PLATEAU

August 12th, 2020

This episode is dedicated to the individual who operates the Twitter handle @Route2FI

Some Tinkered Thinking episodes aren’t all that great.  This episode might be one of them.  So it may be best just to skip it.  And worse yet, it might be part of a string of mediocre, lukewarm episodes that work more as sleep aides as opposed to revving up the brain in the morning - which was the original hope for Tinkered Thinking:  snackable, thought provoking episodes that can be consumed over a cup of morning coffee.  (As an aside, there is at least one person who has admitted to consuming this content in just that sort of way, which means the whole platform is a total success and can now be retired with infinite satisfaction.)

Alas, the words keep rolling, regardless of how good or bad.  

A string of off days, or bad writing happens.  As with any skill or practice, we hit plateaus.  It’s quite easy and natural to get stressed about such plateaus.

Have I lost my touch?

Am I no good anymore?

Will my spark return?

These all seem like legitimate questions, but frankly they’re just awful.  Notice what they have in common:  they all have some sort of personal pronoun.  The focus is inward, and attention is splattered against the flimsy mask of identity.  By asking such questions we get overly concerned with something that has very little if anything to do with our inspiration:  who and what we think we are.

Let’s flip the whole issue inside out and make the same point from the other side of the fence:  When you are in a flow state, when inspiration is firing on all cylinders, when time is flying by and you aren’t the least bit distracted but at the same time things feel a bit dreamy….. where is one’s sense of identity in that circumstance?

It’s of no concern.  These flow states are often described as losing one’s self.  Like watching a good movie, or spending time with someone who electrifies the moment, or reading an excellent book.  We lose ourselves.  So what exactly is the thing being lost during these moments?

The thing being lost is the very same thing referred to by those overly self-conscious questions:  when we relinquish our attachment to identity, the door opens to inspiration.

That issue about identity and worrying about whether you’ve lost your touch is a bit like being obsessed with the chicken-and-egg question when really you should be making an omelette. 

When inspiration ‘strikes’ we don’t suffer the loss of our identity,

So that being the case:

are you willing to sacrifice your identity in order to welcome inspiration?