Alignment opens channels for inspiration to flow

Most of us are making life much harder than it needs to be. We are definitely making work much harder than it needs to be. It’s commonly touted that to achieve greatness in our work requires years of toil, struggle, and forceful effort, but this only proves to be true when we are attempting to create using action rather than alignment. When we operate from a state of alignment, we are able to leverage the power of the energy that creates worlds. This experience of universal life-force energy flowing through our being, calling us into new and ever-evolving realities is what it is to be inspired.

I'm not denying that to bring certain creative projects to fruition may take years, decades even, but when we open ourselves to the flow of inspiration, those years can be joyous, fascinating, and delightful in their unfolding. This is the journey of inspired work – a never-ending series of actions guided by soul and energized by source. The degree to which our work is inspired is determined by the factor of our alignment. So then, let’s explore what it is to be in alignment.

What is alignment?

Whether I am working with an individual or a group, one of the things I insist upon is that if we are going to explore a topic together, we must first define it. This task is beloved by some, begrudged by others, however, the reason I do this is because sometimes our very definition of a word can carry limiting beliefs. We need to be conscious of those influences, especially if they are preventing us from being in a state of alignment.

Alignment is one of those concepts that can be challenging to define. While not everyone may be able to explain it using words, everyone can feel it in their body. When a person comes into a state of alignment, there is an energetic transmission that occurs, which is also palpably felt by others. For myself, I experience alignment in my body as though there were an internal locking mechanism where all the tumblers have moved into their correct place, opening a clear channel that allows a charge of energy to run through my whole being.

While not everyone may be able to define alignment, everyone can feel it in their body.

If we look to the dictionary definition of alignment, it suggests something similar. It defines alignment as “the proper positioning or adjustment of parts in relation to each other”. From this definition, the key takeaway is that alignment is relational, which leads us to ask, in the context of inspired work, what are the “parts” that must be “in relationship” with each other?

What are we aligning with?

Before I discovered the path of my inspired work, I used to complain often about feeling out of alignment. At the time, I couldn’t specifically articulate what I meant, I just had the sense that my work and I were two separate entities that didn’t belong together. I felt awkward in my work, as though I were pretending to be someone I was not. That’s because I was. With the benefit of hindsight, it is obvious there was a disparity between who I was as a person and the work I was doing. Since that time, I have been able to distill some of the reasons for my misalignment:

Alignment with our natural abilities
In my then work, I was not using my strengths, gifts, and talents. Through various trainings, I had managed to muster up enough skills to do a passable job, however, the tasks I was performing did not require me to use my actual abilities. I didn’t even know myself well enough to have been able to tell you what they were. I now understand this accounts for the supreme dissatisfaction I felt in my work. The fulfillment I sought came after I began to know myself and create opportunities that allow me to make best use of who I am.

Alignment with our guiding principles
For much of my early career, I felt lost. I was operating without any direction. I had no guiding principles, so I just floated about from job to job, career to career, business to business dissociated from what mattered to me. Without a clear purpose, vision, and mission centred in my own truth, I was just a ship adrift at the mercy of the sea. When I finally took the time to clarify my guiding principles, I found solid ground and was able to generate forward momentum in my work.

Alignment with our true selves
Though I wasn’t cognizant of it then, like many others, I had chosen my work from a state of “not enoughness”. I had my own version of those wounded stories we all carry. I now refer to those stories as “lies” because they are not true to who we are. However, before I was aware of this, I attempted to use work as a way to compensate for my perceived limitations, which was why it was so depleting. When I began to know myself as the blessed being I am (as we all are), it shifted my relationship with work. Rather than it be a way to prove my worthiness, I created work that expresses my worthiness.

Alignment with our inner being
From my current perspective, I can now see the most detrimental disconnect was that I wasn’t in a conscious relationship with my inner being. Back then, my mind was running the show. I gave zero consideration to what my heart and soul were guiding me to do. I thought it was my job to “make” life happen rather than allow it to happen. Without the generative energy that arises from the connection with our inner being, work was tedious and life was exhausting. When I finally became aware that my inspiration was the indication of “yes” from my inner guidance and I allowed its enlivenment to fuel my actions, my work began to more effortlessly reveal itself to me.

Ultimately, to be in “alignment” is to be in relationship with all parts of ourselves, including those that comprise our human and our soul selves. When we are in right relationship with the totality of who we are, our inner and outer worlds function in harmony. But alignment is not a “one-and-done” action. It requires us to continually attend to our state of being in each and every moment.

How to come into alignment

Alignment is a dynamic state of being, varying in accordance with the moment-to-moment quality of our relationship with ourselves. What is fortunate is that we all have a reliable internal feedback system available to us at all times that helps us gauge our current state of alignment. It’s as simple as “good feelings” indicate we are moving toward alignment and “bad feelings” indicate we are moving away from alignment. We all know this to be true, however, we don’t always remember this information is available to us.

“Good feelings” indicate we are moving toward alignment and “bad feelings” indicate we are moving away from alignment.

To be in alignment is natural. Of course, it is also natural to experience fluctuations as we encounter the ups and downs of life. However, what keeps us out of alignment longer than necessary is our conditioned belief that we must fixate on that which we deem is “wrong” and focus our attention on “fixing” it rather than focusing on that which is true for us and allowing the solutions to be presented to us.

When we get ourselves twisted out of sorts, to bring ourselves back into alignment asks us to:

• Be present with our experience and open to it rather than guard ourselves against it
• Permit ourselves access to bodily sensations and feelings (this means allowing ourselves to feel everything) so that we can utilize our internal feedback system in its intended capacity
• Be aware of how our thoughts are impacting the way we are feeling and to lean into the thoughts that produce more positive feelings (not in an emotional bypassing kind of way, but in a recognition of what’s actually true rather than a story based on “lies”)(ideally, we would have no thoughts and let life miraculously unfold, but we all know how challenging that can be for the mind)
• Care enough about ourselves that we want to feel good
• Trust that alignment is the path to realizing our heart’s true desires
• Be receptive to our inner guidance

One of the clearest indicators of our alignment is the feeling of inspiration, which both guides and energizes our actions in the world. Therefore, it is essential that before we take any action, we must do the work of coming into alignment first. This is easier said than done. So then, why would we? Why is it so important that we make the effort to be in alignment?

The benefits of being in alignment

As stated in the title of this post, when we are in alignment, we become an open channel for universal life-force energy to flow. This inspiration serves us in many ways, especially in regard to our work:

• It informs us we are operating from a place of inner truth, which we use as our guide on our journey. If ever we feel as though we have gone astray, our inspiration can lead us back to ourselves.
• It opens us to receive new potentials. These potentials that are the seeds of creative ideas that we can plant and nurture into the realization our inspired work.
• It yields desired results. When we take action for the enjoyment of it rather than the attempt to achieve an outcome, we end up birthing work that matters to us and is in service to the world.

What’s interesting is that our inspired work also provides important feedback in regard to alignment. When we find our work getting too confused, too difficult, or too ineffective, we know that we are attempting to bring it about from action rather than alignment. Instead of forcing ourselves forward, we want to take a step back and find our way into alignment again. There’s not enough action to compensate for lack of inspiration. The energy that arises from alignment transforms our work from struggle to flow, from difficult to effortless, from drudgery to excitement.

Finally, one of the best reasons I can think of to be in alignment is because it feels good to feel inspired. To have the juice of universal creative life-force coursing through our whole being is one of those pinnacle experiences we all crave. The rest of it, that’s just for the fun of being alive.