Flow State
This week, I’ve been calling on the Goddess of “flow”. I don’t have a name for her, but I think she might have octopus energy. I think of her as this watery, long limbed creature, allowing the day to wash over her as she continues to move forward - dancing to her own beat. I am in need of this kind of energy right now.
First layer line-drawing of my in process piece called “Flow State”.
Like you, I’ve been sheltering at home for about four weeks now.
Not much has changed. And everything has changed.
All of my day-to-day work usually happens at home, so there isn’t a huge change in terms of my routine. But I do feel this internal pressure to “make good use” of this time. I keep seeing ads for "keeping busy" and social media posts about "staying productive." But friends, I am tapped out. I've got both kids at home, my work in the non-profit sector has increased (rather than decreased), and I'm feeling the pinch of having lost some of my work this spring.
When I read Amanda Palmer's post on Instagram this week, I had this wonderful feeling of catharsis. She writes:
“don’t you dare try to tell me i wasn’t productive today. i produced meals, thousands of words from my mouth using my teeth and tongue and lips, and produced a few dozen high-quality tears. i produced a few award-winning phone calls. i produced a game of hide and seek (and hide the pig, which is even better). i produced a nap for my husband which he didn’t take. i produced 4 cups of tea. my cells replicated. i produced sweat, sadness, toast and anger. i was productive as fuck. i bet i’ll be even more productive tomorrow.”
I feel that our world is taking a big-ass breath right now. And the “Great Pause”, as I have been calling it, is asking that we re-evaluate everything. I feel like Earth is giving us permission to re-imagine life anew. So here are the questions I'm considering right now:
What do I want “re-entry” to look like?
What do I want to re-constitute on the other side of this?
What have we shed in this moment that we should shed for good?
How will we co-evolve and re-make our lives when the pendulem swings back the other way?
As always, thank you for supporting my work here and on Patreon. I am humbled and inspired by our little community every day. Hope you are all safe and healthy at home. I'll leave you with this wonderful quote from Julio Vincent Gambuto:
“From one citizen to another, I beg of you: Take a deep breath, ignore the deafening noise, and think deeply about what you want to put back into your life. This is our chance to define a new version of normal, a rare and truly sacred (yes, sacred) opportunity to get rid of the bullshit and to only bring back what works for us, what makes our lives richer, what makes our kids happier, what makes us truly proud.”