4.25.16 Csikszentmihalyi

Csikszentmihalyi

analyzed how a person enters the flow state,

how one maintains flow

 (engaging in a task where the difficulty matches the ability),

and the factors that cause one to leave the flow state  

drifting toward other mental states of anxiety, relaxation, boredom, worry, arousal, etc. 
He was able to demonstrate that 

someone in flow loses a sense of self-consciousness:

the activity is entirely rewarding in and of itself, 

as one gains a sense of personal control

over the activity.

4.25.16 Smiling and muddy and gooey and panting and satiated

The ball and the other ball? Oh the delight some days, with two tennis balls. Without the Golden Retriever gene to manage more than one in mouth at once, he struggles to know what to do. 
To chase one while holding the other, to prefer one and then the other . To corral them both , or forget them on a race into the woods - towards small birds flitting in the brush . that just may be may be bigger exciting animals . 
And finally at the end of the peaceful walk/run, to be smiling and muddy and gooey and panting and satiated. 

Holding one as I hold the other, as he yearns for it. 

Pups and the great out of doors and chewy bouncy balls.

4.25.16 The best way in

 

We have this hobby of sitting around feeling shameful and badly about what we are not. 

But I say that an oak does not swim the high seas. 

A katydid does not grow deep roots and drop acorns. 

We need to discover our individual 'operating instructions' 

and find individual peace at living who and what we are 

versus having our brain's Basal Ganglia obsess on 

all that we are not. 

Seems the best way to grow into 

our full potential of self. 

4.25.16 The genius of Anais Nin

We do not grow absolutely ,chronologically.

We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative.

We are mature in one realm, childish in another.

The past, present ,and future mingle and 

pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present.

We are made up of layers, cells, constellations. 

4.25.16 The shining

The broad reach of the sky on a warm tromping day, out along the farmers' fields, as the scattered drama of clouds swarm overhead and the swinging treetops shine.