flow

Exploring what it means to be "in the Zone.."


flow

i want to understand the Flow of the Spirit
in the art of
creation,
invention,
communication.

this much i now know..
Flow is not an achievement.
not a switch we turn on and off.

it is a gift bestowed..
a phenomenon.

i have felt the difference.
i recognize it.

the dictionary on artifice: 
clever or cunning devices or expedients

i was trained
as many performers have been for centuries
in how to work by artifice,
by craft,
by strategy.

important tools.

but Flow is organic,
real..
not technique,
not fabricated,
and it comes only from
the Spirit of the Holy One.

it is a gift that we cannot work our way up to,

or strive to achieve 

as though it were an Olympic sport 

or a parlor trick.

it is not

sleight of hand.

it is a zone that can be slipped into.
but only by God's initiative.
i can't muscle my way through that door-
i can only trust my way in
and then enter only by permission,
by grace.

it is a seismic shift
in the center of my soul.
there is a deep central peace,
an eye of the storm.
then everything is fluid.
without anxious striving around the edges.

breathing becomes normalized.
a smile is real and not prefabricated.
there is lift,
free flight.
wind. glide.
insight. vibe.
the moment comes alive.

you can't just call this a brain wave.

one is being acted on from without.
infused from within.
it is a state of grace
and from it
a sacred moment
may proceed
and spread
rippling its way into
anyone in the vicinity
who is receptive.

quantum physicists
and cellular biologists
are racing
at great expense
to understand it.

i plunge into scripture for clues--
ransacking the pages of St. John and St. Paul,
grateful for hints and instructions
from this essential user manual for something Wild.

one thing is sure--
this is a blessed state,
a fount that we have the privilege of drinking from
upon occasion
at the prerogative of the
Great Creator.

i choose Flow over 

machination, 

over powering up, 

over strategy 

and device. 

i choose Flow over artifice.  

o Lord God,
Name above all names,
may i have more sips from this fountain?