It has been so long since I wrote my blog, but today I return to it for a slightly different reason. I have always been aware of flow and that delicious hyper focus zone of perfection where time slips away. But it has me thinking again recently, what are my flow activities? We all have things we like to do that we get lost in, and frankly I think we need to make time for flow in our lives. 

Sitting still for long enough to see something through to completion can at times be hard for me. I realise that I am only human, and I know we are all subject to multi tasking, at times it feels so ineffectual, trying to be an intellectual, but it all gets jammed up, like peanut butter on toast. Smooshy. It all smooshes together into an unrecognisable blob and really we can’t remember where we began. See what I did there?

I am also reading a book about focusing and losing attention, titled “Stolen Focus” and I am finding it very interesting. Johann Hari writes about the epidemic of lost attention spans, the flood of information we are receiving on a daily basis, and our inability to focus for longer than a few minutes at best. We all suffer from phone addiction and constant checking of apps, screen addiction is real. I spoke about this book with my latest airbnb guest. He went on to tell me he also has the need to check his phone every 10 minutes of the day (lets’ face it probably more) and has never in his life read a book from cover to cover. He is 32 and works in IT and is an intelligent man. But WOW. It’s because he has no attention span and can not focus enough to read more than a few pages at a time. I find that so disheartening! Missing out on all that booky goodness!

I love to read. Reading is a flow activity for me and one of the easiest flow activities around. I also do not persist with a book that is not engaging. I know there are many millions of riveting reads out there so keep going! Next! But I can happily say I read every day and have certainly wracked up hundreds of cover to cover reads in my lifetime. 

Gardening is another flow activity for me. I can spend hours tending to my garden and flowers and pulling every minuscule imperfection from my garden beds. Oh the joy of a giant repugnant weed! Like popping a bit zit, it is so satisfying. I know, what  a weirdo! I have been known to pull weeds randomly when out and about, I just can’t resist, I insist, on making your life weed free, whoopee! 

What are your flow activities? Do you even know? And how much time do you allow in your life for them?

Photography is another flow activity for me. And right now I want to jump up and take some photos, but I am being disciplined to get to the end of this article before I start the next activity. Just this one time. 

Life has been very busy for me of late. I have been working full time for the most part of this year, leaving me little time for random days of writing and frivolous time wasting. Instead I am “working hard for the money” (sing it), well hardly, I finish work at 230/3pm most days. I know right! Great! But I suffer such mental exhaustion by the end of the day I barely have energy for a walk around the block. Weird, but I am getting onto it. Maybe the fact I spring out of bed at 6am most mornings has something to do with it? 

It’s been a long winter/spring here in Perth. Summer is almost around the corner and I am looking forward to the warmer days, beach visits, sun baking in the garden and having those endless days of summer holidays with little demand and all fun to look forward to.  Oh and books, lots of books. Oh and I will no doubt find some weeds too. 

Welcome back to the blog, I do hope you have enjoyed a small distraction from your day, and I hope it inspires you to rediscover your own flow activities. Let me know what they are in comments. Now go find your flow, it will make you glow, and eventually grow, and that my friend will make you happy. Isn’t that the end goal here? 

Yours in words, 

Anita