God is... |
Joy Cardin’s Wisconsin Public Radio, March 12,
2014 morning show, Unlocking "Ultimate" Human Performance, featured Steven Kotler who
spoke of the amazing advances athletes are making by being in the flow, a
mental state that maximizes human performance as they struggle to attain higher
and higher levels of accomplishment.
He also used the word now, interchangeably with flow, and said it can
apply to all of us as we go through life. He cited heightened states of creativity in artists and
writers as examples.
I really appreciated Kotler's tie to non-athletes and how being in the Now
relates to our advancement through struggle. I posted a comment on the show, “Sound's like God energy to
me.” He wrote back, “Thanks Marcia. Not
sure what you mean by God energy, but we do know that there's considerable
overlap between the neurobiology of flow states and the neurobiology of
so-called mystical experiences.
What that means—hard to say for sure….” I can relate.
In “God Never Hurries” I wrote:
Tension was an almost unbearable constant for a year. How does “the responsible one” care for
her aging parents? I devoured
books on spirituality and self-help.
I paid attention to my dreams.
I prayed. The right
questions began to surface from my pain.
My relief was in my pain; my safety was in my questions.
Then at the end of May 1995 I made a promise to God that I would
write something about each day for one year. The drive to write was a lifesaver. Knowing that I would put something of
each day’s struggles, joys and ordinariness on paper focused me more in the
present alongside my ache for truth.
And nowhere was I more present than in the natural world. There the connection and comfort I felt
from my surroundings seemed to be an inverse of my tension and pain.
What if we could all accept our struggles in
the Now and know eventually they will lead to growth, transformation, and
forgiveness?
Beautiful, Marcia!
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