“Desire is summoning.  It’s always flowing through you. You have the opportunity of opening to the harmony of the vibration of your desire or not.  As the desires are being summoned through you, and you go with the flow, you thrive, but if you use things to be your excuse for not going with the flow, you are arguing for your limitations. We want to show you how to go with the flow.  Which means nothing more than finding vibrational harmony with your own desire, and letting the Universal Energy that your desire is summoning to it flow to it through you.  It is optimum creative experience.” – Abraham through Esther Hicks

 I’ve been focused on letting go of control, trusting, and going with the flow for the past couple of years now. As we began 2013, I let go of my usual list of goals for the year, and decided to focus on intentions instead. That seemed to work well, for the most part. Last year, when 2014 was about to begin, I further refined the process, mostly by realizing that I could be happy with my life just the way it is.

By going with the flow, I’ve been much happier and more open to creating a life I adore.

At the same time, I’m a Virgo and I love lists. I love organizing, planning, and scheduling my time. There have been some interesting changes in my relationship with my lists and plans as I work on letting go. I discovered ROW80, which is an ongoing writing challenge that encourages writers to be productive even in the midst of a busy life. It’s flexible, in that you set and adapt your own goals…but still, you have to have goals in order to participate.

Goals means lists of things to accomplish! Oh goodie! My Virgo side was delighted.

But I’ve had to be careful, because lists can become a driving force of their own. I start to feel like I’m “good” because I’m “doing stuff” and “making things happen.” Those check marks when you accomplish something on your list feel good, people. Really good.

The flip side, though, is when you don’t do the things on your list. It’s easy to forget that you’re the one who make the freaking list in the first place. Nope – you didn’t do all this stuff on it, so clearly you’re a loser. Talk about encouraging your limitations!

Then I remember about letting go. I relax, breathe, and start over. I let go of self-criticism and put down the list. I check in with how I feel. 

So, are lists and letting go just too different to be part of the same lifestyle?

No, I don’t think so. Lists are, after all, a tool. So are goals. They are ways to keep yourself focused on your most powerful intentions, your most cherished desires, the passions that light you up inside.

I’ve discovered ways to use lists and plans more as guidelines. I still keep lists, but I don’t take them as gospel. When I start to feel like I’m not accomplishing enough, I think about what I do enjoy about my life in this moment.  

It helps to make some adjustments to your lists: either cross things off the list entirely (the ones you didn’t really want to do anyway), forward them to another time (without guilt), or break them down into smaller tasks (which helps with avoiding overwhelm). Those “you may not want to but you must” items, like doing your taxes or going to the doctor, are still there, but you can temper them with fun things like working on your novel or taking a yoga class or playing a game with your kids.

Lists can be useful tools that help you remember to go with the flow. When lists and schedules are put into the appropriate context, they actually help make space for the creative chaos that enhances your life. They help you remember to focus on the flow, where the Divine connections get sparked and uplifting changes can transform you.