This week I began exploring a yin-based approach to my days. First I journaled about how I might differentiate yin productivity from yang productivity. I figured yang was mainly about deciding, controlling, and directing the flow of action whereas yin would be more about sensing and allowing action to flow through very flexibly. I also figured that yang would be more outcome-oriented whereas yin might be more experience-oriented.

It’s been a very interesting experience to deliberately lean in a yin direction so far, especially yesterday when I opted to use this approach all day. I did my best to release any attachment to getting any particular task done or advancing any specific project. I focused more on sensing what energies wanted to flow through and be part of my day. All throughout the day, I was more attuned to the energy flows and my inner sensing than I was to objective results.

The flow of action was light and breezy. I felt very relaxed and chill. It was like being carried by currents of energy all through the day. I felt like I wasn’t working particularly hard or doing very much. Yet at the end of the day, I reviewed all that I got done, and it was quite a lot.

I got up at 5am, went for a run, and then met Rachelle in the park to go for a walk together. I started listening to a new audiobook (James Fadiman’s Microdosing book) while running. I read some more of Ram Dass’ Be Here Now and also began reading Alexander Shulgin’s PIHKAL book. So I felt inspired to engage with three different books, yet that didn’t feel like too much because all the books had strong energy ties among them. They cover similar ground from different perspectives. What I read from each book seemed to have a synchronous relationship to the flow of the day. If my thinking had been more objective or yang-like, I’d have likely stuck with one book till it was done. It actually felt nicer to float through a few books.

I made clear, crisp decisions in some areas that were a bit stuck and then advanced them with a variety of easy actions. I sensed it was the right timing for those decisions to flow through, like they were finally ready to emerge and resolve themselves. I also did some journaling to further advance some ideas I’d been working on, and that went very smoothly too. Overall I got my life much better aligned with some long-term avenues that have been unfolding.

I also went out twice to run errands, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. On an objective level, that might seem less efficient than batching the errands. However, the second errand wasn’t really on my radar when I followed my inner nudge to go out to do the first one, even though both were related. I felt like perhaps I needed to advance and complete the first errand for the second to energetically arise.

I liked how both trips infused my day with more variety. These errands were short and easy, and I enjoyed doing them very much as part of the day. They got me away from my desk and out and around other people in the city for a bit. I felt like I was keeping the energy swirling and in positive motion. It was toasty outside (105ºF outside during the second errand – that’s about 41ºC), and the sun’s warmth felt so nice to me too. I’m used to the sunny Vegas summers.

When some ideas came to mind about potential actions to take, I wrote some of them down but only one or two at a time. That was mainly to get them out of my head, so I wouldn’t dwell upon them and could mentally relax more, not with the intention of compiling a to-do list like I might have done in yang mode. I ended up eventually doing all of the items I’d written down, yet I only did them if and when I felt their energy inviting me to go in that direction and feeling good motivation to engage. I did them out of sequence from the order I wrote them yet with no feeling of pressure to do them or not. I felt more of a sense of curiosity about them when I wrote them down, not really sure if they’d come through. They were just options and possibilities, not decisions or commitments. Writing these ideas down was a bit like saying, “I see you. Let me know if you want to flow into action later.”

There was a strangeness to the day as well. I felt like I was attuned to a deeper sense of cooperation and coordination with life. I didn’t feel that I was making decisions as much as I was accepting energy-level invitations that I was sensing. I didn’t feel that those invitations were arising from within me (like from my subconscious) as much as I was picking up on signals being broadcast on a more spirity level of reality. Those signals were very present-moment, always shifting as the day progressed. They were often subtle, more like whispers or hints of possible energy flows. Nothing ever felt demanding or mandatory.

Sometimes I felt a more yang-like idea emerge, in which case I acknowledged it as yang energy and declined it. I could feel that some directions would require more force to advance them. I went with options that felt light and breezy, doing my best to flow into action with them as those invites came through – without hesitation or delay. There was no rushing or pressing. It just felt easier to glide into action once I had a clear enough sense of where the flow was inviting me to go.

I feel my inner senses have become even louder and clearer this year, so this was a great way to practice listening to them more closely, especially when the communication is subtle. I don’t feel this would have worked if my mind was cluttered or pre-occupied with predetermined to-dos. The action flow was great, and I actually felt that the day turned out better, both experientially and in terms of what outcomes got advanced, than if I’d tried to control and direct it based on individual goals. The flow of action also felt very well-synched to my mood and energy levels.

I want to float with this approach all throughout this week as best I can. I’m enjoying it immensely so far. Overall I’d say that yesterday’s flow felt marvelous yet also a bit mysterious.

I’m continuing this process today, and writing and sharing this little blog post happened because it showed up as a very yin-feeling invite this morning. I had no goal or even intention to write or publish anything today. I actually wrote and shared this as a personal update in my exploration log in the CGC forums a few hours prior, following a breezy nudge after breakfast. Then later in the morning, I felt the invite to add a bit more detail and publish it here, sensing that others might appreciate it. Perhaps someone would find this idea timely and synchronous relative to their own explorations. So if this does seem synchronous for you, perhaps this is a special invite flowing through for you to give this yin productivity approach a little test in your own life. Please let me know if you do that and how it goes. It’s nice to compare notes on this sort of thing.