Gerard52

The concept of flow is that you are lost in what you are doing completely absorbed. The chart below shows different emotions/feelings?. What do you need to do to get on righthand side. Alcohol won't get you there.

Wastinglife

Very interesting. I get trapped on the left side for the most part. A fee beers and I shoot straight over to the right side. Albeit, temporarily. The quick fix is hard to ignore.

entropy1964

Lets see. Exercise, art, hiking. And weird stuff like vacuuming. Haha. Lucky me. I had a therapist where I did EMDR and he said it made sense that vacuuming and stuff like running would calm me because they stimulate both sides of my brain....and the repetitive movement does something to calm me. I don't remember all the scientific mumbo jumbo but it made sense to me. Watching TV and doing something like needle work is very calming. It has to be both, 2 actions, don't know why. 1 at a time only makes me anxious.

For me I see a very OCD component to my addiction. I obsess on the substance, I compulse with the use. Take away the use/compulsion part and all I have is obsession. I may be able to stop obsessing about the substance, but then I find myself obsessively thinking about other things (things from the past, some perceived abuse, something I can't control)....this eventually builds up and will end up in the compulsion...usually of the substance. So stopping that obsessive thinking is key. The above actions help me with that and help me stay relatively content.

tekink

In the zone. I make music and it can put me there. I play video games as a hobby and it puts me there. Riding my motorcycle will do it also. When I was young I skiied a lot. Had a season pass for 28 years and lived in Alaska so I could ski crazy things all winter. That put me in the zone. Things have to be going a little faster than my mind for it to let go completely.

lessgravity

I like that - part of what I like is acknowledging that anxiety is a healthy aspect of a life lived in full. Anxiety used to mean 3am panic, stressing over hiding empties, not fulfilling my life's obligations. Now anxiety means nervous excitement about things I am pushing myself to achieve - whether it's as simple as not avoiding a phone call, lifting at the gym or starting a new business. It's healthy anxiety, not the horrid, fear drenched and self-inflicted kind.

MindfulMan

I've started a new career, my 4th reinvention in my life.

So I'm at anxiety. Skill level low, challenge high. Moving over towards arousal, hopefully, and then flow.

I've increased the challenge, and part of the challenge is increasing the skill level.

I could never have accomplished what I'm doing when I was drinking and using.

Buckley3

It's important to remember that flow can be a very intense place to be. It's important to 'resharpen the saw.'

I need to relax more.

Pathwaytofree

What gets me into Flow, Control, and Relaxation?

I'm still very new to this all, but here is what helps:

Meditation
Exercise
Yoga
Being around animals or nature
Hobbies
Mindfulness - focusing on the task at hand with intention
Awareness of thoughts as a nonjudgemental observer
Pausing
Just be-ing