1: We’ve just had an intense “flow state” experience.
We’ve been completely absorbed in the activity, losing our sense of time. Our actions and awareness have melded together, and we’ve felt a powerful sense of being in control.
We’ve successfully traveled through the first three stages of the flow cycle: Struggle, release, and then flow.
How do we feel?
Likely, we’re wiped out. “Even the extra energy it takes to take a long bath can feel like a Herculean task,” Steven Kotler writes in his brilliant book The Art of Impossible.
2: Welcome to the fourth and final stage of the flow cycle: Recovery.
And if we want to get back into flow tomorrow, we must be serious about our recovery tonight.
If not, we simply won’t have the fight necessary to persist in the struggle stage, which always precedes flow.
“And it we can’t get up for the struggle, then we can’t get back into flow,” Steven notes.
“Flow is a high-energy state,” he observes. “But what goes up must come down. This is why, on the back end of flow, there’s a recovery phase.”
Recovery is all about replenishing our strength and reviving our vitality. “The neurochemicals used in flow are expensive for the brain to produce,” Steven writes. “It can take a little while to fill those tanks again. Nutrition matters, sunlight matters, sleep matters.”
In fact, sleep really matters.
“Learning is significantly amplified in flow. But for the brain to move information from short-term holding into long-term storage, deep delta-wave sleep is required,” he notes. Which is “another reason it’s hard to live a high-flow lifestyle without regular rest.”
We need “a dark room, cold temperatures, and no screens,” Steven writes.
We are wise to shut down our cell phones and other screens about an hour before bedtime. “Our cell phone’s glow is in the same frequency range as daylight, and this messes with the brain’s ability to shut down completely.”
3: What doesn’t work? TV and beer. What Steven calls “passive recovery.”
“Active recovery” includes activities like massage, mindfulness, stretching, restorative yoga, Tai Chi, long walks in the woods, Epsom salt baths, saunas, ice baths, infrared saunas, and hot tub soaks.
Once we’ve re-filled out tanks, we are ready to start the flow cycle again.
More tomorrow.
________________________
Reflection: Do I prioritize recovery, rest, and relaxation?
Action: Reference the list of recovery activities. Be intentional about prioritizing recovery practices every day.