Ups and ... Ups!

Athletes, scientists, engineers, coorporate officers etc. all speak of a state of being that they all strive for and sometimes find. It's called Flow. It's the feeling of being in total control of yourself and having perfect focus on the tasks at hand. When in flow you wont be distracted or thrown of by external events but will rather adapt to them and solve them as you go. Never taking your focus of the goal. David Allen, in his book "Getting things done", speaks of a state called "Mind like water" where the mind, having rid itself of all distractions, is ready to absorb and deal with any problem it may encounter, without missing a beat on its way to its goal.

Most of the time, this state of being is just a goal, a vision of what we want our lives to be like. But sometimes, in the rarest of moments, we get to experience it. For an elite athlete it might be while running a race. He/She finds the perfect rhythm, the perfect distribution of body balance, the perfect breathing pace and somehow feels previously unknown strength push him/her along in an ever increasing speed that is just right and in that moment he/she easily, without even noticing the extreme exertion he/she is making, glide past his/her competitors and win the race. For the scientist/engineer it might be that one afternoon when all the pieces fall into place and everything becomes clear. The afternoon they solve that big problem they haven't been able to quite get their heads around for the last few weeks. The afternoon that all the new ideas appear and fall into their proper places enabling the CEO to finally plan out the new organisational structure. That one performance where the singer doesn't miss a single note and the music is perfectly timed down to the microsecond.


That's flow.

Why do I mention this then? Well, I think I have been coming close to it sometimes lately. If I were to describe my life right now it would only take one word: Awesome! That word I don't use lightly. I tend to not like using it at all. I feel like things in my life are falling into place. I have almost caught up with my own life and am starting to feel good about my situation in general. That's a feeling I haven't really felt since shortly after my mission. I remember times as a missionary when things were fantastic. People didn't want to talk to me more then usual. They weren't easier to persuade, the weather wasn't any better then other days, I hadn't had better food or anything like that. I just felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be, doing exactly what I was supposed to do and better yet, doing it in exactly the way I was supposed to do it. When I was in this state it didn't matter what people around me said or did. Nothing could break my spirits. Regretfully I wasn't in this state the majority of the time.

It think the key to why I'm feeling so good about myself lately is the fact that I am proactive instead of reactive. That I make choices and act on them, instead of having choice pushed upon me and only time to try and pick the least painful alternative. Someone once said that getting a few things done is several times more effective then standing in front of a mirror and repeating "I am someone and I can achieve anything I set my mind to" to yourself a thousand times. It gives a lot of confidence when you see that you have actually done the hardest part, which is to begin, and that you are not only telling yourself that you are a someone but rather showing yourself.

If that last part isn't making a lot of sense it is because I'm getting really sleepy now. I hope you can all find flow sometimes in your lives. As for me. I seriously need some sleep:P
Good night all!