From Resistance to Flow
Exploring the space between stillness and movement.
October brought cool winds, falling leaves and a return to stillness - the kind of deep grounding that Skye always offers me. There’s something about Skye and the land that invites a different kind of perspective. The transition back into daily life is never seamless. It’s as though I am resisting the very flow that life requires, even though I know it’s this very flow that fuels the work I do.
Resistance and flow
Landing back in life after a grounding week on Skye always brings a kind of internal resistance, a reluctance to let go of the stillness, a desire to stay longer, a ‘not yet ready-ness’. This resistance, this reluctance to let go of stillness follows me into my work too. Whether it's the transitions between rest and action, or from stillness into doing, the resistance is there. It’s funny how the forces that move us forward are so often complex, even when we know they are necessary.
I don’t usually call myself a procrastinator but there’s a big writing task sitting on my ‘to-do’ list, niggling away at me and yet, I’m not getting on with it. I’m not even getting started. I’m standing at the edge, not yet ready or willing to take action.
In these moments, 'toothbrush time' offers permission as well as an invitation to pause without pressure. Toothbrush time, as Anna Campbell-Jones described in our recent conversation, refers to those quiet moments when your mind wanders freely over a task. You're thinking about it, but not obsessively - allowing your thoughts and insights to bubble up naturally. It’s a space where the pressure to ‘get it done’ fades, if only for a while. I find it’s a way of enabling stillness and movement to co-exist.
When was the last time you allowed yourself to fully pause, trusting that the insights will come in their own time?"
As Anna reflects, this is also about knowing yourself and trusting in that knowledge. I know that I can’t just sit down and turn things out. I need time, consideration and depth of thinking. I know that if I give myself that space, I will find the process of bringing it to life (i.e writing it) easier to move into and sustain.
What are you working on at the moment that might benefit from some ‘toothbrush time’?
There are lots of connections here with last month’s article on stillness and silence, often thought of as the absence of something they are truly a resource. Sharpening perspective, generating vision, illuminating connections and enabling perseverance and resilience. The key to pretty much everything as Nancy Kline so beautifully puts it:
The quality of every human action, every human action, is underpinned by the quality of your thinking.
~ Nancy Kline, Time to Think
Moving from resistance to flow starts with honesty with yourself. It requires you to assess what’s truly needed and to recognise that both stillness and movement (action) have their place. The key is finding the relationship between them to nourish and sustain us.
So, where in your life do you need to embrace stillness? What moments of pause might fuel your next creative breakthrough? And where do you need to move to action? Honour those spaces, trust them, and let them guide you from resistance to flow.
Creating Movements ~ The Thread
As we close Season 1 of The Thread the doors are open for you to join us for Season 2, or indeed, the remainder of the year. Hosting The Thread gatherings and workshops has quickly become one of my favourite things to do. The space is soothing, the conversations refreshing and the connections nourishing. And best of all, there is space for you to join us.
Season 2 begins on 4th December. Click the button below to find out more or here to secure your place. And if you have any questions at all or are wondering if it’s for you, please email me and we can chat!
The Thread is a thoughtfully curated series of online monthly gatherings and seasonal workshops for educators - Karen and I know the pressure and constant demands on you. The Thread is a regular punctuation where you can pause, connect, and think, leaving you feeling nourished and enriched both personally and professionally.
When you join The Thread you will be making the time and space to nurture the things that matter to you, in a way that keeps you moving forward in amongst the busyness, the demands and the challenges.
We’d love to have you join us!
October Podcast Highlights:
In case you missed them, this month I chatted with Dr Lucy Kelly and Anna Campbell-Jones. Lucy’s insights on perfectionism show us that there’s more than one way to think about perfectionism and Anna’s reflections on weaving creativity and freedom into life are insightful and relatable. Both conversations reminded me that life is about movement, both with, against or in spite of the forces and energies we encounter.
Perfectionism with Dr Lucy Kelly
Ebb and Flow with Anna Campbell-Jones
As I’ve explored in recent articles and conversations, stillness is not just an indulgent pause - it’s the fuel that drives clarity, resilience, and creative action. When we honour stillness, we create space for new ideas to emerge and for our work to move from resistance to flow. Let’s embrace those moments of pause, trusting that they are not an avoidance of action, but a part of the process itself.
Guiding you through the wood, the trees and the spaces in between. Join me each month as I dive into a theme inspired by my work and the conversations I have.