Flow

There are two concepts by which I would love to live my life. My new year's resolution is to focus more on achieving these goals. 

The first is being present in the moment. Someone who is present in the moment does not worry about the future or have a preoccupation with the past. I am pretty good at not having a preoccupation with the past, but I am not good about letting the future just happen. That seems too free spirited to me, and I like to have to do lists, schedules and know exactly what my next move is.  On the other hand, I do not worry about things I cannot change about the future, such as money, or getting married, or whatever - you know, the things that will take care of themselves, and worrying about it just makes it worse. So, I leave that idea with this quote: 

 

"For yesterday is but a dream

And tomorrow is only a vision;

And today well-lived, makes

Yesterday a dream of happiness

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well therefore to this day;

Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!" - Kalidasa

My cousin read this to us while we were hiking in the woods of Maine for 7 weeks: a day well spent is the only way to make yourself happy, because when you are in the middle of the woods, there is not much else to do but to think about the day, and the day yesterday, and tomorrow. 

The second is the idea of flow. It is a very popular idea in the world of education, that in order for students to learn the most efficiently, they have to experience flow. Flow is when you can work at challenging work for a long period of time and not get distracted or feel tired. Flow comes to me when I know exactly what I want to do in the day, have a list to check off, and the day involves both fun, work and exercise. I need to work on having more days where I experience flow. Those days - those are the days I get into bed and look back on the day and think "that was a good day, I did a lot." 

Today, luckily, is shaping up to be one of those days. I have my to do list, I have checked off a good number of it, and I know I won't everything I need to get done finished, but I will have made a good faith effort.