There will always be something to hold you back if you allow it. It is easy to get caught playing this game, as so many of us do.

However, what happens when we open ourselves to what is possible, saying no to all restrictions?

Here is how I sometimes see flow and use it to inspire me!

I will use musicians, as I feel a connection to the path they are on, but all truly creative souls flux in the same way.

Bob Dylan and Neil Young come to mind as they full honored their gifts and put that “gift” ahead of everything else. They openly nurture what seems right in the moment regardless of the waves they might create by doing so.

Dylan talks about not knowing who wrote: “Like a Rolling Stone.” Of course, he wrote this song, but he never stopped long enough to evaluate its evolution or admire it. Dylan was already connecting to a new moment, holding space for something to play into this openness.

After Young released the album “Harvest” in 1972 everyone looked to him, even expected him to write another Harvest record. Young immediately stepped away from his association with Harvest knowing he could not revisit it. He broke away from tours and commitments allowing space for what would come next.

Both Young and Dylan have been writing and playing their music for decades and what brought them success was letting go of a need to stay the same or repeat themselves. It is clear both artists consider “success” more about being open to what would appear to them next not sales or recognition.

Honoring their gift both artists would both transmute all distractions and create freely. Young has said, “if something doesn’t feel right, it isn’t right” and would stop a project or tour midstream. It was not his intention to piss people off but rather fully engage the truth of each moment.

Both artists consider the first cuts of a recording the best and do not work at polishing their work, knowing what came to them quickly and freely was best.

Their mission was to hold space for something unknown. To have the guts to back away from what was forced and not flowing freely. Being passionate and open to all that came to them was what mattered.

This is how all magnificent things in life come to be.

Stevie Ray Vaughan played lead guitar on David Bowie’s 1983 hit record “Lets Dance” but then refused to tour. It bothered Bowie but deep down he understood the decision. Vaughan had his own thing to do and in making that decision honored his “gift.” In sharing his gift, Vaughan brought blues music to new heights in the eighties leaving a creative tattoo on music rarely seen.

One might think, “I am not creative like Dylan or Young,” so why pretend this is me.

The honest answer is that Dylan and Young did not know their creative potential at some point in time either. It was something they grew to understand by daring to say no to the easy answer, and in turn, found something much greater.

Being in flow is not easy. It means stepping away from what is familiar, daring to let the breeze blow and the dust fly.

We all need to look closely at what motivates us, what calls us to act. The idea of holding space for the magnificent far outweighs settling for the mundane.

This is being in flow.

By Tom Kelly