Flow State thru Joy: What is Fun?

When we think of fun, we think of something that is light.

Nothing too serious in the real world.

Sure, having fun is important when you are a little kid.

But when you are older?

It’s time to change.

Time to tuck away fun in the closet where it belongs.

But how true is this?

I’ve often found it fascinating when seeing patterns in interviews of legends.

The legends can range from industries such as sports, art, acting etc.

You know what is something they said that allowed them to be great?

They said that they had fun.

Truth be told, they loved their craft.

And it never felt like work.

This is often why we see some legends take TOO long to retire.

We often think ‘You have done so much. Now go relax. ‘

But they think: Fool! I am relaxing. And you’re trying to get me to retire from that?

Fun is very practical.

And it alters how you perceive time.

In today’s blog post, we are going to be talking about fun, it’s connection to flow state & what it means to have a tension free life.

‘Tension free!! Yea right?’

Subjective is always your choice.

And we will see why.

The Myth of Work

Traditionally, when we think of work, we think of it in a negative light.

Uhh…I have to work today.

This simple attitude alters lives.

There are people who spend most of their adult life hating what they do.

And they wait until the weekend to take a reprieve.

Worst, they count down the YEARS until they can retire.

This sort of attitude spills over to other parts of their life.

People who hate what they do often have a sour attitude about them.

Not always, but you can sense it from the way they move.

Typically, what they touch has a sense of death.

I often see this when I’m in a restaurant.

There are some waiters who are SO full of life.

They make it a priority to take care of their customers.

However, there are times when you go to the restaurant and the waiters are dragging their feet.

Fucking up your order.

Never checking up on you.

Huh??

Now I’m not saying that the enthusiastic waiter wakes up in the morning getting ready to wait tables.

Maybe they are..Idk.

But ultimately, one is viewing it as work.

While the other is viewing it as play.

Whether they are aware or not.

What is Time Really?

You ever had that moment when you were counting down the clock?

And typically, when you count down time, it goes by very slowly.

Sometimes you gotta check if the clock is working properly.

Flip that with when you are having a good time.

That’s when the seconds just seem to fly on by.

How real is time?

Time is real in the external world.

In the internal world, it is a subjective experience.

Einstein used to illustrate his relativity principle by making you imagine 2 completely different scenarios.

• Imagine if you put your hand on a hot stove for 1 minute.
• Now imagine a pretty girl sitting on your lap for 1 minute.

Objectively, the time is the same.

But subjectively, time is on a separate plane.

When you have fun, you warp time.

You get into the flow state.

The state that allows great artists, athletes, musicians to produce magic.

Let’s talk a little bit about flow.

Does Fun lead to Flow State?

I often found it funny that some people take hours to prepare a speech.

Truth be told, I was like that.

Back when I hated public speaking, I would have to prepare a lot.

As I gained experience, the amount of time to plan the speech began to dissipate.

That’s when I was able to create speeches quicker.

The act of speech was the same.

But my ATTITUDE had changed.

Flow is defined by Wikipedia as:

the mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

The phrase ‘enjoyment’ is the most important part.

And I can go back to the public speaking example.

When I had massive speech anxiety, I had one foot in and another foot out in terms of speech building.

One foot was actively trying to prep for the speech.

And the other foot was filled with worries about fucking up & getting booed off stage.

As I gained experience, the fears began to melt away.

And even if the fears were there, they were quieter.

More of the mental bandwidth was put on the task.

Fun is a cheat code to flow state.

Some people spend a long time reading a ton of books on how to reach flow.

They do a bunch of rituals.

And practice with all these tactics.

While in reality, the trick is to make the activity fun & begin.

What Defines Fun?

Fun is defined as different things by different people.

I personally have fun when writing.

Others hate that.

Fun is a subjective experience.

So rather than looking for a definition.

Look for a feeling.

The feeling to be alert for is tensionless.

It’s a mode where your body feels light.

One definition of meditation I loved was:

• The best meditation is the relaxing meditation.

And it’s so true.

Initially, when I pictured meditation, I viewed it as work.

And the whole act was full of tension.

My head would hurt, body would keep tensing up & I felt angry.

When I went in with the intention to relax, that’s when I began to enjoy it.

If you don’t know what the feeling of light even means, observe yourself when you are relaxing.

Just as your day is winding down after a long day & now you are just chilling.

How do you feel?

Physically, mentally & emotionally.

Observe that.

That’s the traits of fun.

And those were the feelings you used to have when you were a little kid playing with your action figures or dolls.

Those are the feelings you want to bring to your task.

Turn Boring into Fun

Look, I get it.

We live in a world where everything is not fun.

There are some responsibilities & obligations we must do that we don’t want to do.

But if that is the case..

Would you want to do those boring tasks with an agitated attitude, or one with some joy?

The agitated attitude will turn a bad situation into a worse one.

A trained joyful attitude will turn a bad situation into a not so bad one.

There are certain tasks which legit are bad. Like a funeral. So you don’t want to be joyful for that.

But something like taking out the trash.

Practice conditioning the feelings of joy in the act.

You have to take out the trash anyway.

So, turn it into an emotional intelligence workout.

By simply doing this little rep, you see the power of finding ways to add joy in your own unique way. And you are conditioning yourself into a new paradigm.

An evolved perception will follow.

If you have NO clue how to add joy, the bare minimum you can do is do the task with a smile.

You’ll feel some tension melt.

Over time, you want to unlock your inner child.

Just like you used to create storylines for the action figures & dolls.

Do the same with the storylines for your life.

No one taught you how to be imaginative as a kid.

It just happened.

We are imaginative by birth. It’s just a matter of rediscovering that.

That’s what fun is about.

Fun is a Modern Superpower

A lot of people who have fun & eventually condition that as a baseline state discover their hidden power.

This is what I call self-amusement.

Learning how to have fun allows you to condition negative vibrations out of a neutral task.

Remember, nothing is good or bad, only our thinking makes it so.

But to take it a level further.

Our emotions stamp the experience.

Thinking & emotions are a lifelong bond.

Control your thinking by controlling your emotions.

You control your emotions by unlocking your inner child.

That’s when you wake up and reach a level of productively that you could never have imagined.

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– ArmaniTalks 🎙️🔥