posted on Apr, 20 2012 @ 03:39 PM
Originally posted by Jauk3
Bow making and shooting is a great way to relax and to forget about all your problems.
When you are making a bow or shooting a bow you feel completely in the zone, immersed in the activity, and totally unaware of the passage of time or
factors outside of your immediate activity. This feeling of being totally engaged is called "flow." I know, it's a very scientific term.
Flow is an idea first put forth by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi that we use in the recreation field to describe the ultimate state of enjoyment in an
activity. When you are experiencing flow, the level of challenge is matched perfectly to your skill level. In fact, Csikszentmihalyi (prounounced
chick-zent-ma-hah-li) states that that flow is:
“being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably
from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”
What you describe is the exact way I feel when playing pool and working on masonry projects... It's pretty amazing the effects of ego, and having
thoughts that pertain to 'ego', such as thinking about what others think about you, or what people will think about you in regards to the actions
you are currently involved in.
I shoot pool, on a team, and when shooting, we make 100% sure that we are not to effect one another with negative thoughts as to how we feel about
particular moments in games. As soon as someone expresses any doubt in a teammate, or says anything that might inspire thoughts and emotions that
pertain to someones ego... EVERYTHING falls apart. The person shooting no longer is able to focus, and feel their 'flow'.
We're not even the greatest group of pool players... but having taken this approach, we 2 years ago won our league playoffs, won the state
tournament, and placed 5th in a national tournament. After placing 5th, there were many unwarranted comments made by certain members of our team about
the skill level and especially the EGOS of a few people... The next season, the same sentiment carried on, and we were all shooting terribly. Knowing
that we were going no where, all too fast, we dissolved the team and stop shooting.
This year, we all came back together... had a meeting. We all decided that we should try again, and go back to not making comments about one another,
that we were there to have fun and progress as individual pool players. We now have our 'flow' back... we are doing so well, that we placed first in
the first season, can skip the playoffs, and now have a spot in the state tournament. We are one tournament from another paid vacation to Las
Vegas!
The power of mind, and not interrupting the flow is one of the most important parts to performance. If we just lived our lives this way.... just
IMAGINE all the great things we would ALL be accomplishing!