Why can having a better understanding of getting into a ‘flow state’ be important for solving problems in our daily lives?
Let’s first define what I mean by Flow. It is generally defined as being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one. Your whole being is involved, and you are using your skills to the utmost.
Sounds pretty straight forward and simple. Be in the moment with the courage to go with your decisions while not carrying any of your previous baggage. There are numerous number of times where being able to shift into a flow state of mind could be both beneficial and help you clear away what’s not important emotionally or intellectually and making decisions based what’s important to the link right now in the chain going forward for the bigger picture.
What do we first need to have in our toolkit; before we even hope to slide into this mystical flow state?
Sadly the most important skills are often over looked immediately for the flashy showy skills but these three things will always; always be the most important no matter what the situation or task.
Breath ~ the most basic of all things and yet we all drop it under pressure. A big lung full of air in, pause and releasing, makes everything possible. There are many different ways to do that. Box breathing just one of many plus https://apps.apple.com/au/app/the-breathing-app/id1285982210 is a nice simple app; however one of my favourites when I get stressed and I’ve seen it work well with clients. Take in the first breath usually what you find when someone is nervous or tense, even when they are deliberately trying to take in a big breath it’s still quite shallow. So before you actually let that breath out you take in another one or even two breaths slowly. I find that second one suddenly feels like you’ve used way more of your lung capacity. Now you let it all slowly out. It may need to repeat that a few times and then go to normal breathing.
Be Present ~ obviously to make the most of a moment we need to actually be fully immersed in the real world reality of right now. The good, the bad, the ok and importantly it allows us to prioritise what truly matters next. Baggage from our past or fear of our future can cloud this space instead of having clear and calm anchoring of the present.
Control your body ~ it might seem strange when our instincts are for example put out your arm/hand as you fall down. Yet if you are in control of your body you should probably duck and roll. Same if you are feeling anxious our body can shut down and understandably go towards a fetal position. However if we are in an environment that requires active or even passive inputs from our physical self. Then logically nothing will feel more anxious or vulnerable with the thought we can’t control our own body let alone the situation as a whole. Lucky surprisingly there is an easy fix to this. Whether you are sitting or standing; stretch up tall and then simply wiggle your toes or shoulders. It only needs to be for a few seconds and you’ve cleared the pathways to your limbs and often just like that you can take charge of your own body. If you can can control your own body’s reactions you can make decisions and implement actions. Now you are the leader in your own little world and you can stand at the very least on a small platform of confidence.
Boom! Those three little basic things let you clear your thoughts and actions and when coupled with practiced skills allows you to have situational awareness and be in a passively active (relaxed – but ready) state.
Flow often requires lots of preparation, and diligence. Thinking about how to get the best out of your equipment, build up your knowledge. It can seem a contradiction that to really get into this mind state you require deep learning and understanding; however the first stages of flow can be achieved by being aware of equally what emotional information I don’t require and above all else where am I and what’s the next thing that genuinely matters.
The change from unknown and unskilled to a level of competency which will allow us to jump into our chosen endeavour, is a funny mix of several things. However almost universally the more we progress the more we realise how little we knew at the beginning. Yet we all start somewhere either wide eyed and innocent or full of miss placed bravado. It’s how we’re willing to learn and have degrees of both stubbiness and resilience, all the while placing our egos to the side in order to obtain mastery. Where instincts and emotions often clash with our learning and raising to the challenge of going from beginner to competent and keep crawling your way forward without terrifying yourself or consistently over challenging your skill level. Then of course we carry our inbuilt instincts that can be both born from our protective brain, fears, joys and basic intuitions (Gut feelings). This allows steps towards applying yourself to the grind of improving your skills and understanding. Muscle memory and systems that let you clear your head in any pressure moment, allows you to lean into situations so you can truly hear what’s being said, see what is there, not what your brain tells you to see and deeply discern what’s needed.
Learning to go through the process of acquiring the skills which allow us to both participate and stay safe. Some these will be an absolutely necessary formation level to doing whatever the sport/life is going to throw at you. However for a beginner these often seem a bit, how would you say- boring and possibly seemingly obvious. Yet as the saying goes beginners often want to work on intermediate level skills and intermediate level participants want to think about and work on advanced skills. However advanced level participants often want to understand and work on the fundamentals at their deepest level. It’s easy to know something superficially yet having a deep understanding means you can recall it and often adapt it into any situation to which you are confronted. Building and understanding a skill bank that can serve you not only when things are easy and straight forward but also when you aren’t feeling it and it SEEMS overwhelmingly complex and difficult. Mastering something more often than not comes down to knowing your own strengths and weakness but importantly what’s white noise and what matters right now. Observe ~ Decide ~ Act : Repeat.
Something which to the unaware (armchair critics ~ often no skin in the situation) can seem easy and spontaneous, has usually gone through hours of training and planning. Whether the task is the most straight forward or a complex series of interlocking skills and strategies with no plan or at the very least doesn’t have the pilot checking in with forecasts and possible launch sites you are playing a very high risk vs reward strategy on each attempted adventure. Sure every dog has his day and you could get lucky without planning or prior thought. However this is bound to cost you big time at some point and you are relying on good luck, good judgement ~ which maybe based more on lack of knowledge (ignorance is bliss scenario). Planning on the macro level and checking on the micro level. Making sure items that can be forgotten but are essential once the adventure gets the green light. Things are charged updated and ready to function. Not much point carrying a flat emergency locator beacon or leaving it at home; same for water.
Planning is a two sided coin as it can seem overwhelming and the list can become longer and longer progressively sliding from practical planning to procrastination. Which is why at different times we can all get either bogged down in it or it becomes a moving roadblock that can be trotted out for any number of excuses as to why we aren’t able to do something. Fear, anxiety and lack of self trust can easily be trapped in this process. Decision paralysis grows when all the what if’s can set in and take hold here. Leaving us ground bound and disempowering our confidence to be able to make legit realistic choices. Or equally our brains hit the switch the other way. The carefree optimist who doesn’t want to be weighted down by all this nonsense. Their eyes glaze over whenever somebody wants to talk detail or go over possibilities for the day. Launch have a blast and land; LIFE is meant to be SIMPLE! Don’t get me wrong we all have to embrace the fun and the reason sometimes we got into something in the first place, a little reminder is always good to not overcomplicate things. Keeping that needle in the workable space of open to learning, getting everything squared away and remembering to relax and have fun. HMMMM doesn’t that seem like the continuous juggling act of life.
After getting your background work and toolbox started we can begin to understand about having a plan or multiple plans and contingencies. Some are strategies for different possibilities, others for emergencies or copping mechanics when the heat gets turned up, which may need to be rehearsed both externally and internally. All these things are squared away before deciding whether your feet leave the ground and commit to the immediacy of chaining information and blueprints as you shift from theory and practice to finding your flow state and flying the day not the plan. There can be so many options and variables; no two moments will be the same, yet it’s all about doing one simple thing at a time when it matters most. (Go figure after all that work; right NOW only comes down to what is required right now no matter what your thoughts, hopes or actions were prior to launch)
At last it comes to the moment of go ~ no go. All the practicing, all the thinking, all the planning and concluding observations, comes to the pointy end of doing. Everything else must melt away because it all comes down to a search for information and data from which to base the next decision you must make and then the one after that. Some will be easy, while others unsure, Most will have a level of letting go of something either in your conscious or unconscious thoughts. But to help make the most of the possibilities you’ll need to address your own mental barriers well.
In an environment to which you can’t ask for a timeout or for things to only go as our human brain describes. For we are masters of the earth aren’t we? Except Mother Nature really doesn’t care for our forecast and planning. Whether we are brave or timid. Only you can control how you react to her not how she will react to you. At times you’ll need to be the wind making active decisions and actions to help you be in the best possible place and at other times you’ll need to be the leaf. Allowing yourself to go with what’s happening understanding what’s within your control and what is outside your control. It’s here those hours of training and planning can mean we can skip back to the first three basic skills. Breath, Be Present and Control Your Body.
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius said “Pain is neither unbearable nor unending, as long as you keep in mind its limits and don’t magnify them in your imagination.” Reminding ourselves things can be uncomfortable and even scary but if we control our conscious mind and actions we have the best chance of making good decisions and actions. This is where we put our egos aside and by being present and putting aside any life trauma or related expectations we can allow our mind to only deal with what is necessary with required actions appropriate just this very moment. Orientating where you are, Observing what matters next, Make your Decision, Follow with an Action (passive action maintain what’s happening and monitoring is still just a big of a decision as actively doing a required action) and Repeat. In this world heroes aren’t born because they strive to be the most uncomfortable for the longest but someone who finds joy in what’s possible while knowing their limits physically, intellectually and emotionally. At times you’ll push one or all three of these and other times the challenge is having the courage to stay safe by not challenging those limits, in fact just showing up was your moment of courage. That’s why life is both complex and simple. To stay in flow we just need to beware of these challenges both external and internal, working out what suits our needs and wants’ both in the short and long term. If we want long term gain we may need to go through short term uncomfortable yet if we push in too hard or hide too much in the short term we can leave long term scars. Knowing how big is YOUR why and what COST am I willing to pay and what am I ready pay while understanding what I’m already paying. To stay in a flow state often we need to have understood these undercurrents prior to the moment as this lets us build our emotional toolbox before the rubber hits the road. Otherwise old habits both good and bad will leap into the space held open by insecurity or uncertainty. To obtain and maintain flow if we have addressed our mental toolbox as much as our skills training and planning then we can come through the challenges both perceived and equally real without losing that sense of time being altered.
Being in a flow state with anything you are doing takes consideration, planning and stepping wholly into the moment, just with your skills and leaving behind your baggage. All your senses are open and yet your mind is free of white noise. You are both patient and alert, situations can come into your decision box and are met with curiosity, unencumbered by our biases or smothered in filters which possibly aren’t geared to this reality. Thus the information is assessed to what’s needed and what we can actually do. Moment by moment until the pilots feet touch back down to Earth.
Flow is the goal and the by-product of being in each moment fully; or is it the other way round?
Think how you can work on your skills for a task and also address the emotions we carry around with us that might not actually let us fully utilise those skills because we actually haven’t trained ourselves to get the most out of every situation. Good luck and remember the boring basics first no matter what position life has put you in.
