#601: Tradewinds: Sensing Direction and Change

Direction change. The wind blowing us from one direction in our life to another. And when things change, you can always smell it. You can sense it. It's like that first whiff of wood smoke in the autumn and you say, fall is here. It's that one bright, glorious day in spring when the sun is shining and the butterflies are out and you say spring. It's. You know, it. Well, this happens elsewhere in our lives, too. In fact, it happens all through our lives, and it happens all through our culture, all through our technology, through our relationships, through everything. A constant state of change and evolution. And I had a real nice insight into this recently when I went to a conference where. Well, you know what? Let's just wait and let's just dig in to episode number 601. Tradewinds. Sensing change and direction. Slow Dreaming. It's a show where we talk about the power of your mind to change your world around you, to literally affect the fabric of your reality. We talk about this feeling of hope and joy and relief, and that is what being aware of your flow does. It gives you a feeling of power again in your lives. Breathe. I'm Summer McStravik, and welcome to another episode of Flow Dreaming. Oh, the times, they are changing. Yeah, I. That sounded terribly out of tune, but nonetheless, you know, the thoughts there, that's. That's what we're talking about today. When things are in flux, when they're on the move, when you are caught and swept in this flux and in this move. And I was even thinking to myself, gosh, I'm doing another show about change. I feel like that's all I've been doing for the last couple of years. But on the other hand, change is kind of my life, right? Change is what flow is. Being able to ride the changes flow through them is really what navigating life is all about. Whenever life seems like it's in a fixed position, it's really just hanging out there for a while. But it's still moving. It's still moving. So we're gonna dig back in one more time to this idea of what is change? Who are you in change and transition? How do you handle it? How do you want to handle it? How can you flow through it? So I led with an insight that I had recently. So, you know, I go to a lot of masterminds and, you know, thought leader groups where I hobnob and hang out and chit chat and basically get to know other people who are doing similar things to. And many of them are real bigwigs and Just I look up to them and I think, wow, how did you ever do that? And for the last couple of years I've been coming to some of these conferences and I've been saying, you know, I just feel like things are changing. I just, I feel like there's something going on out there. You know, the whole personal growth industry, especially coaching in particular, which is a category that I kind of fell into by accident because I started as a teacher, I started as a mentor, teaching people how to flow, getting them to change their lives, eventually developing ME school, which is a program that helps people learn how to integrate flow philosophy, how to become manifestational, co creational. But more than that, it's really evolved into a place where we explore your deepest inner power and you discover, hey, this is what I can do. Wow. And if I can do it, why shouldn't I be doing it? Well, let's get going. And then you harness everything at your fingertips in your life to make your vision into reality. You know, we are the ultimate school of makers. We make things and we do that through our immense inner selves, inner power. Well, anyway, I digress. So I'm at these conferences and I'm starting to say, you know, I feel like people are maybe getting a little bored of this whole coaching thing or maybe there's just too much choice. And there's a lot more coaches out there. You know, they started out with hundreds, thousands, and now there's probably 10,000 or more. A lot of people have moved into the economy of information because that's where thought leaders practice, right? They try to get out there on the edge of information, of personal growth and development. Kind of like a tech company tries to get out there on the edge of tech development. At least some of them, not all of them. Some of them are just there to make another good game to play on your phone, right? They're not really innovating, they're just kind of making what's working better. Well, some are actually pushing the boundaries and thought leaders, good thought leaders often push those boundaries. So here we are, and I'm raising my hand in these conferences, feeling like a sniveling little snit, saying, hey, I feel like things are changing. You know, I'm talking to people and they're like, well, I don't know if I can commit and I don't know when that shiny little thing is over there and maybe I should do this business, maybe I should do that. And I'm thinking to myself, I don't think it's just me I'm feeling like all of personal growth has gone through an enormous sea change. And damn it, why isn't anyone but me talking about it? And this is back. This is in 2017. We're talking 2017. It's like I put my finger up in the wind and I felt the direction. And looking back, it kind of makes sense. I've trained myself over my life to read the direction of things, to read the flow. Of course, I would be sensing it and picking it up yet, because like I said, I still embody a certain amount of, oh, I don't know. Optimistically, I'd call it humility. Unoptimistically, I'd call it insecurity. But either way, I have all of these thought leaders, people who lead way bigger tribes than me, saying, oh, no, no, no, that's just you. And so I went into confusion and I thought, I know something and I feel something, and I hope you guys don't mind, I'm being kind of open about this. Vulnerable is the word du jour. But it's true. I'm feeling like I know this thing and yet everyone else is saying, oh, no, no, no, that's not really happening. That's no, no, no. And a part of me says, yes, it is. Yes, it is. I can feel it. So for a while I thought, it's just me. People are tired of flow, dreaming or me school that or whatever. And then I said, no, no, no, it's. It's. It's not. It's. It's not. My value has remained the same. In fact, I think it's even grown. Because me school today is an even more powerful program than it was five years ago when it began, or the pre me school programs that I was offering and teaching people through back, you know, in 2007 and 8 and 9 and 10. And so getting back to this peculiar problem, I know something. Everyone around me is telling me I'm crazy. It must just be me. I'm betting you have experienced this. I am also betting that I am not the only one who has gone through this. Where you have looked at something in your life, maybe it was a relationship and you just knew it's changed. It's just different now. Maybe it was at your workplace this something happened. It's not the same. I can feel it. Maybe you are tapped into the economy and the world and politics and you say, this has shifted and this is where it's going now. Where do you tap in? Where do you put your finger down on change and say, I can Feel it, and I know it, even if nobody else can. Further, can you trust yourself to know this? Can you really trust yourself to know this? That is what really makes me excited and curious. And I know I'm kind of weird, but that's what it does. So let's fast forward. I'm at my conferences this year, right? I've already been through several of my masterminds, and, oh, my God, my jaw is hitting the floor. I am seeing thought leader after thought leader, you know, guru after guru, standing there saying, things have changed. Guess what? Things. Things have changed. And personal development is going through a massive shift. A shift in how it offers things to people. A shift in what it's offering to people. The information economy is alive, folks. It's alive and it's growing and it's changing, and it moves from a toddler to a child, from a child to an adolescent. An adolescent. It's always in flux and it's always moving. And I see all of these business leaders clutching onto a version or a phase that made them feel big or profitable or grand and refusing to acknowledge your baby's growing up and it's changing and trying to tell other people that it's not. Well, I'm going to lead the contrarian movement, which I have done many times actually in my life. Well, I'm gonna do it again and just putting it out there. Coaching has changed. And if you are entering the information economy right now, your biggest task is not to figure out what your message is or who your audience is. It's to figure out what's going on out there. So when I do give my audience my mess, when I do ask people, come look where I'm looking, which has been my mantra for 15 years. Just look where I'm looking. It's really fascinating over here. And if you come with me, I'm gonna point out all the cool stuff I see and figure out along the way. So your number one job, if you're entering the information economy. And by the way, the information economy that I'm talking about, that's starting to fascinate me more and more. And by the way, you've heard me shifting as well. Obviously, I've been shifting this show. I've been doing a lot of kind of tempting and teasing and talking about this new book and all these new things that I'm doing. The information economy is this idea that each one of us is a walking repository of wisdom, not just about personal growth. You are a walking repository of wisdom about that thing, those things, whatever it is you've done in your life that you've either mastered or you're on your way to mastering. You've really chipped away pretty far at it. You hold this inside of you and you become like a map, right? You become a compass, you become a navigational guide. And then you, with this information, let's say you're a realtor and you've sold a ton of houses. You're now a repository of that particular wisdom. You can choose to do so many things with it. You can just sell more houses, right? You can teach other realtors, you can pass this information along to new realtors coming in. You see, what technology has done is it's opened up so much for us now, so many ways to get across what we know that were not there for us 10 years ago. Used to be you had to rent out a room at your local hotel and fill up a room of people and teach those people. And that was your seminar. You know, come to my seminar and I'll come to my class. You had to walk there. I remember doing this. I'd show up at the local, you know, spiritualist church and listen. And then you could write a book. But books were hard to get printed, right? There was no print on demand. You had to have a publisher look at you. And even before a publisher, you had to have an agent look at you and say, yes, your ideas, your ideas. Your information repository is worthwhile and we agree to share it with the world. Look, all of those barriers are gone. They're gone now. You can publish your own book, you can start your own podcast. I mean, I have a whole network now of people running their own podcasts. You can go direct to everyone around you by starting a blog, right? Just putting it up there. Information is easy now to get to the people that you want to get it to. All the barriers have fallen and what's happening is everyone is trying to figure out, what information do I have? Do I keep doing the thing I'm good at, or do I shift and now teach other people how to do the thing I'm good at? Like, that's the fundamental twist that's happening right now. Because it's so easy to now give and share, easier than it has ever been. But because of that, the once small group of people who were able to give and share, right? The authors and the people on TV and the big time radio hosts right there, the playing field is much, much broader and more diverse and much more niche. Much more niche. I can go listen to a podcast right now. On probably how to knit dog sweaters. I mean, I bet you there's one that exists that niche because someone out there has a repository of wisdom on this and now they can give it. So what has this done? It is transformed the way that all of us in my field, personal growth, are able to reach and grow our audiences. It is causing a shift and a sea change. It is causing a lot of people who are in the I'm going to do air quotes coaching, which really encompasses a lot of teaching, authors, inventors of processes, all of us, to figure out how do I do this in such a way that sustains me, that continues to grow, the message that I can build a career on when there's not just 100 people in my city doing this, but there's a thousand. Now this is the same thing that's happened to every other industry pretty much ever. Whenever technology cracks something open so that everyone and anyone can do it, it moves from something that used to be a minority led. And by minority, I mean a small group, a select group, to a majority led, meaning everyone can do this kind of thing. Once that change bubbles through, things are in a different position, they're gonna be in a different place. But that's what's happening now, and I know it. And this is leading us all back to the whole premise, the whole direction of this show, which is when you're in a state of change in transition and you know it, and everyone else tells you, ha ha, bah humbug. No, I think you're wrong. What are you talking about? One, how do you stay strong in your own self and in your knowing? And two, how do you weather it? How do you allow something to grow? How do you allow the cocoon to get violently ripped open, torn open, eaten open so that butterfly can come out? Because that's what's happening. And maybe this is happening in your field too. Or maybe it's happening in a much smaller, more personal, intimate way, like in your relationship. It's been this way, this way, this way, this way, this way. And now things have changed and shifted. What forces have come to bear on your particular niche, your world, your relationship, your life that have opened up many more opportunities and forced a shift. What are those? And how are you feeling about it? Looking at it, sensing it? So the gist of today is this. There are two ways to go into change. That's it. Everything else is just a variation between these two ways. You either embrace it and you say, I'm all in. This is going to be fun. I Allow it. I am curious where it's going. I feel good in this change. I feel good in my position, what I'm doing, what I'm giving, how I'm encountering and being inside of this relationship, business, body, whatever it may be. Or you say, no, I resist this. This is going to be bad for me. This is making me shrink. This is painful. I don't like it. It's hurting me. It's hurting my income. It's hurting my stability. It's hurting my heart. No, I'm going to make it be different. I'm going to make it be how it was. Those are the two extremes. So those of you who are longtime flow dreamers know I'm positioning this in a very kind of general way. But what we're talking about is another variation of lack thinking. The lack thinker says, it was good and it's going to stay that way. And that's where I like it. And that's what was working for me. No, thank you. No change. Resist. The person is not inside of lack thinking is saying, this is natural. This is normal. This is right. I will be supported as I ride through this. I will be supported as I change and grow and transition. With this, I'm riding the waves of freedom. I'm riding the waves of ease. I'm riding the trend which is saying, change yourself up, level yourself, reinvent yourself. Something new is here. Do you want to be the first one in, or do you want to be the last one in because you were in resistance and lack? So I like to be the first one in. But I tell you to be the first one in, first thing you have to do is stop listening to all the other people, please. Except for me. Listen to me. Right. Personal interest there. Oh, no, I'm kidding. I actually think this is. This is quite valuable because it's a observation that I have seen and been through many, many, many, many, many, many times. And what I'm pointing out to you with my own latest story is how once again, I actually kind of got snagged. And I got snagged because I fell into the trap of listening to people that I feel are bigger than me, that must be knowing it better than me. But I'm saying you listen to you. You listen to you. And even if you're looking at me and listening to me and thinking, well, Summer knows what she's talking about, please, I want you to listen to you. Because that is where your wisdom is. Your experience ripples out from you. It moves into your future. It moves into your surroundings. It's everything. It's everywhere. It's your connection to the world. It's your interface with the world. And if you start getting little sound, little notes, little hunches, little feelings going on, that says it's changed, it's different, you listen, because nobody knows it better than you. So now that you've committed to saying, all right, I'm gonna listen, how do I embrace that? What do I do? How do I stay in that space of I can't wait. This is great. This is good for me. Show me where I'm going. Put me on the leading edge of where we're heading. I wanna sit in the front of the roller coaster, not last. And I'm willing to wait for those extra two people to get on before me. Well, first thing, of course, I recommend is please, please, please get restored, aligned and in control meditation playlist. It's@flowdreaming.com. i remember building this playlist. Oh, man, it's been a while. It's one of my older ones, I believe. Probably five, six, seven, eight years. I don't know how. I don't remember when I recorded it, but I do know I recorded it a time closer to a decade ago where I was also feeling this way. And I remember at that point I said, I either go into this and embrace it or I pull back and I resist it. And frankly, embracing is so much easier. It takes so much less of my life force and energy, and it puts me on the cusp. Restored, aligned, and in control. It's a meditation playlist. And the reason that I made it a meditation instead of an active flow dream. And for those of you who remember, a flow dream is a very active emotional experience. We are sculpting and changing our own inner energy, our emotional selves, and the flow of life around us with this. So when we go into a meditation instead, it's different. The activity, the oomph behind it, the emotional push is not there. In a meditation, it's all about receiving, allowing, and opening. And that's exactly what you have to do in change. And that's why I made these be a series of meditation flow dreams instead of active flow dreams. When you're in a state of active allowing and receiving, what you're doing is you're saying, I'm in a place where I'm aligned, I'm restored, I'm flowing, and I'm comfortable. Whatever's coming, I'm excited for whatever's changing, I am in with it. Wherever things are going, I'm Going there on the vanguard, in the front row, I'll be the first to arrive. Wherever things are going, it's going to be positive for me. And I feel that starting right now, this is the transition that I'm looking for and I want. Because life is filled with transitions like these. And if I don't learn to master transition, then I'm gonna get whacked with them over and over again. And by golly, I wanna master these. Because once I do, I can flow through any transitions, any changes, Changes in the world, changes in the marketplace, changes in the weather, changes in my relationships, changes in my money, changes in my work, changes in my body. Changes, changes, changes, changes. I really want to grow my mastery over this. Can you guys see when I position it like that, just how big this actually is? I mean, this is a whopper. It's one of those overlooked whoppers, though, because it's not really sexy. It's like, yeah, God, I hate change and I don't want to master it. And you're telling me that when things are shifting and I'm going to lose this or that and I have to figure it out. No, no, no, no, no. I'm telling you, whenever something changes and you lose something, a door opens to gain something. It really just depends on which direction you're looking in. And as you master this, you're looking at, I'm going to gain this and this and this. I already feel your next question, but what if I don't know where the gains are? Summer? I only know where the stuff was that I was already doing or already succeeding at. Right, because you've already been there, so you know that stuff. And yeah, we don't know where those gains are necessarily because we haven't been there yet. So you can't say it's exactly over here. If everyone could do that, well, gosh, it would lead to a very different kind of world, wouldn't it? If everybody knew exactly where the next thing is. But they don't. Everybody's conjecturing and pondering, you know, what a really cool job is. Futurist. There are actually people who call themselves futurists. And their job. Well, for many of them, it's a side gig. There's very few that have the job. Futurist. But that's what they do. They think all day long, where are things going? Where are they leading? What will this trend lead to? What will this technology evolve into? Where will this go? Gosh, I think it's so fun. But for those of us who don't specialize in knowing where things are going exactly like that. What I'm going to encourage you is this. Go where it feels good, not where it feels safe and secure and where you've been before. Go where it feels exciting, new, different. Maybe you do have a little trepidation. Trepidation, right. I love that word. It doesn't mean anxiety and fear. It means a little nervousness, a little bit like, it feels good, but I feel a little nervous. It feels good, but I feel nervous. I'm not sure. I don't know. Perfect. I am filled with trepidation, even myself right now as I plot out, where is this going? Where am I going? What do I want to evolve into? Because for me, that's really taken at home. If you're always trying to ride the waves outside you, you're like the surfer in the ocean trying to ride the waves as they come. Yes. You can be masterful on them. You can take power over them and just kind of glide down to the shore. If you guys ever watched surfing, I hope you have. But on the other hand, if you ask the other question, what am I evolving into now? You're evolving into the wave, meaning you're evolving into the bigger point of power. What are you evolving into? Who will you be? And how can the future serve you in this transition into who you are becoming? The future is abundant. Life is abundant. You are abundant. The universe is abundant. It is filled with everything, everything you see around you. Right now, I'm staring at two chairs, a couch, a coffee table, a computer, some potted plants, some dumbbells, my purse, a candle, a salt lamp. All of the stuff I'm looking at was made from the earth. It came straight up from the earth. You need something, it's there. You get that that was a pregnant pause. I want you to get that. It's there. So what are you evolving into? How can life support you in that? Even if a trend is heading out that you want to jump into, where is it going instead? Can you be there with it? These are a lot to think about, a lot to ponder. So in order to ground it, I'm really feeling like we do need to do a flow dream in today's episode. And like I said, we haven't been doing them as much because I, too, have shifted. This year, I decided I wanted this show to have a different vibe, a different feel, a thoughtful feel, a teaching feel, but also a lot of curiosity, a lot of searching. So to learn how to do a flow dream, you have to go to my website, flowdreaming.com, go where it says podcast. And that's where you can find a lot of information about this program and accessing tons of past episodes that are filled, filled, filled, filled with flow dreams. Or of course, if you're on itunes, you can use it that way. And if you want to get a tutorial that's for free, also go to my website. Now, things change depending on when you're listening to this particular episode. But at the moment, you just look under free stuff or free goodies, and there you go, you get a tutorial on how to flow Dream. There's a technique. It comes with a couple of audios. It comes with a PDF guidebook. It's a pretty cool little primer on how to do and use this technique. Ditto. If you're on your phone and you go to your app store and you download it, the app itself will come preloaded with the primer for you so you can get it. So I'm not going to spend some time talking to you about it now, but what I am going to do is just say we're not meditating, okay? We're getting strong emotion here. It's an active exercise, an emotional exercise, emotional reconditioning, connecting into a flow state, pouring out our feelings right there into the universe. So go ahead and close your eyes with me. Relax, take a deep breath and exhale. Take another deep breath and as you exhale, let your abdomen release, your hips, let your shoulders drop. Roll your neck, releasing, wiggle your jaw, your brow, letting go of your tension, releasing, relax, relaxing into flow. Flow, flow, flow. Imagine in your mind, just your imagination. You see a gentle stream flowing with light, flowing with energy. And you feel rose petals falling into the stream of light. Beautiful soft petals. And you're with them as they're carried, carried in this stream, flowing forward into your future, into your next few moments, into your change, your new landscape, your new destination. You in flow. It's so easy, so gentle. There's nothing you have to do, no place you have to be. You're in perfect alignment with life, with the universe, with everything around you. And you can feel some aspect of your life that feels like it's rife with change and transition. And you notice how you've been feeling about this, resistant or excited. And if you wish, you can change how you feel right now. You can open up and embrace this change, embrace this transition and say, oh, how exciting. What's next? Where is this going? What is this evolving into? I'm so Thrilled that I see it, that I'm here with it, that I spotted it, that I sense it and know it. I am so in alignment with it. It feels so good. And you feel this change, this transition. It's answering you, it's reaching back to you. And it's saying, yeah, you sense me, you feel me. You want to do this together. Oh, we can go places. You know what? We are going places. We are flowing and we are changing and we're evolving and growing into this. And you're right here with it. And I am going to embrace you. I am going to nurture you. I'm going to love you. You up. And I am going to make sure that you and I together, change, transition. And the energy of it is saying to you, I'm going to make sure you and I together end up exactly where we feel the best, where we feel so good, where you get what you need. And I have someone right there in sync with me. Feeling how the universe loves this idea. It loves it. It says, yes, please be in. In sync with me. We dislike resistance. We dislike it when things are out of alignment. You're going to be in alignment with me. Come on, let's do this. Yes, we'll embrace you. Yes, we'll lift you up higher, higher than everyone else, although they can come too, if they want. But you, yeah, we're doing this together. We're ending up where we need to go. And you feel it. There's kind of a bubbling excitement about this. There's a bubbling sense of joy and kind of like, yeah, yeah, agreement. You feel agreement flooding and flowing all through you. And this change in transition now doesn't feel scary. It doesn't feel like I don't know what to do or where I'm. No, it feels good. You're on board. You've been onboarded. The agreement is there. It feels so good. And you've made that commitment, that decision you've made, that alignment. Now in your flow, that wave of feeling has passed through you and locked in and made itself into life, into source, into the energies of your future. So now you allow yourself to come back and return from flow. So go ahead and open your eyes whenever you're ready. I want you to take a little moment or two and just think about what it felt like when you made the shift in your energy, in your heart, to say yes to it instead of no. You released Lack. You embraced, and you were invited into the new party. Feels pretty awesome. So I really, really encourage you to keep doing this. Otherwise, it's too easy to slip into your old ways of fear, resistance, lack, upset, discouragement, etc. So yeah, you can listen to this show over and over again. If you want to listen to this Flow Dream, absolutely. Or go ahead and open up the app on your phone. Just search for Flow Dreaming. You'll see a couple of apps there. One of them is a storefront and the other one is to get all of my episodes of this and be able to kind of organize them and so forth. But look up the restored aligned and in control meditation playlist and any others, but use the tracks in that one in particular because the more you practice a feeling state, the more you become it. The more you become something, the more you're aligned to it. The more you're aligned to it, the more you're now swimming in sync with the universe with Flow with Source. And the more you swim in sync with it, the easier your life becomes and the more you shoot out ahead of everyone and everything else. So please, please come join me there. I want my friends there with me. And that's all of you guys listening. So I hope that felt really good. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought, one last request. As always, I love to hear from you. I love your ideas for episodes for me to record, ideas for new Flow Dreams to record, and I get to talk with a lot of you via my Instagram account, which is Summermickstravik. Summer McStravik. It's a mouthful. You may have to look that one up and or find me at Flow Dreaming on Facebook. I have a group there called I love Flow Dreaming and I'd love to see you in it. Maybe we'll change the name of it or already have, but look for it. It's my group. You just apply and we always let you in. So come there and that's where you can leave me lots of messages and we do a lot of the talking with each other. All right, that's it, my dears, my loves, have a beautiful week until I see you again for another episode of Flow Dreaming. Hey friends, a couple things to tell you about that I think you'll really enjoy. Flow Dreaming is a universe, actually. In other words, yes, there is a technique, but it's also an entire community of those of us who Flow Dream and I have a lot to give you to get you started. That's 100% free. So if you go to flowdreaming.com the first thing you need to do is download my free kit that teaches you how to Flow Dream. It contains a audio of a Flow dream that's been recorded called Positive Flow just to get you right into flow state in under 15 minutes. It also includes a tutorial and a PDF guidebook. Now if you're on your mobile device right now, you can also get it by just going to the App Store and downloading the Flow Dreaming app and it will come preloaded with this wonderful kit for you to learn the process. The next thing I wanted to mention for you is that MI School is my active, gorgeous, beautiful community of Flow dreamers and we learn together, we share and we grow into our manifestational, our co creational and mostly our own deep, immense inner power. We do this together in a mentorship type, school type format. But believe me, no tests, no quizzes, it's the best place you've ever been to. It calls itself a school, but it's really the place where you will completely transform yourself from inside out. So check that out too. Last of all, I hope I see you guys on Facebook or Instagram. Just look up summer McStravic or flow dreaming and come say hi to me there. Until next time. My love to you all.