My daughter, Smallsteps, started "dance" classes a couple of weeks ago and she loves them. They are mostly just movements to get the kids used to using their body with intention, yet my daughter seems to take them seriously. We were a little surprised, as she knows no one there and we aren't allowed to go in and watch due to Covid rules, she enters into without even a look over her shoulder to us.
Tonight, she wanted to wear a dance outfit, a hand-me-down Frozen tutu that she puts on when she wants to be a princess - but now, she wants to dance and dance and dance. She has always loved dancing, which is why we found her the class to join and I am glad that at leas in the classes, she seems to get over her shyness and dance like no one else is watching.
I wish I could be a fly on the wall.
There is definitely something to be said about the power of flow, the immersion into an activity to the point that the entire world drops away except for the task at hand. It allows us to lose ourselves while simultaneously finding the best version of who we are in that moment. Detached yet still sensitive.
this is often found in sport as it offers an environment for flow to build - skills and the challenge to test them - but the skills have to be high enough to reach out toward the challenge and the challenge high enough to make the arm stretch to the point where both the outcome of failure and success can be tasted. It is about knowing there is hope, but not knowing if one is able to win.
There need not be a reward. and it is addictive still.
People say they love to learn, but I do not believe anyone who has told me this, as their actions and reactions speak differently. The learning part is just a prerequisite to the payoff from learning, whether it be the satisfaction of meeting the challenge of committing something to memory, the application of skill to prove oneself to another, or to use it to earn upon it.
There is always a pay off to learning and one of those value streams is the feeling one gets when being able to apply what one has invested into knowing to meet a challenge. We are problem solvers, each of us, even if the problems that we turn our attention to are unimportant, irrelevant or not problems at all. We create problems to test our skills. There is no need in this world for a person to run 42 kilometers - yet there are millions out there trying and when they do, they want to try again to try and go faster. It is a useless exercise - but many are addicts.
But, it isn't just physical challenge, it can be mental too, or spiritual - it doesn't matter, it is all a test. While we can condemn the practices of others and where they turn their attention, the process of turning our energy toward something is the same, regardless of what it is. As one person spends their time absorbed in the practice of exercising their body, another spends their absorbed in digital arguments online - each can hold the same level of intent, each can feel that what they are doing is of utmost important, yet - is it?
They say time is the most valuable resource we have, but I believe that attention is, as it is our attention that will dictate our intention and therefore, how we spend that time. Time itself is a construct that traces movement, just a tokenized representation of what we do and observe, but we do not see time pass unless we are paying attention.
For billions of years this world has moved with none of us seeing it, yet move it did and when we are in the zone, the world continues to move around us, though we do not witness it. In that zone, there is only the moment at hand, no past, no future - no time.
How we spend it matters as time flows through our fingers like sand, but for short periods, we can join the flow and become part of time itself. When we are traveling at the same speed as time, everything stands still and only in reflection, can we see how far we've travelled.
Some travel far, many never leave the comfort of what they know.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
My only goal in life is to be in that flow state as often and as uninterrupted as possible 😀. Glad she can find it so easily! It comes natural to them most of the time as long as we don't get in the way
Wouldn't it be great to be able to maintain childhood flow ability?
I think that perhaps the "sitting in front of a TV" feels like flow for many people, as they zone out. It is a cycle because it becomes addictive, but also takes away a lot of the incentive to reflect, since there is always something more to watch.
I am getting it back, bit by bit. We never lose it. It just gets crusty and needs a good scrubbing, sometimes we need to dig to find pieces of it and put it back together.
Play all the time!
!ENGAGE 20
ENGAGEtokens.Aww baby look at her so cute XD always awesome when you can find a thing they love :)
I don't love learning, I just want to know how to do things so I can do the stuff I have to learn the stuff for to be able to do XD
I'm glad you kept rambling on philosophically, when you started about sand flowing I was worried you were going to start quoting soap operas ;D
She is super cute - I have "booked her" for a proper photoshoot too :)
I dislike learning, but I like being able to do things :)
...so are the days of our lives.
NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.
Also you booked her for a photoshoot dude are you trying to cause critical injuries with that kind of cuteness overdose.
!ENGAGE 20
ENGAGEtokens.That’s awesome about your daughters new ‘hobby’! And coincidentally funny timing, as we just signed up our almost 4 year old daughter for “ballet” through community ed. The wife ordered her a pink dress with a built in tutu, pink tights, and some ballet shoes. She wears the damn thing to bed and dances 24/7 all through the house. It’s hilarious. Will be interesting to see how she does in class, because like your daughter, she is usually shy in larger groups but totally extroverted around us.
That is great! I think that being involved in these kinds of activities can empower kids in many ways, if they enjoy it.
The classes for this group are held at the local library and the kids all come out happy and smiling. The teacher seems nice.
Smallsteps would probably wear hers to bed too of she could, but she has a few favourite dressup clothes. We get most from friends, but sometimes we buy something new for her so she can choose herself. She is also super talkative with us, mute around other people :)
!ENGAGE 20
ENGAGEtokens.Small steps is still the undisputed king (queen?) of the internet cuteness club... That bottom photo is just priceless. I think it's good to learn and enjoy at her age, the ability to follow direction is a part of organized activity. Maybe that's why there are so damn many marathoners-it's entirely up to them and no one else has any input except at the very highest levels.
I was getting ready to argue with you about the love of learning, but I think you are probably right. It is almost always directly connected to a payout. At least in my case that payout is sometimes so small and insignificant as to be ignored. But in reality it's there.
The bottom picture is one of her "mouse" faces. She is going through a mouse phase, which is lasting longer than I expected.
I used to think there could be the live to actually learn, but then, every love gets some return, even if it is just the feeling of goodness. Even unrequited love feels good at some level, despite there not being reciprocity.
I have heard someone say something along the lines of: while there may be an exception, there seems to be no selfless act, at least an act made with intention.