How to feel the flow

Flow….feels like

Completely involved in what we’re doing – FOCUSED, CONCENTRATED

ECSTASY! Being outside of ordinary experience or ‘reality’

Greater CLARITY: knowing what needs to be done and doing it

SERENITY: no worries, growing beyond the boundaries of ‘ego’

TIMELESSNESS: don’t notice time!

MOTIVATION – Flow becomes its own reward (EXPERIENCE as important as the outcome

Mihaly Cslkszentmihalyi

Its all about timing

Timing is everything; I subconsciously willed myself to find these words, or did these words find me? Its a bit like the chicken and the egg, which one came first?

The School of Life

An evening workshop at The School of Life listening to the topic of Mindfulness and Meditation at Work with Megan Spencer. I didn’t attend this workshop to find reprieve, solace or an answer to a stressful work situation, I attended this evening to further explore how I can bring Mindfulness and Mediation into my endurance running; I’m on a journey.

When the above points about flow were read out loud I found myself nodding uncontrollably, I got it, I really got it, I had felt all of these points and it wasn’t through sitting meditation, it was through endurance running. I have only felt it twice; my first marathon, the Melbourne Marathon in 2013 and most recently the Buffalo Stampede Marathon, 2017.

What did I feel?

Complete involvement; I was present, I was in the moment, I was there in the here and now, I was 100% focused with untapped and unfazed concentration.

Ecstasy! I was on the best drug going around and it was free. I was the manufacturer, the supplier, the dealer and the side effects were way beyond an ordinary experience.

Clarify, I had a job to do and I was doing it. I needed to get from the start line to the end and from here I was going to have a new beginning, all I needed to do was keep putting one foot in front of the other, nothing more nothing less.

Knowledge, I had the knowledge that I had trained to a plan arming me with the skills so this was one question that was already answered, I was prepared and now I was putting into practice what I had been working so hard to learn.

Serenity, I was calm, the world around me was calm – I could hear the wind, feel the breeze and I worked with the energy from the earth. I was 100% grounded and nothing was going to ruffle my feathers.

No pressure, time was irrelevant – I never once thought about time, this was gold. Time did not stress me, it just wasn’t a factor so there was no thought of the time ticking despite wearing a watch.

Motivation; I felt focused, high, I had clarity, I had trust and belief, I felt serene and I felt no stress.  My motivation was to feed off this; feed off the flow and just keep moving forward. I embraced the moment and relished in the flow.

I would be rich

If I could bottle the flow feeling I would be rich but the thing about flow is; you can’t buy it, you can’t swallow it and you can’t inject it – you just need to open your mind and body up and feel it. And when you do; it will be the best feeling you will ever have.

 

Stay with me as I continue my journey of Mindfulness and Flow through medication practices; I don’t know where it will lead but I do know, I am present in the moment.