The Zone Prompt
Prompt: Tell us about your favorite way to get lost in a simple activity— running, chopping vegetables, folding laundry, whatever. What’s it like when you’re in “the zone”?
My response:
Being in the zone, like in the middle of a good workout, is really satisfying and gratifying. It makes me lose all sense of myself and makes me feel powerful, like I can change into someone else. I love how exercise brings you into the present moment because you are focused on exertion, and moving the body just feels good. The body was made to be exerted and to be in motion. The body was made to be put to use.
Being in the zone is a great feeling because there is no sense of time. Activities become fun instead of drudgery. It’s like with writing, or reading a really great book that you can’t put down. I used to get into the zone by listening to my favorite band when I was younger. It gave me a feeling of being almost high.
Listening to my favorite band, I felt like I was floating and blissing out. Getting in the zone of music is very easy for me, and for a lot of people. Music can change your mood and uplift you, even if you’re listening to the most depressing shit in the world. I think music gets you into the zone because it touches certain emotional parts of a person, and you can feel it in your body and heart.
Being in the zone is a sort of lost art. People love distraction and spend most of their lives distracted and procrastinating, or getting into the zone of unhealthy things. I like being in the zone of writing of course, but I also procrastinate just like everyone else. Writing is satisfying when you have a good flow of words going, but can be frustrating when you become blocked, and start to feel like the most boring person on earth who has nothing to say.
But there are always new ways to seek out inspiration. I like to think about my dreams and sometimes write about them. Or simply reading a book of poetry, or observing the world out the window, or looking at some photography online. Human beings are fascinating, and lots of inspiration can be drawn from just observing them, or meeting someone new and getting their view of the world. People love to be really heard, and writers are often good listeners, and gifted observers.
Ideas will always come if you just stop and pay attention to your thoughts. Things float to the surface. For example, I know I need to go write out the answer to the question: Who do you want to be? So I’m going to do that in my paper journal. Sometimes you need to write by hand just for fun, and explore a topic that has been nagging at you. Hopefully it gets me in ‘the zone’ of writing.
Rubies of Random Thought 