Structure = Peace within Abundance

02 Apr Structure = Peace within Abundance

Structure = peace within abundance. Structure supports the whole and the parts. The whole flows in, like this white light into the prism and the prism of structure orders it into parts. Dispersion Prism.found on Wikimedia Commons.

Structure = Peace within Abundance

Abundance is Chaos is Flow

It may not feel like it but what you’re experiencing right now? That’s abundance. Yup, it feels just like chaos. That’s because you need more structure. Structure = peace within abundance.

Abundance without structure feels like chaos.

Flow is what all of us abundance freaks want. But we forget: we don’t get to control what is flowing. We only get to control how open we are to it.

What helps us open appropriately is structure.

Remember our post pointing out that opening to flow = opening to abundance? The point of that post was to ask you to notice if you were damming up your flow. (We even wrote a whole punning follow-up post about “dammed emotions” that may block flow.)

Structure Nourishes Creative Flow

There is something weird in our culture in particular that opposes structure. It makes me think of the “children’s” book, The Dot and the Line. (You’ll see at that link that the book is not really just for kids; it’s inspired a movie, an opera, and even designer jewelry.) The Dot and the Line is about the relationship between creativity and structure. It can also be construed as about the relationship between our inner masculine and inner feminine. We need that inner marriage to thrive, always–and certainly right now.

The dot is the feminine, the creative principle. At first, she is taken with a very hairy squiggle–until she meets the line. Where the squiggle looked creative, the dot soon realizes he is just impulsive, and all over the place. The line, who seemed kind of modest and boring initially, is intentional and can do anything he puts his mind to–which means, literally, anything: all of art, craft, design, you name it. You can see just what a line can do in the book.

Here’s the cover of the book, so you get the picture (I am full of puns today and I just won’t apologize):

Flow Can Nourish Chaos, Unless You Structure

Creativity puts us in our flow, and nourishes the flow of abundance in our lives. Yes, creativity can also nourish chaos. (For info on flow and what’s called “the flow state,” click here).

So how do we abundance freaks manage? How do we do it all, and still have enough breath in our bodies to enjoy it?

It’s easy.

I mean that. I really find it easy. And that is because I’m not only an abundance freak, I’m a structure freak.

Structure is Everything

I just listened to this wonderful talk by the author of Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg. (She meanders, it’s about 40 minutes long, but if you only have 10 minutes, listen to the end or start at minute 27. But it’s delightful, and nourishing, especially now.) At one point, Goldberg makes a bolder claim than even I am making: “Structure is everything!” But then she adds something very important:

It gets you out of bed.

And we realize what she means:

Structure is everything when it comes to creativity.

Unless we write or paint in bed, there is little we accomplish by staying in bed. (Everything that happens in bed is creative; but accomplishing something–finishing it–is unlikely to be done while remaining in bed.)

Structure is Natural–Chaos is Not

There is actually no chaos in nature, if you know about chaos theory and you think about the incredible dynamism of the physical universe. Everything is happening for a reason, there is a cause and a source for it all.

We, on the other hand, may hold onto chaos in our lives with our tight little fists because we learned somewhere that chaos was reality, and structure was this weird, uptight thing to do to our lives. Someone told us this was what “go with the flow” meant, and we believed it.

It’s ok not to believe that anymore.

Nature is a structure freak.

Here’s a quick, free take on what I’m talking about. Structure isn’t just everything–it’s everywhere.

Become a Structure Freak Along with Me

We don’t honestly care what structure or pattern you choose, but we do care that you choose.

We care that you structure your every 24 hours intentionally.

Here are some posts to get you started, on what we call “time-sculpting.” And many posts in this category will be good next steps.

I could tell you my daily structure–which I enjoy riffing on, and playing with, and even working against sometimes, as a structure ninja, we can do those things–but what’s much more important is yours.

Here is a detailed post on how to structure your day (and sculpt your life).