I get warm and fuzzy feelings in my tummy when I think about flow states. When I say 'flow state,' you are probably envisioning the same feeling that I am. How you and I each achieve our individual flow states is probably not the same. Maybe you get into yours via rock climbing, playing an instrument, speaking on stage, doing comedy, reading, painting, drawing, or another activity. I get into mine via dancing and yoga. But once you've touched your individual flow state, you know what it feels like. And it's a feeling we can both probably agree upon. Divine, effortless, amazing, blissful, right...a space with zero resistance that you never want to leave.

 

Because this space can feel so perfect, it's reasonable to desire it often. Sometimes that desire can turn into greed. It can for me, and it does. When I get greedy with my flow state, I start pushing, striving, and forcing it to come about. My efforts become half-ass and inorganic, and the results are often sub par. I usually feel 'off' with the entire experience. Like something isn't right, but I can't put my finger on what isn't right. There is a block of some sort. Like I am trying to make something happen that doesn't want to happen.

 

It sometimes takes multiple iterations of me attempting to forcefully bring on my flow state to even notice I'm doing it, and then the lesson reveals itself: stop forcing. Easy enough, right? It sounds easy, but it's not so easy sometimes.

 

It happened for me recently, and I talk about it in a new podcast episode. It's a quickie, but if you don't have the 13 minutes to listen, here are the cliff notes. Pay attention when you feel yourself getting greedy with your flow state and remember this: All you can do is create the conditions for your flow state to arrive, but one thing you can never do is make it arrive. It just doesn't work. So simple in theory, yet so easy to forget in practice. If any of this resonates, what is it that you need to do to get to a place that doesn't feel forced? That's a great question to ponder. Maybe you need to change things up. Maybe you need a break. Maybe you're looking in the wrong place. Maybe you need to try something new. It doesn't feel good when you're forcing things. It brings about resistance. And I see resistance as a sign that it's probably time to shake things up.

 

I have a tendency to try to force/control everything around me, but I'm continually reminded that it feels infinitely better when I just allow whatever is going to happen, to happen - even if that means allowing a period without the flow, or if I'm in a slump, trying something new to find the flow. That's life. We're not always granted our flow. And we're certainly not entitled to it. The closer we get to fully accepting that, ironically, the closer we get to it. Life is tricky, eh? Sure keeps us on our toes...

 

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