Dear Artist: How to Get into The Flow State So You Can Get More Out of Life

Today, I want to talk about every day. 

Sounds redundant. But yes, I want to explore and discuss why every day is important and how the things we do regularly affect us (at least in my own experience and self-awareness), and How can we quickly go into a flow state to help us have better days.

Is it me, or is everyone just really going into this time slowly?

've been hearing from my friends that they are taking the time to know their home hobbies and passions, which I've never heard as extensively during pre-pandemic or during the times that were "normal."

There are usually four phases in my process regarding this: 

1. I tend to jump from one new hobby to the other.

2. I finally find a sweet spot --- a mixture of my comfort zone and something a little bit more experimental/more challenging

3. The hobby or that activity becomes an outlet and becomes a part of my schedule.

4. The "quiet confidence" in ME is built --- realizing you can opt to go back to this activity whenever you desire and pause/stop at your own discretion.

I recently heard and saw the people around me find their sweet spot.

My best friend is obsessed with plants and, with shining eyes, tells me she has yet to buy another plant during a live sale.

My other friend is obsessed with sculpture, and during one of our calls, she shows her set up and lights up as she tells her plans of buying new art materials for her new tarot card deck project.

Our family friend was working a regular 9-5, but since the pandemic happened, she has shifted into a night shift, with plans of building her own "coffee nook" and starting small with her syrups and containers. I tasted her white chocolate latte, and WOW, I'm floored (even if I am not a big fan of coffee).

Also, during my brief stay in the Philippines, one of my friends added to this group called "Home Buddies."

Everyone dove in and beautified their homes on a budget and became creative in making their surroundings more beautiful.

I am stressing the word "beautiful." Have we ever really lived well pre-pandemic? Or are we too stressed or forgetful about taking breaks and appreciating the small things in different situations?

If you've been into this space before/follow me/or have spoken with me a few times, I would have brought up the topic of hobbies and time.

As I read this book on Beauty of Everyday Things --- I realized the pattern and understood how making peace with every day and how to flow state DID save me a couple of times when I had a rough time at school, at work, and in life in general.

Hopefully, this pandemic is going to help me out too.

And getting into a flow state is going to help you cope right now with the pandemic.

Keep track of your feelings and thoughts towards your everyday activities.

I read this article from NYTimes and the word LANGUISHING immediately caught my eye and my heart.

It was described as:

"(Languishing) in the sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you're muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021."

For so long, I've been feeling the gray area in between burnout and thriving—a feeling of dullness. And after reading the article, it must be that feeling.

Though the past year and this year has been the start of a "new normal," I still am on to the thing that kept me good and well

--- getting into morning pages journaling + and podcast listening + a good 30 min workout + a cold shower.

I always had a mental note or literally placing a "star" icon on my schedule. I felt I was really in the moment, losing the sense of time and feeling refreshed overall. I noticed a sense of accomplishment for knowing and naming my feelings towards an activity/person/anything--- slowly refining my taste and preference for everything.

Try it:

Ask yourself, what are activities that make you stop and note your feelings?

What activities help me hone my focus in an attention-focused economy?

Examples of what I enjoy are:

- Long hot baths (getting to float yourself and closing your eyes removes stress for me)

- Writing my 3-page journal within the day/morning (I try to do this M-F because, on the weekends, I space out and do whatever I want)

- Drawing and sketching rough ideas to express suppressed emotions/forgotten thoughts (I don't have the total energy to make art, so doing quick sketches is a good thing for me)

Surround yourself with something you can create - Practice GOING INTO FLOW MODE

According to Psychology Today, Parkinson's Law encapsulates how work and time can be interrelated:

As a result, "work expands to fill the time available for its completion." 

This quote put into layman terms - if you have the time to a lot for work, there is a high possibility/chance of it being spread out until its completion.

Unchecked schedule for work (when it starts and ends) basically places us up to give up the time after work altogether for more emails, more mindless to-dos without intention in the block of unscheduled time whatsoever.

I'm actually one of the guilty ones on this topic.

With schedule after school/work, I used to have this extra energy back in high school after class and studying --- so I started to continue my drawing hobby and creative activity after studying for my classes and feel instantly refreshed before going to sleep.

One random night, relating to this extra energy — I came across a Facebook post about a specific Chinese word that meant staying up late to compensate for the lost time during the day you don't have complete control of. From my understanding, it would be a verb to make it seem that the individual had control over the overall satisfaction one felt for the whole day.

From those moments of realisations via an FB post (which I don’t even know if the word’s defintiion was a 100% correct — I didn’t care anyway because it resonated with me so much), I always remember that 2-3 hour window time of flow every day of silence and no thoughts of anyone expecting of me whatsoever was priceless.

Now that I am older, more responsibilities creep up to me vs. younger me that needed just a zing from a hobby to add to my bland school-home schedule.

I'm still trying to find that sweet spot of window time for my flow period every day --- so far, wee hours in the morning are adequate for me without being too sluggish. But who knows? Maybe I'll be able to adjust my sleep better to make way for artmaking finally.

Especially now this pandemic, it's harder to keep up and to maintain relaxed levels and a stable mental mindset to creative. As for me --- I try to instill discipline while I can and show compassion to myself when I need it.

Try it:

Ask yourself these questions ---

"Do I give myself enough protected window time to go into flow state? Do I prioritize it?"

and

"Do I show compassion to myself from time to time when I finish/do an activity/try to start something?"

Try to use these as prompts for your journal entry or mental note for your next activity.

My own honest answers to these question are:

I use this list of remembering my activities for myself, for work, for school, for promo, and for my hobbies/passion projects.

I found the notebook method super effective for me with this format:

(Going into detail with visual)

Remember to block at least 1-3 hours to go into flow mode.

Deep dive and observe this moment as it is. You are not what you think and feel. 

As a person who has burned through countless hobbies - 12 years into drawing before doing it as a job/as a trade, almost eight years of ballet, scrapbooking for four years, ongoing of 1 year into cooking comfort/home cooking, five years of on and off blogging/vlogging, going steady on and off with embroidery ---- as I look into things, I realized that I had micro hobbies as I'd like to call them.

I knew I had this habit/mindset I grew into to go into a hobby expecting too much, and I end up hating the hobby.


I also realized a passive activity could be a hobby --- listening to podcasts, watching the birds while walking, afternoon tea over chess, collecting, and watching sci-fi films.

Somehow in my mind, I had this thinking a hobby needs to be a grand ceremony to be "official," but hey, you need to enjoy it and balance your stress out and feel relaxed and relieved.

Now that I was older, the pockets of time I remembered were where I melted into the time I was doing any activity and SAVOURED it rather than being in a rush to finish it/move on.

via GIPHY

The times where I wrote and pondered about thoughts of curiosity are the ones I observed my feelings and thoughts.

As I do it right now, it made me realize that it's not what I think and feel at that specific moment but having the headspace and ability to observe the moment (like in 3rd person Pov).

Instead of thinking, "I hate feeling this way, I suck." maybe you can reframe it by saying, "What is this feeling telling me?"

Try it:

Note before and after activity: "Did I enjoy it?" "Would I do this even if no one was watching?"

If you answered yes, then you're on the right path. So please keep reading and watching about that hobby/topic and find your heroes and what you like about their work.

If you'd like to create an artwork and have no idea 

what the topic would be, try this prompt: 

"How I feel when I'm in flow mode/enjoying the small moments of every day."

Surround yourself with intentional beauty.

Start refining your tastes.

Hi there. My name is Clarisse.

✨This is my online space all about creative practice ✍️ process 💌  & my life.

🧡

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