Topic Progress:

The Flow Cycle

Struggle – The struggle is another word for Data Collection, or training. To achieve Flow in any art or discipline, you must first get to know the basics or fundamentals of whatever you are doing really well. For example, before Flowing with a Movement Art like Prop Spinning, one must establish a library of tricks/movements to move through. However, this library must be constantly updated such that the tricks/movements that will be performed are newly learned or can be put together in a fresh sequence. These updates are necessary because novelty is one of the Flow Triggers!

Release – Release is the actual act of using those freshly learned tricks/movements often and to the point when they come to you fairly easily. At this stage you’re not longer struggling to learn new tricks/movements to add to your tricks/movement library. Instead, you’re moving through the tricks with effort, but not nearly as much effort as you were in the struggle stage. Clear goals become more clear, immediate feedback becomes more accessible, challenge skill ratio becomes more balances, and all that focus allows you to become more free from distraction and disturbances. Your brain at this point begins to start operating optimally.

Flow – When you’ve reached MicroFlow it’s sometimes difficult to know until AFTER the Flow sesh. Of course, if you’ve reached MacroFlow, you’re well aware that you’re there. However, one should be careful that they don’t slip out of the state by thinking about the future. The Flow State is a “Now State”. As John Stuart Mill the British Philosopher once said, “Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so”. The same can be said with Flow, but even more strict. If you focus on anything but the activity at hand, you may cease to be in Flow.

Recover – You’ll know when you’re out of the Flow State and need time to recover when you find it difficult to get back that level of hyperawareness and STER feelings that you once had. Flow is the optimal experience, it is the peak level at which your brain can perform, and it can’t perform there all the time. Sometimes after a strong Flow State you may even find yourself unable to tap into MicroFlow, as in, doing the activity you achieved the Flow state through feels tiresome. This is because you’ve exhausted that brain circuitry responsible for that activity and thus, like a muscle, it needs time to rebuild. This is why attaining MicroFlow through other activities is the best available option for Flow Seekers.

Note: After a particularly strong Flow State, it may even be hard to achieve MicroFlow through ANY activity. The whole idea that “you only using 10% of your brain at a time” is not true. You’re using most of your brain most of the time. During a Flow state almost every part of your brain is contributing to that state and thus almost your entire brain becomes exhausted after a strong enough Flow state.

So, we understand what Flow is, what the benefits of Flow are, what types of Flow Artists exist in the world, the differences between Micro and MacroFlow AND how we can trigger Flow in our lives, BUT how do we actually implement this information into our lives in a way that’s sustainable? We’ve all tried to invite a new sustainable practice into our lives whether that’s introducing a new diet, a new stretching practice, a vow to do our homework BEFORE it’s due, or to start exercising again, but these things can be difficult. How do we change this?

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