Hello and happy Easter Day to those who celebrate.

I have just gotten back from a week of looking after nearly 100 young people at a music residential program. It was wonderful and exhausting in equal amounts! What these lovely young people achieved over the course of the week was quite remarkable really. 

I think the combination of a community of support, along with skill development and structured practice, really showed what we are all capable of when we apply ourselves and feel a sense of encouragement and purpose. It was so inspiring.

On the drive to and from the residential I have been listening to the audiobook 'The Art of the Impossible' by Steven Kotler. This book has inspired me to restart my weekly YouTube sessions, and I am also going to tweak them a little bit as a result of what I have discovered through listening to this book. 

Kotler discusses how to move towards accomplishing what you feel may be out of reach but would like to accomplish. One of the main mechanisms behind how you can do this, is through the repeated application of a goal-directed activity that takes you into a state of 'flow'. The activity will also be one that lies in the intersection between your passion and purpose.

I have been dipping back into the research on flow over the past couple of months and have now realised that flow is something we can feel through many different activities. For example journaling, playing music, drawing or painting, sculpting, running, taking photographs, surfing, driving and listening to music, and many others. 

In Kotler's book he discusses research that shows how we have a balanced cocktail of several neurotransmitters when we are in a state of flow. Dopamine, for instance, not only enhances focus and motivation but also increases pattern recognition, allowing for greater creativity and problem-solving. Norepinephrine sharpens focus and boosts energy, while endorphins provide a sense of euphoria and pain relief, making it easier to push through challenges. Together, these and other neurotransmitters create a powerful blend that enhances both performance and creativity. 

Flow is apparently a rare state where there is this balanced activation of all of the brain's neurotransmitters. It's not about the dominance of one over the other, it is about the state that results from the synchronisation. To me this sounds like a state that could not only make us feel good, but could be a way of resetting and balancing how we feel. 

For many years we have heard about how it is good for us to engage in something creative. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why.

So, I think I am going to make my Sunday evening YouTube sessions a place where this could happen. I am going to be holding space for 15 Minutes of Flow state activities. 

By Kotler's reckoning, if you do the same activity repeatedly and increase the challenge level each time, then you can get to a stage that you never thought possible at the start.

So I wonder, maybe this could be an opportunity to get into, or back into an activity that you are drawn to. Have you been wanting to learn, or re-learn guitar, piano, or another instrument? Or perhaps drawing, watercolours, journaling or something else?

Whatever it is, how about trying 15 mins every week on that thing, and see where you get to with it.

I am thinking about getting back into playing guitar. I haven't played guitar since Sept 2018 when I did a gig at a club in Manchester and caught whooping cough after it. I'd love to start playing that again. Or the harp. I've got a little tabletop melody harp and a table harp that's had a broken string on it for years that I've never fixed. 

Is there an activity (it doesn't have to be art or music) that you have done in the past that has made you feel like you are in flow when you do it?

Or is there something that you have been wanting to have a go at but have always been putting off?

Why not give it a go and just aim for 15 Mins each week to start with.

Although 15 Mins doesn't sound like much, it is an important start. If it happens every week then this time will soon add up to a lot more practice than what you are doing at the moment! Maybe you could even end up doing the impossible!

Let's practice together!

From next Sunday (27th April) I am going to be restarting my YouTube Sessions and before the journaling I am going to hold the space for us to practice our activities. My plan is to follow this structure:

Quick Intro

7 Min Setup

Pause & Check-in

7 Min Flow Session (doing the thing)

Then, questions, chat and journaling for those who want to stay to do this.

Do you fancy it? Hit reply and let me know!

I would also love to know what activity you might be thinking about doing and how you feel about it right now.

Explore Flow Further

If you're intrigued by the concept of flow and want to dive deeper, I highly recommend reading Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This is the main historical text on the subject of flow.

Until next Sunday,

Donna