Saturday, January 30, 2010

Day Twenty Five

Okay, I'll eat my words and wipe that smirk off of my face. This Ice Storm is REAL! I'm so sorry to have mocked Southern Weather. Memphis is CLOSED and everything is covered with a 3/4" layer of frozen sleet. We're out of dishwasher detergent, cigarettes, and milk and we're running low on coffee and tp. This is HORRIBLE!
Yesterday, dizzily continuing my pattern of having great studio days when all of the rest of the world is safely and sanely tucked in warmly at home, I managed to forge all day and make the beginnings of a very nice piece. I'll call it FLOW for now, but I'm sure that will change once I've started finalizing the design.

The only trip I made outside during the day was to go for coal. Once.

My Companion for the day, The Metal Museum's Hallmark power hammer. Yes, you did see correctly, the top sticker reads "I have been had by a Redneck" the middle sticker is Tatu and states emphatically that he is a "Love Machine" (a reference to the hammer as well, of course) and the lowest on the pole does indeed state, "Don't tip me over you freakin' hillbilly".This was the entirety of information that flowed into my head yesterday. Where is that redneck? Do I look like a hillbilly? I don't feel like one! The Plane! The Plane!

Parts is parts. FLOW in process.

And finally, for the cherry on today's utterly giganomous blog entry (can you tell I really am not excited about venturing forth unto the world today?) I made a little video with my friend Bill in mind. His last name starts with a K. Bill K. is a discerning character and is not impressed with blogs and silly talk. I'm almost sure he hasn't visited my blog yet, but I'm hoping one of you will let Bill K. know that I made a special video just to impress him (and now I'm doubting he'll be impressed) and prove that I am working and just not playing on the computer all day. This one's for you Bill!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3yMkCi2Mmo

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Rilke said...

Do continue to believe that with your feeling and your work you are taking part in the greatest; the more strongly you cultivate in yourself this belief, the more will reality and the world go forth from it.

Works of Art are of an infinite loneliness.

Fame is the sum of the misunderstanding that gathers about a new name.

Nothing in the world can one imagine beforehand, not the least thing. Everything is made up of so many unique particulars that cannot be foreseen.

Everyone once, once only. Just once and no more. And we also once. Never again.

Were it possible for us to see further than our knowledge reaches, perhaps we would endure our sadnesses with greater confidence than our joys. For they are moments when something new has entered into us, something unknown.

That is the principal thing: not to remain with the dream, with the intention, with the being in the mood, but always forcibly to convert it into all things.

Flow (psychology)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.^[1]

According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task.^[2]

Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, in the groove, or keeping your head in the game.