Living Life as a Channel

Weeks ago I posted a blog entitled “I Am My Own” (http://bit.ly/OEI0W2) in which I reflected upon the realization that I am fundamentally unique in the connections I open myself to and less so because of what I know.  I began to realize as reflected in that piece that what I think is really “my own” is not and instead I am simply a means through which energy and wisdom has the opportunity to flow.  This thought has stayed with me and in my meditation today, the image of a channel became vividly present.  But it wasn’t a channel in a modern sense like a TV channel or social media channel.  Instead, the channel that I experienced is an ancient one created by the flow of water that over time can create a great canyon.

Water is similar to energy and wisdom and relies upon a willing channel through which to journey.  Wisdom exists in infinite quantities and has been available from the beginning of our universe as people have drawn from it and added back into it.  Some things quite simply haven’t found an open and available channel to flow through and are just waiting for that willing individual to connect through.  I began to realize that the momentary ‘flashes of brilliance’ that have come to me occasionally including this very reflection, were not at all the product of some great thinking on my part and I now “own”.  Instead they come to me at points when I’ve been an open receptacle, willing to let energy move through me. 

For example, I thought more deeply about why people hire me in my consulting business.  Is it because of my intelligence and experience?  I don’t think so as there are many people with equal or greater quantities of both.  Instead, my most successful experiences have been when I’ve been a catalyst to release energy and thought and helped removing obstacles enabling frictionless connections.  In those instances, I offered an open channel and from there invited others to add their own flow of energy to create an even greater and more powerful current capable of carving an even deeper channel.  Clients have told me that I brought a tangible energy into the space and I left them with even more.  What a confirmation of the importance of connection and being an unrestricted conduit for energy, wisdom, creativity, and knowledge to flow through.  There are far too many instances for me to recall when the words I shared with others came from a source I cannot identify and did not exist in any prepared remarks or material I had developed.  I am both humbled and astonished when this happens and more than anything else grateful for the privilege of having been the simple outlet.

Some people open themselves and become like a super-highway of energy and wisdom leaving behind a beautiful legacy much like the Colorado River has done through the Grand Canyon.  These people lived their lives realizing that the flow of energy through them to humanity was what their life was all about and at their passing, they left behind such beauty that others marvel at it for eternity.  But like the Grand Canyon, they didn’t live their lives with the self-serving intent to become a grand edifice for others to honor.  Instead, they took the selfless path and allowed themselves to be methodically carved by the eternal wisdom shared through them.

Others live like a quiet stream meandering through a meadow.  While the waters gently bubbling and drifting along may not carve great canyons, the effects of water’s movement are evident nonetheless.  For people like this, the flow through their lives brings great peace and serenity to those willing to sit quietly for a few moments.  We know when we’re with people whose lives are a gentle channel as they bring such a presence of peace to an often-hectic world. 

Still others hoard and protect what they know as if it’s theirs.  They erect large dams in their lives holding back the vast energy behind a wall of concrete and steel never realizing perhaps until too late, that it was in sharing and connection that authentic value is experienced.  Energy has no value without a channel and a willingness to allow it to flow.  People that protect what they know as if it belongs to them are perceived as self-serving and the results are equally self-destructive.  Social media expert Kim Garst frequently Tweets about the importance of being an open channel and sharing; she knows that wisdom is expanded when selflessly shared and opportunity is lost when it is not.  Of what value are you to others if you accumulate a Hoover’s Dam worth of knowledge and never release its energy to the universe?

I’ve talked with people who share instances where a new invention or idea surfaces and they proclaim with both surprise and disappointment that they had that very same idea years ago, but failed at the time to act on it.  A connection had been made, the insight delivered, but the switch was never turned on.  A friend of mine holds the conviction that a cure for most cancers already exists in the repositories of great minds and intellectual property of companies.  However, those people and organizations are reluctant to share what they know in connection with others holding the false belief (in my opinion) that they will be the ones to ultimately capitalize on the solution.  They believe sharing what they know will somehow diminish their claim to financial and heroic glory.

It is a humbling experience to realize that our lives are meant to be channels through which others can be enriched.  When you think of what you know in this context, how could you ever believe that you are somehow better or more gifted than someone else.  The key to “success” then is in how open and available you are to the flow of wisdom and energy available to everyone and then most importantly, how willing you are to reflect it back, share it, and build upon it.  There is no room for arrogance or self-serving pride when you offer yourself as a humble channel.  So, to use a modern term, tune in and once you have, be selfless and allow what flows through you to carve itself into an incredible gift that is as timeless and magnificent as the great canyons on our planet.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.