The dynamic notion of flow attracts me. It seems clear to me that nothing is fixed and nothing is unconnected or isolated. It makes no sense to me to consider only the present condition of a patient without taking into consideration the vertical flow of past, into present, into future, and the horizontal flow of materials, energy and information into, through and around the individual from the multiple environments and contexts in which they live.
The same is true of life.
The vertical flow brings all our past experiences into present time, and is influenced by the multiplicity of future potentials.
The horizontal flow of encounters changes us, as we, in turn, change all that we experience. It changes our environment and our relationships, just as they both change us.
What holds this together, what opens the windows and doors of insight, are our stories, every one of which is utterly unique. That’s why it’s so important to listen attentively, empathically and without judgement, because without that we fail to grasp the story and fail to comprehend the other.
Iain McGilchrist, in “The Matter with Things”, says this….
We are temporary material entities, capable, we do not know how or why; not just of awe before creation, but of playing a part in creation itself; beings that emerge out of the original consciousness, eddies in a seamless flow that embraces everything that is and was and will be; for a while distinct, but never wholly separate from the flow, since we are for a while that flow, wherever it finds itself.
Heroes Not Zombies 
Your two postings – yesterday’s about rocks and today’s about flow – have reminded me of a comment I read, many years ago in a book commemorating the International Geophysical Year, that given time, rock flows just like water. And not long after that, I read that the same is true of glass – the stained glass in Rouen Cathedral is perceptibly thicker at the bottom of the windows than further up, due to the long term effect of gravity. I found all that fascinating at the time, and still do.