So… what’s that flow cycle look like?
Ah, you can draw it any way you want to, of course. This is how the good folks at the Flow Genome Project have it sketched out.
Today’s work: Begin to identify where you are in the stages of flow as you work on your creative projects. As you write, as you rehearse, as you collaborate with a team, as you self-tape, as you work on your show bible… all of it. Map out the stages and recognize the feeling of shifting subtly from one to the other. Or are your shifts not so subtle?
This is so cool! I love the idea of moving into recovery while I still have the bubbling creativity still simmering away. That really makes sense!
And I so get the struggle! I’m feeling nervous because there’s one scene that I am struggling with learning- and now I see the approach differently. The struggle is real.
Thanks x
Yes! The struggle is an incredibly real — and vital — part of flow! We NEED that hump to help us launch! So glad you’re enjoying this.
Ooo I love the cycle, and I love the science-y side of this. Knowing which chemicals are causing what, and how they play a part in each cycles has made Flow much clearer for me. ❤️
Excellent!!
This reminds me so much of effective dog training! It’s so important to stop training and do something fun while a puppy is still doing well and loving training. One behavior book worded it (Roughly) as “The time you least want to stop, is the moment you most need to.” I love seeing the overlap and how applies to our own learning and creativity! Thank you for sharing this, Bon! I’m looking forward to trying FLOW out with my new knowledge 🙂
Ooh, I LOVE that! Really great parallel. Thank you for sharing it!
Wow, that was mind opening!
I am very new to the idea to allow myself to recover after I’ve just done something well. I think this comes from years and years of classical ballet training – with the wrong teachers. I know that in the end I lost my love, not for dancing, but for going beyond your limit every f’ing time…
And as I am a dog person Lydia’s note will help me to remind myself to treat my inner puppy gently and with love 🙂
Yay! Do a little reparenting for that young ballerina and watch the magic happen. 🙂
“Respect the Recovery Period”
Connecting the inner child to the puppy analogy, play time moves into nap time. And how CRUCIAL getting nap time is, otherwise you have an overtired toddler and all hell breaks loose.
Time to continue being a good parent to myself and go for a walk to process and allow all of this learning to settle in!
Excellent! 🙂 So glad you’re enjoying this!
This is amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever EVER allowed myself the recovery phase. Certainly not on purpose. I churn it out until it is completely done or I don’t want to look at it anymore because my entire body feels completely broken and I will never have energy again. It is suspected that I had Adrenal Burnout at some point because my cortisol levels were so high and I will hit times when I will just all of a sudden turn into a rag doll because I just THOUGHT about a project that I wanted to do (and all the work that entailed). It is a LONG road to fully recover from adrenal exhaustion or burnout. Lots of naps are involved. There were about 3 months (10 yrs ago now) when I didn’t even have the energy to think about anything much less move.
As for my Flow Profile:
Deep Thinker seems to be my primary with a strong tendency towards Hard Pusher as a secondary – but not really the extreme sports part (although I am a Gymnast at heart and feel at peace when I am in the gym). The description “slow and steady isn’t what you are after, and the middle of the pack isn’t where you belong” hit me pretty hard. And that I have a relentless inner critic (your info about the bilateral stimulation is going to make such a big difference there too!) But, it still all mostly happens alone. Even when exercise is involved, the solitariness of it is important. And the best work is definitely at 3am, 4am, 5am – and often not going to bed until the rest of the world has left to go to their day jobs.
This information may have seriously saved my life. If I can make myself stop on purpose, that sounds awesome. My question would be this. Since my muscle is so disastrously under-developed to go into Recovery. Should I even allow a full 90 minutes? Or just definitely cut myself off at 90 since I don’t have any idea of how long it would naturally be?
Thank you for your thoughts on this!
I think I’ve got it after watching the rest of the series. :). Love this stuff!
Yay!
It’s got to be a hard out at 90 no matter what. But I’d suspect if you set a little timer for 60 minutes as a “check in with myself” reminder, you could begin to — over time — cultivate what the sweet spot is for shifting into recovery mode. So glad you’re embracing this! Flow is a game-changer for sure!
Good stuff. I don’t think I ever really timed when the recovery period happened, but I know I always gave myself that, although, tbh, not always when I was still feeling the bubbling creativity. So, this is great info. I have been more cognizant of that lately, though, as my energy level has been lower than it used to be — ahh, Hashimoto’s. I am pushing against it, but it pushes back. This idea of the 90-120 minutes for the *complete* four-cycles of flow will be beneficial for that, though.
In forcing myself to respect the states of flow, I’ve become superhuman in way fewer windows of work. It’s a requirement for my optimal health, at this point. 🙂
I’m definitely guilty of over-driving the flow state into the wall (Julia, your comment about former ballet teachers teaching you this rings true for me, too), but that gentle reminder of stopping when you still feel creative sounds enticing… dare I say flirty with the muse? 😉
I’m also feeling a relief from knowing the struggle is necessary. I so often berate myself for “making it too complicated” before I begin (granted, sometimes that’s a JFDI issue, lol). But learning that struggle is the preceding step to the flow state makes me feel less “crazy” for finding myself in it!
Oh, it’s such a part of it all! Glad you’re feeling frisky about this. We did a month of Your Relationship with Relationships a while back in Expansive Capacity and one of the concepts we toyed with is called smoldering. It’s like flirting, but it always leaves ’em wanting more. Get a motor running then shift gears a bit. I love using that energy with states of flow. 🙂 Sounds like that may line up with your new relationship with this practice too!
Ooh, interesting! That pings off my Fascinate result (my secondary is passion- maybe I can fascinate my own proverbial muse) and a specific spot in my YITS report as well… this is something to play with!! Thanks for that share!