Where's Your Peace?

Hi Readers,

My last post appeared to have touched a few chords with may people. Thank you to everyone who gave their time to read it, and also to those who responded too. Your feedback is just so welcome, valued and appreciated. !!!

You can also leave comments after each post by clicking on the comments tab at the bottom of each post.

So, by now, you probably must be thinking that I'm wearing a kaftan and sitting cross legged under a tree burning incense!!

Be prepared, I'm getting worse !!

Far from it ! For starters, I can't sit and cross my legs due to the number of surgeries I've had on my knees, ankle and leg. If I tried to sit like the person above there would definitely be calls being made to Triple Zero !!

Some events from this week prompted me to write a post that has a focus on identifying the things that really make us tick, find our mojo, discover our own inner peace, or just float our boat .

Years ago I bought my first motorbike, much to my wife's displeasure !

It wasn't a big flash one, just a small 250cc that was really suited to riding around town and to work.

That's just about all I used it for, going to and from work. Always the same route each way and it always took about the same time each way.

An old school mate of mine has been on motorbikes for years, and is a really avid rider. He messaged me a few times to see how I was enjoying the bike, and I told him how I used it mainly for transport to work. 

He spoke about the feeling of freedom and pure enjoyment of riding the bike and asked if I'd experienced that yet, which I hadn't.

I wondered what the hell he was talking about.

A few weeks later I was riding home from work one night, and was paused at an intersection. I thought about what my friend had said, and thought "Stuff it. I'm going for a ride"

So instead of going straight through the intersection as I always did, I turned right and went for a longer ride around some country roads, not caring which corner I needed to turn at or where I was.

I was just enjoying the ride, and for the first time I was becoming more aware of the smells around me as I rode through different farming areas, and how I quickly forgot about all the hassles of work and just began to experience the beauty of the environment which I was in.

I was experiencing exactly what my friend had asked me about.

That night I sent him a message that was very brief, but I'm sure he understood it.

All I said was "Now I get it!"

A couple of years ago I bought a newer and bigger bike and this one enables me to go on extended rides which I have undertaken on the spur of a moment many times.

I remember one day in particular two years ago when I was on Long Service Leave, and woke up one morning and wondered how I'd fill the day. My wife had just left for work, it was sunny and warm and I knew the bike was calling me.

In next to no time I was on the bike and rode to Tolmie, a tiny district up in the hills beyond Mansfield, more than two hours away.

An old school friend owns a pub up there, so I just decided to ride up and see him, and then ride home again. I think I was home before Jen got home from work herself.

It was just great to see my friend, but the experience of travelling along these new roads was just exhilarating. It was my first longer ride and to ride in the foothills of Mt Buller was just beautiful.

How ironic is it that as I write this I get an alert on my social media of things I've done on this day. It was on this day in 2019 that I did my Tolmie ride !

Now, for those who haven't spent hours on a motorbike, there is no radio to listen to. It is the best place to just think and concentrate on the ride.

This is the freedom and peace that my friend was referring to. It's amazing how much planning for school I get done on the motorbike as there is not much else to do when riding it but think !

I had the great fortune this week of running into my friend who I first mentioned earlier in this post, and I told him the story again of "Now I get it"

He then went on to share a similar story. A couple of years ago he was in the USA and got up early one morning and hopped on his bike for a ride. He was in Michigan, in an area with long winding roads and tall forests. It was a fresh morning and he was just loving the smells, the crisp air and the sound of his bike as he rounded each bend.

Then, just for a moment he caught his reflection in his mirror, and couldn't believe what he saw.

He was smiling.

Without even knowing it, he was smiling as he was enjoying his experience so much.

Peace.

I could just feel the emotion of this story as he told it, and I'm sure that I've had countless experiences similar to this.

I just felt myself smiling as I re-read this.

So where is this post heading?

What's the significance of these opening stories?

One thing I'll say, you don't need a motorbike to understand the significance of what I hope to explain next.

I have read two books in the past few weeks by Hugh Van Cuylenburg that have had an enormous impact on me, particularly as I try to navigate through the situation that is facing my family at this time.

In his 2nd book, "Let Go" he goes into detail about brain science and what is termed "transient hypofrontality".

Now I expect most of you to change channels right now, but just hang with me for a moment while I explain this in simple terms.

Think of something that you just love doing. You might do it for 3 hours, but it feels like 30 minutes. You could spend a whole afternoon on a task or doing the thing you love and think that you've only been at it for a short time, when in fact it could have been hours.

Transient hypofrontality describes a temporary reduction in activity in the part of the brain where decision making and systematic thinking occurs.

When this happens, our highly focused thinking part of the brain takes a bit of a break and other parts of the brain become more dominant.

This state of being is referred to as 'flow', and describes the times when we get so totally absorbed and focused on what we are doing that everything else just seems to disappear. Others refer to it as 'being in the zone'.

I call it 'finding my peace'.

Time just seems to slow down.

This is what my friend and I experience from time to time on our motorbikes, but I experience it so many other ways too.

I can recall working on various posts for this blog and think that I've been at it for only an hour or so, and I find that I've been fluffing around for 4 hours!

I don't feel frustrated or feel like I've wasted time as I have just been so absorbed in the task at hand, and it reminds me how much I must be enjoying what I'm doing.

Flow.

So, what other activities give me flow, or put me in the zone?

Where do I find my peace?

I've always loved my sport, and long distance running always gave me flow. Maybe too much flow as my body is suffering the effects of it now!!!

Today I had some flow ( well, I do this every day at the moment) when I hopped on my bike on the roller frame on the small balcony of the unit where I've been living. I spend around 100 mins each day on it, but it always feels like about 20 mins.

And I look like I've been on it for about two days !!

How I actually look when I'm finished, but how I feel is 1 00 times better.

Doesn't look very professional, but it does the job!!

I also go for a big walk each day and the same occurs. It feels like 30 mins, but 2 hrs is gone in no time at all. Lately I've found myself a long way from my current digs quite a few times without really knowing how far I've gone.

Maybe I should pay a bit more attention while I'm out!

Flow.

At a previous house we owned there were extensive areas to mow. I'd always do it on a day where I could listen to a favourite radio show, footy match or music. It felt like 2 hours, but usually took about 5. Because I love exercise so much I figure that I was looking at the mowing as less of a chore or job that needed doing, and more as another workout.

Flow.

These are just a few examples that I experience often.

Sometimes it can be unexpected, like the time I constructed a shed that I bought at Bunnings, the afternoon I spent figuring out how to install the above ground pool that we sunk into the ground, and the time I repaired the front end that had been accidentally ripped off one of our son's cars.

Flow.

While I write about my own little idiosyncrasies, it got me wondering, what are yours ?

Hopefully by now you are reminiscing over some times and events in your life when you have become so totally absorbed in something that time became irrelevant.

Where do you find your peace?

In the garden?

Cooking?

Craft work?

Tinkering in the shed?

Fishing?

Reading?

Meditating?

Art?

Skydiving?

Dancing?

Who knows?

Flow.

How does it make you feel ?

Who else is involved ?

Are they planned or unplanned ?

What has surprised you?

I could go on and on with questions and thinking prompts, but I'm sure that you all have similar things happening to you. 

They might not be as weird as mine, they might be more straightforward and sensible.

Or not.

They could be totally outrageous, but what I'm suggesting is that each is particular to ourselves, and that uniqueness is what defines us.

One thing that I do question in regards to myself is that I wonder if it is being selfish????

Giving so much time to a pursuit that really only matters to me?

Probably yes.

What if my family needed me for other things and I'm too pre-occupied with 'finding my flow'?

Sometimes I feel that we just can't control what leads us into 'flow', it can just creep up on us and before we know it...BANG!!! There goes 3 hours !!

Just as much as we like to find our own flow, why not then allow others to do the same?

Think of the benefits we get when someone else experiences flow?

What can I do to enable Jen to experience hers? Does she give up her opportunities so that I can experience mine?

Make time for others to experience their time.

Remember how you feel when you lose yourself in time doing something that just absorbs you. 

Also, do we under estimate the influence of little things in life that we take for granted?

This is when what we consider as trivial, is now very important.

Sometimes the simplest of things can also be the hardest to find.

I know I don't sit and just rest enough. I always feel the need to be active. However, on those rare occasions where I actually sit in the hanging chair we have at home and just listen to music or rock gently, I still feel the benefits it gives me. I just don't do it enough !!

This could be why I always love sitting in a rocking chair, as I get the best of both worlds, activity and relaxation at the same time.

Yep, I think I am a strange cat at times !

Well Readers, 

This has been a total ramble, sorry for drifting all over the place 😖

Above all, I am grateful that I understand and know the things that give me peace, and when I need to tap into them. Heaven knows how many times Jen has told me "You need to go for a run !"

I hope I have just tripped a little switch for you so that you can stop and think about similar things in your lives.

Now, back to my incense sticks and cave in the mountains....

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁