Chasing Flow
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#posts #creativity #lifeI was speaking with a friend about exercise. This friend has known me for a long time and has seen me try various exercises only to drop them. I have been doing weightlifting consistently now for about a year, so he asked why this has worked for me. I said it was about focus and the necessity to concentrate on lifting the heavy thing. The more I thought about it, the more I realised this is what I have been chasing in a lot of activities, the feeling of complete focus. It's the same with swimming, where you have to focus on your breath and each stroke to push forward.
When I go to the gym, I generally don't listen to music and try to be present as much as possible. I started walking around the fields near where I live on a lunch time with no music either. In writing, a longer session where I am fully focused and engaged is better than several short sections. At work, if I can have uninterrupted hours to focus on a task then it reaps rewards.
This intense focus is often referred to as flow, because in this state things come easily. The focus allows ideas to bloom and develop. But I think only applying it to creativity is a narrow definition that I have been guilty of in the past. In talking to my friend I realise I have been chasing a flow state in all aspects of my life.
It's probably because it's the opposite of mindless scrolling or taking on multiple tasks at once. Phones are in many ways anti-flow devices, allowing to to focus on lots of small things all at once instead of one things for an extended time. Flow is a form of mindfulness that is less focused on your body but more on what you need to do. A narrowing of attention into the now.
It can't last of course. We need to go back to the real world soon enough, with it's many distractions and noises. But now I'm aware of it I'm going to try and maximise these moments of intense concentration as much as possible.
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