Substantially less cynical then usual: Flow

F L O W

f l o w   i s   t h e   m e n t a l   s t a t e   o f   o p e r a t i o n   i n   w h i c h   a   p e r s o n   i s            f u l l y    i m m e r s e d   i n   a   f e e l i n g   o f   e n e r g i z e d   f o c u s,   f u l l      i n v o l v e m e n t,  a n d   e n j o y m e n t. 

  

I want to talk about engagement.

Mental/emotional/logical
engagement
stimulation
simulation
situation

I want to talk about my most poignant and intense passion.

I want to talk about music.





As it turns out, music has basically always been a thing. Egypt has harps and flutes 4000 BCE. Before that, different types of drums had a prominent place in many religious ceremonies. We don't know who was the first primitive human to bang 2 items together for enjoyment rather then function. And that hardly matters anyway.

Although music has little to no actual functional use, (excluding war drums or signaling horns), it developed all over the world. Unlike "agriculture," "animal domestication," or religion, it cannot be traced back to a specific region where it originated and then spread. Because where there were humans, there was music.

It's particularly interesting to note the significance of this phenomenon. Something of minimal survival value, developing all over the world at a time where there was no time for fooling around.

It's actually quite amazing.

Music must really just be such a natural part of being human. I can think of no other explanation.



When you play music, it engages such an enormous part of your brain. It's one of the few activities that stimulates both the left brain, (as the player has to take note of chords, rhythm, accidentals, scales, etc) and right, (musical expression and interpretation, dynamics, timing), that it strengthens the layer of tissue, the corpus calloson that connects the 2. Well practiced musicians have great inner-brain connectivity.

It effects the way we feel.  In 2009, the University of London conducted a study, playing different moods of music for different people, and monitoring the results. Predictably, those who listened to sad music were more likely to see sadness in a neutral face, and those whose music was happy were more likely to see joy.

People of all types are drawn to it. Friedrich Nietzsche famously said, "Without music, life would be a mistake." There's a huge overlap in those who are musicians with those who do math. Religious people are spiritually moved by music. Young rebellious youth are drawn to different sounds. It has always been a way for those in pain to express themselves. Jazz in the Harlem Renascence. Rap now.  Classical. Rock. Folk. Country. Independent. Alternative. Hip Hop

It is extraordinary




F L O W

Playing music has been the biggest passion I've had from the moment I took my first piano lesson 11 years ago. But even back then, playing music was more of an obligation then a pleasure.

It honestly wasn't  until I picked up a guitar for the first time 3 years ago that I fell in love.

Cutting the callouses hurt. Bar chords were a joke.


But I kept playing.

I taught myself "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles, and to this day, whenever I pick up a guitar, that is the first song that comes out.
It's natural.

But then I fell in love again.

I am convinced that guitar was meant to be with. Simple knowledge of music theory and technique open up unlimited possibilities.
 And as a sophomore, I wrote my first song.
It's a song that I look back on with a smile and a small shake of my head.
It has no key signature, no pattern, just a random melody finger picked on whatever chord sounded good.
I never wrote it down. But I will never forget it.

You see, I fell in love with music that day because I realized how extraordinary writing music is.
That little makeshift melody had never been played before in the entire world.
Maybe something similar to it, but it had never been played the way I played it.
Literally the first time that tune was ever played, it was in my hands, in my room.

And I was the only one to hear it.

This may seem selfish, but I find so much satisfaction in laying on my hammock, picking out a melody until I am satisfied, internalizing it, and then forgetting it. Never writing it down. Being the only person in the world to hear it.

This is flow for me.

My guitar goes where ever I go, because it is my soul. I'm not an overly expressive or emotional person as is, but a guitar tugs my soul out of my body and lays it on the table for all to see.

The truly amazing thing, is it's not just music that does this.
 It's like the air around us is surrounded with strings of color and emotion and when you create something, whether that is piece of writing or abstract art, a photo or a tweet, you are pulling the colorful strings out of air and weaving them into a unique tapestry that is the first and last of it's kind.
Because we have the power of creation.
To actually put something in the world that wasn't there before.
That blows my mind.


Without me, that little awkward sophomore plucked out guitar melody would never have been played.
Those combinations of color on my latest abstract painting would never come together in that particular way.
The words of this very post would have never been woven together.

That blows my mind.

It's an empowering thought.


Ah right now I am 'tsk tsk tsk'ing myself for not having a thesis statement. This post has been all over the place, from 4000 BCE to my bedroom. It drives me crazy when there is no thesis statement. I better make one up really quick. 

It may not be music for you. But everyone has something that gives their mind 'flow'. Something exciting, stimulating, engaging. Something that, when they do, releases them from all worries and fears.

I can't play guitar as much as I'd like. I'm too busy.

Maybe it's time we all took a step out of life, if even for just a moment, and did what we loved. Create things. Bring art into this world.

I feel like that is what 'transcendentalism' which is honestly the whole theme of my blog, is about. Simplifying life to what makes you excited to be alive.

So that's my thesis. Do what you love.

F L O W