Speaker 1: 0:26

Welcome to a Witch, amistic and a Feminist. I am Marlena, here with Jamie, and today we want to take you on a journey through the incredible connection between our thoughts and feelings, the vast universe that surrounds us and the transformative experience known as being in flow. It's a journey that will help us raise our vibrations, align with the powerful energy of the universe and enter a state of flow making us feel truly unstoppable. So let's start with the fundamental idea that the universe is not just a vast expanse of stars and galaxies. It's also a dynamic and interconnected web of energy, and we are an integral part of it. Everything in the universe is connected, and our thoughts and emotions play a significant role in this intricate tapestry.

Speaker 2: 1:12

So when you are in flow with the universe, you are in a state that harmonizes your soul with the natural rhythm of life. It's all about feeling the pulse of the universe, recognizing meaningful synchronicities and also allowing life's chaos to find its own harmony.

Speaker 1: 1:31

We've been feeling a lot of chaos lately and I think it's just a little bit and I think that it's like everybody right now that's kind of feeling it, and it could be because we're in the middle of winter and the energy's just been kind of funky. I know, for me I have not been feeling aligned. I don't know about you.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Yeah, I have felt out of alignment, for it's been a minute, yep, several months at least, right?

Speaker 1: 1:57

no, exactly, I mean I know, for me, I have been feeling out of alignment since I got back from Thailand. So when we're talking about being in flow, man, I thought that I was intouchable, I was unstoppable. My manifestations were coming through, I thought I was reading all the signs correctly and then, all of a sudden, I get back and I don't know what timeline I jumped into, but it's some fucked up time.

Speaker 2: 2:24

Well, yeah, and it seems like when we I don't want to say come back to reality, because that's a perfect example you come from this fantastic vacation that's been soul searching and wonderful and spiritual and fun and all that good stuff back to normal life and all the distractions that we were trying to put away. So I think it's very simple to feel unaligned, not aligned out of alignment I don't know the right phrase, but I think it's very easy because once we get sucked back into the world of reality, whatever that looks like for us, these things keep coming in from all directions and all of a sudden we're just back to the stress, Right.

Speaker 1: 3:07

So I think it's very simple, and especially coming back from vacations, God, reality sucks and I feel like it's been like 100 years since I've been on vacation, because it was just like I don't know. I just have not been in flow, which is interesting that we're talking about this, and I think that's why I've been wanting to talk about being in flow for a long time, but I haven't because I haven't been. But we're talking about flow, but there's also a term called flow state. So I kind of want to touch on that a little bit as well, because being in flow state occurs when someone is completely immersed in a task or activity, and so science has shown us that when you're in that state of flow, our brain enters a unique state of consciousness. So this state is associated with peak performance. So, like a lot of athletes I mean like when Jordan was putting up 63 points or 64 points during that one game- yeah, you know that one, you know that one game, that one.

Speaker 2: 4:13

But you know, like I've seen it with.

Speaker 1: 4:15

Alexis. When Alexis was fighting, that kid was untouchable and they even told me that everything kind of turned to slow motion and so they were able to see any punch or kick that was coming from a mile away, because they were in the state of flow. And you know, that happens with work, that happens with creativity, and one of the cool things that happens when you're in the state of flow is time kind of stands still Like you're not worried about time. So either hours pass or it was just a few minutes but you've been in this incredible place.

Speaker 2: 4:54

Yeah, I'm going to say, sometimes I feel like you can relate it to experiences, right. Like I mean, we talk about maybe there's a concert or something that you go to, that just you feel every minute. You don't see anything else, you're not distracted by your phone or you're completely immersed in the experience. And I have had concerts, for example, like I'm just talking about, but where I'm just so immersed in it that nothing else seems to matter. I feel connected with the music and the feeling of the music and the crowd and the sensory experience and everything is. It is just such a magical time and I think we can get those low states even with experiences that we have. That's not just everyday life, but it can be something that we end up doing and you're just connected, you just feel connected. If that makes sense, no, it totally makes sense, and you know what that really comes down to is being in the moment.

Speaker 1: 5:52

I mean, you know, with everything that you were talking about, it's like you are completely in the moment without being distracted, and so sometimes I need to remember to put away the distractions, like you said, put your phone aside and just kind of be in the moment, which I do try and do. I feel like these last few months have been tough and so, but I think I'm coming back.

Speaker 2: 6:25

Yeah, same. It's funny because I find that a very key piece for me to know that I really had a night where it was just amazing, or a weekend, a trip and experience is when I don't have very many pictures, because I have, like, even I came out for the Christmas party in December and had a great time with your family and everything, and I think I took like five pictures the whole night and we were there for like eight hours because we were too busy doing, and you know too busy having and being right, like being present, and those when I see that happen, for me it's just a little sign of wow, you were really there.

Speaker 1: 7:06

Right.

Speaker 2: 7:07

You know, and I try and catch myself not flipping out my phone to record that song at the concert or, you know, whatever it might be, because I just want to enjoy it. And so I've found those little pieces of nuggets that when I wake up the next morning or I go home after the night I'm like, oh, I didn't really take any pictures. And then I think, oh, because I was having too much fun, I was too in the moment, so trying, as well as you, to be more present and more aware of what I'm doing so I can enjoy whatever that experience might be.

Speaker 1: 7:38

Well, it's funny that you bring up the concerts, because Vince and I, you know, we've gone to a number of concerts together and I'll bust out my phone and start recording. And he will literally take my phone out of my hand, put it in my purse and be like experience it. You don't have to record it. And I'm like, but I want to look back on it. He was like but experience it now and I'm like you're right, kind of yeah, but don't tell me what you're doing. Yeah, are you right?

Speaker 2: 8:06

And you know it's funny, I think about it. I'm like, do I really go back and watch all those things more than once? Like I mean, probably not. Maybe I post them on social media, if anything, or you know a memory a year later, but it's not as often as I think I will when I'm doing it. So it's just like put it down and enjoy the song. Damn it, jesus.

Speaker 1: 8:29

Yeah, so, but going back to being in flow. So when you're in the flow state, your creativity shows no bounds. You become a master of connecting various aspects of your knowledge and experiences, birthing groundbreaking ideas and extraordinary art. Now, I'm not an artist, but you know, sometimes, when I just kind of put everything down and really focus on what it is, a task that I'm trying to do and I'm not distracted, I can really get down with. You know, because I'm so good at procrastinating, like I'm just a procrastinator, but when I do finally focus, I'm like I really do get into it. One of the things that I had read with regards to flow state is it's taking you just slightly past your max point. So like if you're an athlete and I keep going back to sports and stuff like that, because it's just kind of how I know it best but you get to that max point and you just push yourself just a little bit further. And when you get just a little bit further, that's where you hit that flow state where you're really just untouchable. You know, and sometimes you see that like, like I said, in basketball games and football games, or like watching my kid fight. You know, those are times where I've seen it, where I'm just kind of like whoa, you know, you and a lot of people call it being in the zone.

Speaker 2: 10:03

Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly yeah, you're just so focused that there's nothing else anyone else around you, right? You're just in that, like you said, in the zone. Yeah, I don't know if I can honestly say I've ever mastered something to where I felt like it just flowed in that sense. But for me, I relate this state a lot to work, which I think a lot of us can because it's easy. Again, it's easy to get distracted. You might be a manager, you might be tasked with, you know all these different things and interruptions and whatever. But I've noticed with my current job, I'm more of an auditor now, so I was constantly just looking at spreadsheets and paperwork and all that stuff. But when I am like ultra focused and I am deep diving into a project and it just, there's just days where it feels like it's just going. It's just going because, like I said, the life distractions come in and that's what we need to work on. To stay in our flow state is to try and block those or silence them for a little bit. But when my kids are gone and my husband's traveling and it's just me at home and the phones aren't ringing and I can just focus on my project, it is like time has left the building and I just blow. It just flows for me. And I don't know if you call that a master of my job, because I'm not a master of my job, trust me but like today was a really good day, today was a great day and I just it was exactly like that. Like I don't know what it was this morning and this might be a little off track because we're kind of talking about it in different aspects, but I don't know. I woke up this morning feeling really good. I felt like like I literally woke up with a smile I don't know why I just did and I'm like okay, it's a good day. I felt rested, was everything done? Was got done this morning for the kids because Chad's out of town right now and I just felt good. I really felt in flow today let's just put it that way Like from the moment I woke up to probably right before we started this podcast, because we were all talking about, okay, what are we going to discuss? I just felt good. And today I really felt like I was in flow. And when I got a few minutes to kind of stop and think about it, I was like okay, what's been different lately for me, right, and I have been working on meditating more. I have been working on connection with my angels and calling on my spirit guides. I have been working on, even if it's so minimal, getting outside of my house, because working from home it's like a dungeon sometimes, like getting outside breathing the fresh air. I've been focusing on that and I felt like today it just all kind of came together Like the kids were good, it was a good morning off to school. It was a good morning afternoon picking up. It was a good dinner. Work was great. It was just kind of like, I think, because I let go too right, Right, and I think that's a huge part because you had mind, body, spirit, everything was aligned.

Speaker 1: 13:20

And so, yeah, by letting go and trusting the process, trusting the universe, trusting your intuition which I've been in a place where I'm not quite trusting of my intuition right now, but I also was like, okay, so you misread some things, no need to like completely beat yourself up forever with regards to that kind of thing, but I think, trusting the process, that the universe has your back and is orchestrating events and you know that everything is aligned, and having faith that you're following the right signs. Right, I feel like when I'm in flow, it is when I'm doing a lot of work on myself and I'm, you know, working on my manifestations or playing little experimental games. There's this one coach that I followed on social media and stuff like that, and so she's been doing a lot of these manifestation experiments where you know, as you're falling asleep, you imagine a balloon and you feel the balloon and you're able to smell like the latex of it and you know all of that, and the next day you start seeing balloons. So that took place for me. Like I said, I've been in a funk and so I was like, okay, let me try this manifestation experiment. And it was so cool because I imagined this balloon and I was like, okay, this is a huge balloon. And you know, I was able to feel it and I was able to hear the sound of the balloon and smell the latex and everything. And then I'm going through the next day and nothing, like you know. This lady was like, yeah, you know, you'll be able to see balloons, like you'll see so many balloons all throughout the day. And I was like, yeah, I haven't seen it. But then I got a call from Alexis at seven o'clock and they were like hey, can you make sure that the dogs are in the backyard when I get home? And I was like, yeah, why? And they said, because I have a bunch of balloons that I'm bringing home. And I was like, shut up, so I tell the kid about you know what I was working on? And so they call me up when they're outside and I put the dogs out and I go in and help them get all the balloons. And so they had like about eight regular sized balloons. But then they were like, oh, I need help getting this one out. And it was this huge balloon. I mean, it was huge. And so I was like, oh, my God, my manifestation. So I was like, oh, am I getting back in alignment? And when things like that happen, that's when I feel like I'm like, ok, I'm getting back to my normal state, I'm like, oh my normal self, so you know and getting back in flow and I think that, like I said, sometimes I do feel like I'm out of out of sync and out of alignment, but I think a lot of what we need to do to be in flow and get back to that place that we're able to find that connection really is one being mindful, being in our gut, no matter how controlling one's mind can be.

Speaker 2: 16:51

Trusting, no matter how much the brain tries to take over Right.

Speaker 1: 16:56

I mean, you know, that's a big thing for me, is my brain is just like no, I'm the logical one over here, yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:04

Yeah, it's a daily practice, let's be honest. I mean it has to be, and maybe you're not all things at once, because that's when you know it happens, right. So but it is a daily practice to be mindful, you know, to really try and listen to your gut instinct. When there's a question that comes across that you're just like oh, what do I do Interesting your gut, and those things don't come easy. You know it's easy to be distracted, it's easy to let the brain take over the gut and make decisions that are, you think, that are right, but you weren't really listening to yourself. So it's. You know it's not easy to stay in this state, as we've pointed out several times, because we've been out of flow for a very long time, but you know it is a daily practice that you got to do for yourself.

Speaker 1: 17:54

Yeah, you know, and remembering that it's not about escaping life's challenges, but embracing them with grace and trust. And so this is something that I have to keep, reminding myself that these challenges often serve as invitations to expand our horizons and deepen our connections with the universe. So, instead of resisting them, considering challenges as opportunities for growth and resilience yes, take your own advice, marlena.

Speaker 2: 18:24

I do want to talk about, though I do want to mention because I think this is a very good point that you had brought up in our notes, our show notes, but toxic positivity, because I think there's so much pressure on us out there with like, well, you just always have to be positive. You always have to be positive. You know that your negative feelings that come into play aren't valid. Right or don't need to be recognized, you know, and that's that's just. First of all. That's too much. First of all, that's too much to ask of anyone to always be positive. I think I'd, to be honest, might have to smack a person who's always in my face with positivity, because sometimes I just can't take it Right Because I'm not in the right space, right, but there's just so much pressure nowadays to everyone just be positive. You're positive, everything is fine. And you have to acknowledge your feelings Right, and we've talked about this with grief, right, like you have to sit in it, you have to look at it and I think, once you look at those feelings of anger, frustration, sadness, whatever it might be that's coming in to interrupt your flow, they have to be looked at Right, so that you can look at them to either do I need to heal from something? Is there some kind of trauma I need to look at? Is there? You know, why am I feeling this way and how can I release it Right? So it's toxic. Positivity can be toxic, it can be toxic. Yeah, and it's okay to have the feelings that we all have are humans, right, but you have to still get to the root cause, and that's what helps you get back into flow is being able to release those, or heal from, or whatever it might be, or forgive, or forgive.

Speaker 1: 20:11

I think for me, you know something that I've been going through. I've really needed to forgive myself for a few mistakes that I've made. One of the things that I realized when I've been out of alignment and needing to forgive myself for mistakes that I've made, is that I've been very resistant and so the universe was like no, this is a lesson that you need to learn and you're not learning it, so we're just going to keep throwing this shit at you until you do what you know you need to do and it's like but I don't want to. It's that whole like hangman feeling where you kind of you don't want to make a move. Yeah, but once you do, then you start going up that upswing again. Right, you know, in your heroine's journey or fool's journey, but yeah.

Speaker 2: 21:06

Whatever it might be, whatever journey you might be on.

Speaker 1: 21:10

Right, because, like we were talking about challenges, challenges act as a catalyst for personal growth and transformation. So, you know, they get us out of our comfort zone, put us in uncharted waters and territories where really our true potential awaits. So, while this growth process can be uncomfortable, it's also where we realize, you know, we're tapping into untapped, I guess, capabilities. Yep, so yeah, embrace those, embrace all the things, Embrace all of it.

Speaker 2: 21:44

Yeah, I was going to say that another, I guess maybe just been recently. Maybe I'm not out of sync as I thought I was, but really this, these last few days have been good. I know I talked about work earlier, but even this weekend and I had my meeting with Mary Armadaris, who was one of our former podcast guests. Yes, and I had my first session with her because her and I really connected on our show and if you haven't heard it yet, it was just released not long ago. I actually haven't noted here December 12th, so if you guys haven't listened to that episode yet, go listen to it, because Mary Armadaris is amazing. Anyway, so ever since, like I had my and I feel like this is all part of the flow, right, like people are being brought into our lives and we're being open to whatever ideas they might bring forth and what resonates with us, especially with the show, and she was one of them and I feel like it's just part of my flow right now with the universe. She was brought to me for a reason, absolutely. I definitely am going to have sessions with her, hopefully at least once a month, and again with my first session, it just like it kind of set the tone for my whole weekend. It just seemed like everything flowed right after that down to, you know our plans with family and friends and having a game night, and you know going out on a date night, and then Sunday with the football game and which is a funny little story about trusting your gut, and that one. But going to the football game with Peyton and just like everything, just I just remember going to bend that night, going Like everything just fit that week Right. It was just such a good weekend and real quick, talking about trusting your gut. So we're at the Raider game and went to go meet a friend who was visiting in town at the game, watched the halftime show and we're on the complete other side of the end zone. So I said, ok, we better start walking back. But he's like, well, let's go this way, there's less traffic. I'm like, no, let's just go this way because I want to finish the circle. That made more sense to me. Beautiful, the full circle of the stadium. And he's like, but there's less people. I'm like, no, we're going this way, going that way. We were walking by the suites and there was nobody out there except some people who came out to kind of, I guess, get, I don't know, fresh air from the suite, I don't know. And three San Francisco Giants players were right there. And I don't ever recognize athletes, hardly ever, ever. And I look over and I'm walking by and I'm like, hey, I think that's Logan Webb, who's one of our starting pitchers, and he turns around and he goes. It is, and I never interrupt like famous people that I ever see them. But I did, I did, I just didn't even think about it. I just walked over there. He was the nicest kid. He took pictures with us. Oh, that's awesome. Next to him yeah, next to him were the Roger Twins brothers who are also pitchers on the Giants. Payton recognized them. They took pictures with us. It was just like I was walking back to my seat and I go see, you'll listen to your gut and you didn't even hesitate to go interrupt this athlete on his vacation day or whatever, and ask for a picture. But they were all very nice. So that's just my real quick little story about trusting your instincts because I went the right way. Well, that is awesome.

Speaker 1: 25:11

That is super awesome, and you finished your circle.

Speaker 2: 25:16

And I finished my circle. It makes sense. Why would you go backwards? We went from one end zone to the other end zone, we had to go back and we're walking the full circle, anyways. So, like I said, maybe I've had more flow days in flow days the last week that I have in months.

Speaker 1: 25:36

So well, we again. We are still in the middle of winter and just feeling all the feels and all that stuff. We're just kind of going through it, and I really don't think that it's just you and me. I think that a lot of people have been feeling this way. There's just been some funky energy in the universe, kind of thing. But I think we're all starting to come out of it as well. I know for me, I am definitely coming out of my funk, which I'm super grateful for, and so I guess, as we're concluding this episode, we encourage you all to reflect on the idea of being in flow with the universe and finding those things, changing your mindset to be able to connect and find that alignment. We keep talking about mind, body, soul and doing the things that make you feel good, whether it's being outside and getting some exercise, moving your body, things like that but also not escaping life's challenges and embracing them with grace and trust. So with that, this was kind of a mini episode. I don't know, we'll see, but thank you for joining us and we will see you next week. So if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share and leave a review, and also don't forget to go check out our website, wmfpodcom. We'll see you soon.

Speaker 2: 27:12

Bye, suspenseful music.