|
Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Aug 24, 2019 12:35:08 GMT
I was listening to a podcast while exercising the other day and pondering the concept of flow. The best workout days are those times when I hit that zone. I love a morning when my head's in the right place, my legs feel strong, the weather is good... and five miles goes by like butter.
Cooking can put me in that place, too. Not every time for sure. Sometimes it's just a chore. But those nights when I'm really into the process are so enjoyable and satisfying.
So I want to be more mindful of setting up scenarios when I can create that zone for myself. It's such a good place to be. Share with me when you experience it or how you facilitate it, please. We could all learn a little from each other on this one.
|
|
|
Post by Merge on Aug 24, 2019 13:23:27 GMT
Hm, I’ve been thinking about this, too - I hadn’t considered the “flow” but I know what you mean. For me it’s a moment where I am just present and happy in the current situation. Might be while doing something, might be while doing nothing at all. It happened yesterday in the middle of teaching my 4th graders - every teacher has experienced that zen moment in the classroom where the lesson is just clicking along, everyone is engaged and the energy is positive, and you’re totally there for it. But it also happens sometimes when I’m sitting on the couch doing nothing.
For me, I think it’s mindfulness. Something I struggle with. Being present and aware in the current moment instead of always scanning forward or back, or thinking about being somewhere else. I struggle with this in my yoga practice especially - I cannot just be in corpse pose. I have to be making a to-do list in my head. It’s a struggle!
I really need to make an effort to be more mindful and in the moment. For me, that’s when things flow.
|
|
purplebee
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,717
Jun 27, 2014 20:37:34 GMT
|
Post by purplebee on Aug 24, 2019 13:48:12 GMT
I love finding "flow." For me, it sometimes happens when I'm working on something crafty: beads, a scrapbook page, crosstitch, and most of all when I'm singing and making music with friends, and everybody is "on" - there's nothing better!
|
|
maryannscraps
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,718
Aug 28, 2017 12:51:28 GMT
|
Post by maryannscraps on Aug 24, 2019 13:53:58 GMT
My mind tends to skitter all over the place, so for me having some background noise (TV or music) lets my mind focus and I achieve that flow better.
With exercise, I love to listen to podcasts. When my mind is focused on learning something, I could walk all day.
|
|
|
Post by scrapbookwriter on Aug 24, 2019 14:11:06 GMT
I love that feeling! I can find it while teaching, public speaking, writing, or creating. Sometimes I can even find it while cleaning/organizing.
Think how productive I could be if I felt that all the time!
|
|
|
Post by peano on Aug 24, 2019 14:15:26 GMT
Cooking with music for me too, OP; when I'm into it and wanting to try out something.
Walking out in nature with my dog on a beautiful day absorbing all the food for the senses--breeze in the trees, birds singing (hawks shrieking!) warm sun on my skin.
I did a collage project for 40 straight days this summer while listening to music, as an antidote to the news. I've had to pull back from the news because I couldn't psychologically handle the institutionalized torture being done to people by our current government.
The experience I have found that most easily puts me into flow used to be photography--hours passed like minutes--but these days I can't physically handle it due to my chronic pain issues. Oh, and singing. Just putting on some much-loved music and just belting it out.
Great topic OP!
|
|
|
Post by refugeepea on Aug 24, 2019 14:22:25 GMT
Key points that I try to remember
-This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future:
-Cravings are what drive habits. And figuring out how to spark a craving makes creating a new habit easier.
-Rather, to change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.
I changed my routine with cleaning. I listen to a podcast. It "sparks a craving" and makes it easier.
What doesn't help me is this part. I don't have a group of people. I struggle with anxiety, so having a belief things will get better doesn't usually work. This may help others.
-Researchers say that AA works because the program forces people to identify the cues and rewards that encourage their alcoholic habits, and then helps them find new behaviors
-It wasn’t God that mattered, the researchers figured out. It was belief itself that made a difference. Once people learned how to believe in something, that skill started spilling over to other parts of their lives, until they started For a habit to stay changed, people must believe change is possible. And most often, that belief only emerges with the help of a group believing they could change. Belief was the ingredient that made a reworked habit loop into a permanent behavior.
-If you believe you can change—if you make it a habit—the change becomes real. This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be. Once that choice occurs—and becomes automatic—it’s not only real, it starts to seem inevitable,
ETA: Sorry for the grammatical errors. I did a cut and paste of different parts of the book.
|
|
|
Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Aug 24, 2019 14:28:46 GMT
For me, it sometimes happens when I'm working on something crafty I used to find it in scrapbooking, but I don't do that anymore. I miss the creativity zone that process sparked for me. With exercise, I love to listen to podcasts. When my mind is focused on learning something, I could walk all day. Yes! They definitely make the time pass faster foe me than music. Sometimes I can even find it while cleaning/organizing. Me too! Not toilets. But surely in other ways.
|
|
|
Post by Rainy_Day_Woman on Aug 24, 2019 15:33:42 GMT
I am a massage therapist, and the type of massage I do is kind of a deep tissue swedish / lomi lomi / thai fusion. It depends so much on flow. Lomi is a hawaiian type of massage that aims to emulate the ocean- the rise and fall of the waves and the flow of the water. I spend a lot of time creating flow I guess Not just massaging- it is the same process I use to find flow in anything I do. I find it is a combination of intent, of breath, music and heartbeat. It's being present to do the work. I listen to a lot of music- I pay a lot of attention to bpm and music that suits the pace of my work. I like music that has a lot of resonance- deep chords that make me vibrate. It helps me find my heartbeat and I try to work that rhythm. When I am massaging specifically, I pay a lot of attention to my breath / movement and my clients breath and heartbeat and work to sync them. It always makes the flow happen. Once you get there- it's just riding the waves, right? Being too aware of what is happening breaks that rhythm so you just accept that it is going well, don't overthink too much and trust the process.
|
|
janeliz
Drama Llama
I'm the Wiz and nobody beats me.
Posts: 5,631
Jun 26, 2014 14:35:07 GMT
|
Post by janeliz on Aug 24, 2019 16:59:15 GMT
I’ve never really thought about this. Interesting. Cooking, for sure. When I’m making something that’s new, but not complicated, and I have a glass of wine on the counter and maybe a podcast playing? I do go into that place where things feel positive and are humming along and I can feel my energy lifting.
|
|
|
Post by rst on Aug 24, 2019 17:00:05 GMT
I love flow state, and I can usually find it when free motion quilting. Other creative activity that can induce flow for me -- painting, mosaics, knitting. Gardening. Sometimes sorting through a pile of mildly interesting but not pressing items, be it contents of the junk drawer or a huge basket of socks. Yoga is pretty much the only physical activity where I can do it.
I find that breathing is a key piece for me, and if I can focus on a deep and regular breath patterns, it will increase the chances of flow state. Music helps, but sometimes I just need quiet. The things that get in the way are people. Conversation just kills flow.
One of the main reasons I am trying to get off anti-depressants is that I find it very hard to get into a flow state while I'm on them, and I really miss feeling flow. I'm willing to deal with a fair bit of depression if I also can reliably have some time in flow. Such an interesting topic. My DH has absolutely no idea what I am talking about when I try to explain it to him. and yet, I think that he has his own flow state when he performs music or works on computers -- he just would never call it that.
|
|
likescarrots
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,879
Aug 16, 2014 17:52:53 GMT
|
Post by likescarrots on Aug 24, 2019 17:01:29 GMT
Cooking is definitely a 'flow' thing for me. I love it and find it so relaxing after working all day. Everyone I know thinks it's crazy that we cook meals 6 nights a week.
|
|
kelly8875
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,390
Location: Lost in my supplies...
Oct 26, 2014 17:02:56 GMT
|
Post by kelly8875 on Aug 24, 2019 17:06:01 GMT
A lot of it depends for me how work is. I do accounting for my family business, so often in the evenings my brain is DONE. So those nights I prefer to do good time in my chair. Maybe cook a good dinner, depending who’s around.
Other times, it’s a book. Getting lost in the book, to shut the world out.
Last night, it was tv and movies. No one else was home, so I was able to not worry if someone wanted to watch something else. Just my shows and movies on the DVR. So wonderful to do it guilt free from the moment I got home to going to bed.
It’s getting easier as my kids are older o do these things for me. As a mom I felt on autopilot for so many years, and was always rushed, multi-tasking or giving up what I wanted. Now, I’m getting into a lot of me time, and loving it.
|
|
DEX
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,354
Aug 9, 2014 23:13:22 GMT
|
Post by DEX on Aug 24, 2019 17:51:25 GMT
I used to be in the flow when I did hand quilting. The warmth of the quilt on my lap, the practice to achieve even stitches, the slow but rewarding progress was so good for my soul. I don’t hand quilt much anymore but I do miss the process.
|
|
|
Post by femalebusiness on Aug 24, 2019 18:01:59 GMT
I love to smoke a bowl and start cleaning or cooking. Those are two things that I don't usually enjoy. But if I smoke a little pot I thoroughly enjoy the process and it becomes fun. I don't do that often enough anymore.
|
|
|
Post by refugeepea on Aug 24, 2019 18:49:38 GMT
Cooking is definitely a 'flow' thing for me. I love it and find it so relaxing after working all day. Everyone I know thinks it's crazy that we cook meals 6 nights a week. I think that's why I like baking more. You follow the recipe. I get in the flow when I don't have to think. Being a good cook takes a lot of experience. Something that I find overwhelming and time consuming. It's not intuitive for me.
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Aug 24, 2019 22:44:10 GMT
Mine isn't flow as much as motivation. When I create a list (handwritten), I am in the zone. I try not to create lists a lot since I get a little too focused on them though.
|
|
|
Post by ilikepink on Aug 24, 2019 23:34:28 GMT
When I am cross stitching on my back porch. Listening to music and/or the birds—best moments.
I was also thinking today that my life has found a god rhythm. I work nights, a12 hour shift, and the mix of sleeping, working, and having a life is working well, and I’m grateful for that.
|
|
|
Post by papercrafteradvocate on Aug 24, 2019 23:44:49 GMT
My flow is always outdoors. Connected to nature. I feel best in that milieu.
|
|
|
Post by birukitty on Aug 25, 2019 0:09:53 GMT
I reach this most often when I'm doing photography. I call it "being in the zone". I used to reach it a lot too while scrapbooking. Hours would fly by and I wouldn't notice it at all. Sometimes I can reach it sailing or snorkeling but it really helps me to get there if I have more time to myself. Oh, and belting out loved songs in the car at the top of my lungs works too
|
|
luckyjune
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,685
Location: In the rainy, rainy WA
Jul 22, 2017 4:59:41 GMT
|
Post by luckyjune on Aug 25, 2019 3:32:23 GMT
Teaching writing to my middle schoolers and writing curriculum.
Especially teaching writing. It just makes so much sense to me and sharing what I know with my 7th graders is when all feels right in the world.
|
|
|
Post by alexa11 on Aug 25, 2019 4:49:29 GMT
Having a good hard workout is mine. Having the energy to get through it and not struggling- like I have been doing the last few days. Some days the weights just feel so heavy- it's hard to explain.
Making scrapbook albums used to be my creative outlet, but I don't do it anymore. I need to find something else to do because I miss it and I find myself searching through TV channels and Netflix.
|
|
|
Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Aug 27, 2019 1:49:39 GMT
For me, flow happens when things go as planned(whatever that may be.....checking off the to-do list, traffic is moving along, the items are in stock at the store, in and out of places-no long lines, etc...)
When things don't go as planned (items out of stock > detour to another store, all the treadmills are occupied at the gym so I have to do my workout out of the usual order, 35 minute wait on prescription pickup or you can leave and come back later >>back-track on the planned errand route, traffic is heavy or backed up, etc... Stuff like this seems to disrupt my flow.
My flow always seems to get disrupted when I am wanting to get things done in a timely manner, so that I use the leftover time for the fun stuff like.... scrapbooking, napping, shopping, meeting a friend for dinner etc..., relaxing, facetime with out of state Niece, etc...
|
|
kate
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,493
Location: The city that doesn't sleep
Site Supporter
Jun 26, 2014 3:30:05 GMT
|
Post by kate on Aug 27, 2019 2:00:01 GMT
Physical exercise triggers flow for me. I was rushing to an appointment through Times Square and Grand Central Station this morning during rush hour (not my normal commute), and plotting my route through the crowd reminded me of my racing days when I was a runner. It put me almost immediately into a calm, focused "flow" state (and I thought of the RPs and this thread!). Although I don't run anymore, I reliably achieve flow state about 12 minutes into a workout, whether it's a class or just me alone on a cardio machine.
|
|
|
Post by Karene on Aug 27, 2019 11:27:18 GMT
I find it when I am out kayaking. It's so quiet and peaceful.
Also when I take my camera and go out for the day to photograph wildlife. Love it. Just me and my camera.
Right now I am in a different kind of flow. I am training 14 new photographers this week. I have always been shy and done my own thing. But now I am in a supervisory role and responsible for 25 photographers. I need to make sure they know their stuff and I have to schedule their weeks as well. And I'm enjoying it!
|
|
|
Post by pastlifepea on Aug 27, 2019 12:17:48 GMT
Music...I can totally get into my zone when I have a playlist going in the background. It just changes everything for me.
|
|
|
Post by piebaker on Aug 27, 2019 12:51:29 GMT
DH and I work opposite schedules and he travels often, so when we have time together to shop, cook, watch a movie, his presence is my "flow."
|
|