SEISMIC SHIFT: GO with FLO and TED
Sunday, November 6, 2022
Go with the flow; everyone has heard this term or used it easily.
Each time we hear or use it, we won’t likely debate what it means – because it means what it means for us, for our situation, and it matters little if anyone agrees or sees it the same way.
When we pause to discuss any issue or problem, however straightforward the facts we agree on might be, our lenses are all different. If we see things the same way, there would be no conflict, and we wouldn’t bump into each other philosophically at all …
I’ve had two experiences; my appreciation/understanding of FLOW and what that means, whereby my sense of self and being off-track with the wavelength others are riffing on about.
The first, in a course I took, was illustrating flow as a technique – for managing a process of staying connected with and aligned with those we want to work with and to develop business with – it was one part psychobabble and one part science; it explained how-to better than it did the ‘why this works’ elements.
To ‘get in flow’ and ‘stay in flow’ with our friends and clients was a foundational element of the course message and process. I loved that experience and have incorporated many aspects we were taught into my practice and my daily life – with pleasing results.
In retrospect, the being in flow element I’ve learned works the best for me is to be aligned in what I want and what I say I want; that what I do is what I say I’ll do too – because these fundamental elements are essential to understanding what we are best at, desire passionately to do, and sets a framework for getting where we believe we need to go.
The other is not a new concept, but I can appreciate this new/recent interpretation of flow in real-time, meaning this time that we are living in/through a post-pandemic adjustment period; he is a celebrated guru and talking-head with credibility in his field and an entertaining speaker too. I’ve enjoyed most, but this recent one got my attention (perhaps because I’ve had flow thoughts often lately): Adam Grant on FLOW via a TEDTalk.
If you are in the mood to stream great TEDtalks – or head-doctor-talks – you might enjoy this dated one, though powerful just the same; 2004 TEDTalk by Dr. Martin Seligman, one I’ve watched and passed many times friends with challenges of family members they want to understand better.
How does any writer explain themselves to themselves and others?
I’ve been struggling with that lately – not so much with people who don’t understand me. Some friends express concern; they observe that I’m different in a way they don’t understand post-July 8th. You bet. I’ve changed. I would be concerned if there wasn’t a sea-change, if there was no ‘getting my sea legs’ as the view of my landscape feels like a smoothly paved and empty freeway on a warm sunny day – but it’s like being in the middle of an earthquake that causes the road and landscape to be reshaped before my eyes, I’ve got the pedal to the floor and struggling with both hands to manage the wheel.
A wild ride of inner-cranial spelunking for clues, understanding and new coping skills, with a refreshing change – the patience, start-focus-finish desire, so I have a simple formula:
Sit still.
Think.
Write.
Words fall onto the page better and quicker than ever.
Not just in my morning writing routine, but with uninterrupted and focused productivity chunks on every day’s done list – that’s a huge change, recognizable to me and others (thank you for your concerns), but it’s not a right/wrong issue; it’s a different-views issue, different concerns, and recognition that different takes are taken by every taker.
I only walk in my shoes. I can’t know what it is like in yours; self-flagellation is far less frequent, feeling better is my norm, and the return of feeling ecstatic is more frequent lately.
Is that cause and effect, things that would have unfolded just the same, or are some elements upended?
I can only report what I see, what I feel, and what I believe to be so. I can’t see myself, my work, or my life through anyone else’s lens.
Writing what is happening on a page helps me see/know what is real, determine which are things I’ve only dreamed of, and how a new reality compares to one I’ve left behind.
Sometimes the best way to manifest wishes and dreams is to live and love and work in the belief they are realized already – act as if – and we might have better outcomes that way.
It is, indeed, the best of times.
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