Comfort and Flow

You know what? I just love you guys. Seriously, if I show you my dirty floor, or my rotten parenting moment, you guys just surround me with encourgement and understanding. Each and every time my email sounded with a new comment this weekend, it was like a little hug or pat on the back. I am just overwhelmed by your kindness!

Thank you.

The morning after our rough night last week brought with it all of your sweet messages, along with sleepy headed boys, wrapped in blankets, running out to be in their tepee with their hot muffins and warm apple cider. It was just what I needed.

We read, played, hugged and talked. We took comfort in a new day, and new mercies. I am so glad that the world was created as it was, with a clear end to one day, and a bright new beginning to the next. It makes life so much more bearable to know that we get a fresh start every 24 hours!

Speaking of comfort, the weatherman says (fingers firmly crossed and knocking furiously on all the nearby wood) that tomorrow will bring our first REAL cool front. We're going to drop from the 90s to the 60s! Glory hallelujah! I cannot wait to bring out the jeans and long sleeves, bake, light candles and snuggle in for stories and crossword puzzles, long walks and fires in the yard. Maybe there will be a little crafting in the after hours, while listening to the Selected Shorts podcasts. Ahhhhh and YAY!!!! Welcome, welcome, long awaited Fall!

You can bet that the cooler weather will also inspire me to try some of the delicious concoctions from the growing list of Soup Recipes from Around Blogland. If you happen to be having soup weather yourself, and would like to add a recipe to the list, just let me know, and I will link to you.

Now, if you find yourself with a nice bowl of soup on a cool night, you might want a side of thought provoking reading. I have been enjoying learning about the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihaly who did some truly exhaustive research on a state of being that he termed, "flow." One experiencing flow is completely immersed in and absorbed by the task at hand. A person in this state of being is challenged and fulfilled in such a way that for a while, time, ego, everyday struggles, hunger, the outside world as whole, just melts away. It is considered the point at which attention, motivation and situation meet to create a true form of happiness that is dependant only on one's self and one's task, independent of one's set of circumstances. It is the state hoped for by an educator, strived for as a scholar, a musician, an athelete. So of course, as a homeschooler, it is heady, but very interesting stuff indeed.

I witnessed a bit of flow this weekend, in an older man, soft spoken in voice, but bold in song.

Also in another wisened gentlemen, who clearly lost himself in describing for children, his love of Indian artifacts.

Kids are fantastic at experiencing flow. I saw it unfold in my oldest little man, as he spent nearly an hour acquainting himself with the hand drill on Saturday. The world could have crashed around him, and he would not have noticed. He was alone in his world, enthralled.

It is a beautiful thing to watch, a mind engaged that way. Do you suppose that you can achieve flow just in watching another person experience it? Hmmmmmm.. :-)

I hope that you find many opportunities this week for experiencing your own brand of comfort and flow.