Tuesday, October 14, 2008

"flow"

A friend of mine has always calmly discussed religion with me.  He used to attend church, has read the Bible in its entirety, and doesn't believe in God. 
Anyway, he once said (hypothetically) he'd like to start his own religion and call it "The Zone."  Intrigued, I was like "wtf mate?"
He explained it like something I learned in class the other day- "flow."  It's one kind of happiness.  It's where you're doing something and you're so engrossed in it that you basically block out everything else.  Though you aren't sitting there smiling or laughing mirthfully to yourself, you are being challenged and are accepting it.  
Volleyball.  This is where I find my flow.  My attention is on that ball and on the movement of the teams.  I chatter like a crazy.  3 times means it's true-- "tiptiptip" "outoutout" "mineminemine!"- whatever.  I can't hear the crowd, I don't think about anything but what is occurring right then, and how I may need to move next. I feel graceful as I move- I've practiced hundreds of hours in high school. 
My sand volleyball team has tall guys on it= I don't spike as much.  Sad day.  But when I'm a part of that volley, a pass or set, and one of the guys crashes it down, nothing is more epic than that.  I get such inner joy from a good game of volleyball, even if our team loses.  Real happiness.
A friend of mine says her "flow" comes from running, God bless her.  Even though I can't imagine getting into "a zone" while running (other than constantly thinking, "Thisisn'tfunouchamIdoneyet?") she does it every day.  That's sweet.  I'm on the lookout for others' flows.  Do share :)

1 comment:

John said...

I had an assignment in English that dealt with this exact subject- we were to find the "flow" experiences in our lives. Initially I wrote about playing guitar- it seems like nothing else matters when I'm playing. As I was writing it though, I realized that wasn't true - when I'm just playing, I am always concerned that I will make a mistake, and am always thinking about it. I realized that it's not so much playing guitar, but when I'm worshiping through music. That's the time for me when nothing at all matters, when all my worries and concerns are gone.