hsimah
Tags: Lifehacks, Flow, Productivity, Healing, Working From Home

One of the biggest challenges you will face when working from home will be in your ability to maintain focused flow states. Working from home feels great at first, but having worked from home for the past four years, free from accountability and a plan, I understand at a deep level the deception and dangers of freedom.

Knowing these tools will only be as helpful to the degree you understand and correctly apply them over time. This is not a one size fits all and your ability to quickly adapt and hear your own intuition (without deception) will be of great necessity.

The following is a guide. If you follow any instruction within at the very time it is read, you will get far more out of it. Now let’s get started.

Attaining flow states

The first thing we can do is to put on a set of headphones and listen to a calm playlist. Music takes care of one of the five senses to create a state of near-instant relaxation. I share with you Liquid Bloom Radio (click here and play this now). I invite you to play this now as you read these words so you can experience this in effect now and start to quiet the chatter and constant habit to be elsewhere (a habit that distracts you from attaining flow). Listen to this now and claim control over your own focus. That time to claim control is ‘Now’ and trust the process.

Now that you have taken control over the constant need to be somewhere other than here right now, we can relax and understand we are learning to attain a flow state right now. So take a breath of fresh air and let the music take you to a relaxed state as I share my secrets to attaining flow. It is important you relax now so you can experience a flow state now. Practice happens in each moment. So take a breath and declare “I am relaxed now”.

Your mind has been so busy and worried about what’s been and what’s to come that you’re constantly trying to escape the present moment to get things done. Understand this now ends and trust and declare yourself present to be here in this moment free from future thought. You are only required to breathe (Focus), listen to the music, and read.

Morning routines could truly be one of the most important elements when it comes to productivity. It sets the tone for the day and ‘this day’ is likely to set the tone for the rest of the week and month. Key point “this day” right Now has a major impact on our trajectory. We are wired to seek the chemicals that deliver the greatest pleasure. The trap here is understanding that it is “I” who deceive myself best, so be mindful of justification and on the flip side, being too hard on one’s self. Remember this, the key to a good morning is

The time you go to bed Knowing what you will do when you awake.

Simple checklists are helpful and as useful as your ability to feel the right way forward. It’s easy to be busy to feel productive, but true productivity is not in busyness, but in right actions. When the mind becomes clouded with our desires, goals and drive, we can forget that we live in a community. What I mean by this, is that it is the quality of the relationships with people and the environment around us that have a great impact on our happiness and in turn, our ability to be in flow. As you strive, be mindful of the order of your life that brings the greatest and true joy.

We truly are what we consume. My own journey of health has been a great factor towards peace and flow. I share with you that I have journeyed to the realms of mental chaos, a true blessing. Had I kept control of my environment inside, I know as a matter of fact, that I did not have to journey as far as I did. Of high significance includes clean air, clean water (note difference in the words safe and healthy here), clean nutrition and intentional visual consumption.

As we consider how clean things are within our lives, it is important to note that IF there is toxicity within, this will delay our progress and to the degree of severity make flow states near impossible.

Clearing toxicity / major life hacks:

If you suffer addiction — seek inner child healing

Sweating to high levels / regular exercise

Purging toxic energy (can take form as crying, screaming, shaking, vomit, urination, expelling faeces and more)

Journaling thought without judgment or invalidation

Talking to a non-judgmental listener

This is key to note as toxicity is a major roadblock to flow and untreated, I believe can cause sickness. In fact, if there was a starting point to attaining flow / increasing productivity it would be here…

The simple action would be to take note after reading this article to yourself and jot down where toxicity may be coming from to raise your own awareness. You already know, just get it out and reflect it back to yourself.

Zen Buddhism teaches… empty your rice bowl (an analogy for us to empty our mind). In doing so we once again attain “the beginner’s mind” which allows high states of learning and insight to flow.

As we move from the inner world to the outer world, learning and understanding Feng Shui (even at a basic level) has been an incredibly helpful factor towards clear and productive states of mind. I have cultivated a habit of quickly and imperfectly maintaining a clean environment. The impact on my state of mind is subtle and profound. Marie Diamond Feng Shui Master teaches… think of your room as a 3D vision board.

It is actually quite simple. If I had to summarise the above it would be “clean”. It’s in the practice where we learn the layers of what’s next. Maintenance is key. It’s time to stop beating up on ourselves. That is past.

It all leads to this…

It’s not about your past. It’s about Now and what’s next. That first step. That small action you can take right ‘Now’. And now you are here now, if I can leave you with one small action you can take right Now … it’s to say “Thank You”, thank you for giving me this moment to live life and appreciate the beauty and wonder here right now and to come. “Thank You” to my creators for giving me My Life and Time. Time to change, time to heal, time to explore, time to enjoy, time to appreciate, Thank You for this Time right here, right Now. And as we bring an awareness to within ourselves Now I say “Thank You”.

Enjoy the flow and remember you’re always in one.