Preparing To Flow

“If you are interested in something, you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it. Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them…The first step is to develop the habit of doing whatever needs to be done with concentrated attention, with skill rather than inertia. Even the most routine tasks, like washing dishes, dressing, or mowing the lawn become more rewarding if we approach them with the care it would take to make a work of art. The next step is to transfer some psychic energy each day from tasks that we don’t like doing, or from passive leisure, into something we never did before, or something we enjoy doing but don’t do often enough because it seems too much trouble. There are literally millions of potentially interesting things in the world to see, to do, to learn about. But they don’t become actually interesting until we devote attention to them.” -Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

“The mystique of rock climbing is climbing; you get to the top of a rock glad it’s over but really wish it would go on forever. The justification of climbing is climbing, like the justification of poetry is writing; you don’t conquer anything except things in yourself…. The act of writing justifies poetry. Climbing is the same: recognizing that you are a flow. The purpose of the flow is to keep on flowing, not looking for a peak or utopia but staying in the flow. It is not a moving up but a continuous flowing; you move up to keep the flow going. There is no possible reason for climbing except the climbing itself; it is a self-communication.” -Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Bom bom bom bompa bom
Sail the ship, bompa bom
Chop the tree, bompa bom
Skip the rope, bompa bom
Look at me -song “All Together Now” by The Beatles

Preparation leads to Attention.

Attention leads to Interest.

Interest leads to Concentration.

Concentration leads to Focus.

Focus leads to Confidence.

Confidence leads to Trust.

Trust leads to Risk.

Risk leads to Letting Go

Letting Go leads to Flow.

All Together Now!

Preparation leads to Attention.

Attention leads to Interest.

Interest leads to Concentration.

Concentration leads to Focus.

Focus leads to Confidence.

Confidence leads to Trust.

Trust leads to Risk.

Risk leads to Letting Go

Letting Go leads to Flow.

Once more with feeling!!

Preparation leads to Focus…