FLOW AND MY NEW BOOK

One of the things I learned doing research on happiness is one of the ways to achieve it is to do things that put us in a state of flow. (I wrote on this subject back in May.) Two things happened. I stopped blogging. And I completed a book.


One of the reasons I started blogging was it put me in a state of flow. But, once the summer came around I found other things to do that also put me in flow. This included, gardening, bike riding, reading on the beach, and playing golf. Blogging lost out and I started to feel guilty. I realized that although achieving flow is it's own reward it is far more rewarding when the activity is also doing something that is both intellectually stimulating and helps others. Selfish pleasure is not as rewarding. This obvious insight motivated me to return to blogging.

The other things I learned is how powerful our inner critic really is. (I wrote about this in an earlier blog as well). Early this year I decided to write a book for Boomers that incorporated my research on happiness and my personal experience transitioning into the Second Half. I wanted to write a book for several reasons one of them being to provide a practical guide for Boomers entering their Second Half, another one was I wanted to use the book to launch a second career as a motivational speaker and life coach and thirdly I wanted to achieve flow.

Well my innner critic kept telling me "You can't do it". "It's a waste of time", "No one will read it", "You have nothing to say" etc. His whispering in my ear made something that I knew I had to do, wanted to do, and should do a very tortuous painful and time consuming process. Simply stated, my inner critic, the voice of my subconscious mind, didn't want me to succeed, didn't want me to be happy! As a result, I found myself procrastinating and failing to keep to my schedule of writing every morning for 3-4 hours.

I fell so far behind I knew I had to silence my innner critic. I did. Everytime he put a negative thought in my head I immediately replaced it with a positive one that focused on the benefits of completing the book. For example, I imagined the satisfaction I'd gain from writing a book, how it would help me market myself as a speaker, how I could show my kids how perseverance pays off, and how silencing my inner critic now would enable me to do it again the next time he came after me. I'm pleased to say my book will be out in two weeks. I do not plan to give my innner critic and advanced copy!

Are you plagued with struggling to accomplish something that is important to your well being and happiness? Do you have an inner critic who is sowing the seeds of doubt? If you do, you can silence him as I did by recognizing he exists and replacing his garbage with positive, enabling thoughts. If you do, you will be amazed at the results.