“The quality of the imagination is to flow and not to freeze.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
It’s really about flow.
We’re either in it or fighting it. We’re either taken by it or wanting to be taken by it.
The flow goes where it’s supposed to — and yet so often we’re trying to swim upstream, resisting the forces that are pulling us to our natural place.
We’re either flowing or we’re frozen.
The sales person who shouldn’t be, but who’s addicted to the income or the frequent flier miles or the “game.” The accounting clerk who forces the numbers, all the while wishing they were putting the pictures in their minds on a canvas. The doctor who’s going through the motions and the chef who long ago stopped dreaming about the creations they put on the plate and just started serving up some chow. The banker who doesn’t really care about the customer or their dreams, and who just plugs away, meeting a capital ratio or a risk profile. The flow is all around us, and so are the folks who are resisting it. We can feel them, just like we can sense the ones in the flow, sailing past the rest.
When an appointment cancels or a flight delays, where does our mind go? If a game goes extra innings, do we get more in to the moment or do we worry about what we’re going to be late for next?
It’s really about the flow.
Go with it. It’ll make a difference.
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