#130 - Do YOUR Thing!

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I went to the boxing gym after work yesterday. It took me a while to shake off the various elements of this week but as I continued skipping, shadow-boxing and hitting the bags the white noise in my head gradually died down as my concentration increased.

Work

The future

Relationship

Friends 

Miscellaneous monkey-mind chatter

Eventually I enter that zone where nothing else exists and nothing else matters but right now. Just me and the speed-bag:

ba-da-ba
ba-da-ba
ba-da-baba-da-ba

My vision switches from foeval to peripheral. Endorphins replace the pain of my sore muscles with a gentle wave of euphoria. No tiredness, no sense of time, just ease. Just the hypnotic rhythm of the pear-shaped bag ricocheting off the platform:

ba-da-ba
ba-da-ba
ba-da-ba
ba-da-ba

These moments of "flow" are precious. I think these are the times when we glimpse our true selves, when we connect with something bigger. 

What's your thing?

When do you experience flow? Is there something that you love to do, something that captures your attention so completely that nothing else matters? 

I made a new friend a few months back and while we were getting to know each other I asked her what she loved to do. She told me knitting was her thing. She said that was the thing she loved and she dreamed of a life where she could sit in a beautiful farm-house style place of her own and knit all day. When I asked her how often she knitted she realised she wasn't doing very much. I told her that I've been a lot happier since I've focused on writing and speaking and because I'm happier my energy level is higher so I in turn have more to give to others. She's now knitting a lot more and is a lot happier for it. In fact, she now has requests from other people coming in and is looking at being paid for her work. I sincerely hope she is able to make that dream of knitting all day come true one day. However, even if that doesn't happen her life is still fuller and more satisfying for her doing what she loves on a regular basis. 

Sometimes things are so close to us, so obvious that we miss them. I know how much I love training and yet I sometimes allow myself to get so caught up in work, life and everything else that I don't train. I don't do the thing which probably gives me the most enjoyment. While training I enter flow states and connect with something higher. By the time I leave the gym after a session it's like I've pressed the reset button on my mind. I ALWAYS feel better on the way out. All stress is released and I feel clean, light and exhilirated. 

I no longer have any interest in fighting but that's not the point, I allowed training to become an option but last night showed me that it is a necessity. 

What is YOUR thing?

If you don't know what it is yet, will you experiment with different things until you find it?

And if you do know, are you doing enough of it? 

The easiest place to hide something is right in front of you. 

Do your thing.