Flow Tracking Day # 1

Big Frank was tuned in today to FLOW. This is a report of discovered times of flow - no sense, for now anyway, in reporting those times when it was lacking. When Big Frank got up this morning, had his coffee, showered, read the NY Times, and got dressed - the flow was pretty slow. Let's concentrate on when things were good and he actually experienced some flow. He reckons that there were three times during the day when that happened.

1. Driving across town listening to Lee Ann Womack sing "If You're Ever Down In Dallas" he felt good. This doesn't really seem to fit within the criteria of relatively high challenge met by relatively high skill. Driving is not all that much of a highly developed skill, but under the right conditions it can induce happiness. Big Frank thinks we all know of times - the right tune is on and we just get get into the flow of the moment felling very good. So categorize this one DRIVING/LISTENING TO MUSIC.

2. Working on addressing a problem There was a person who was arrested, had spent the night in jail, and was a foreigner. So without getting into too much revealing detail, let's just say that in my position Big Frank had to contact that person's consulate, contact the jail, see if the public defender's office was representing him, what the charges were, had bail been met, when could I visit him, etc. etc. In the effort to gather all this information Big Frank was into the moment and out of himself. It was not the same kind of happiness as driving, but it was definitely a feeling of being engaged and not aware of himself. Let categorize this one as "SOLVING A PROBLEM/INTERACTING WITH PEOPLE.

3. Exercising in the gym while listening to a song of Pat Methaney's - "Are You Going With Me" from the CD "Off Ramp. This was while Big Frank was actually walking on the treadmill, warming up for his run. The warm up with this great tune got him into a much better sense of flow that when he was running the 3 miles that followed this warm up. This tune may just be the best warming up tune ever - listen and then use it and experience the flow yourself! Categorize it as EXERCISING/ LISTENING TO MUSIC.

So Big Frank immediately sees a pattern here with music. Driving was something of a surprise, but it probably shouldn't have been.