Being 'In the zone' What a rush!

Anyone know how that feels? And what is your talent, where is it that your 'zone' lies? Can you command it or, like me, does it command you(or so it seems).

The last week i've been in the zone and mine is in writing short opinionated stories and my outlet is the internet. The last ime i was in it was a year ago and i feared it had left me but it still resides inside of me.

If you look at my post-history of the last few days you will know what i mean and i do not even do it for the sake of being right in someone elses eyes or something like that it is more like i cannot help myself.

It's like channeling without another being dictating it (consciously), channeling yourself you could say and it feels a bit like being in love and yes i have been desperatly delicous and hopelessly in love in my life so i know how it feels.

I can't ( tried but failed) write long stories because i will loose coherence quite fast into the story and loose the spirit of the story leaving it dull and barren. And when i try it vocally i am not able (yet) to put it into the context i need. When i try to explain something to a friend or collegue i tend to end up writing an email while he or she is on the same department. It's strange, i know but you have to work with what you got and explaining things in writing is so much easier than it is vocally, for me at least. And yes, sometimes an idea gets so strong it screams to get out and even hurts being incorporal, when i start typing it has a mind of it's own and when i read it back some time later i surprise myself having written it. And of curse i agree with it because i was the source.

Sometimes in the more surreal moments of my life it hink it could be my goal in life, going around on the internet absorbing knowledge, incorperating it into my system and dishing out the end-product in topics like this, it may sound sad to some but it is what can make me happy, giddy even. When i'm in this place (the zone) i have a big smile on my face like i've just been kissed by my big love and nobody can break it down.

But now the questions, what is it that creates your 'zone'? Sports? Art? Music? Debating? etc etc etc

And my big question: How can you get at that point (speaking to the creative 'zoneists' ( not zionists ) at will instead of that it finds you or is it something that just finds you and are you powerless to invoke it?

Again, being in the zone does not have to mean other people acknowledge me for it but it is the act itself that makes me happy in my case, i can write it in notepad, safe it and still be relieved it is out of my system.

Shoot

[edit on 23-10-2008 by Harman]

haha i know what you mean, I used to get in the zone when playing football, quite often actually! I played linebacker and it was like i could read the offense on every play and it felt like I was quicker,stronger and much better than everyone else. I recorded 32 tackles in one game and got 2 picks, I also asked to go on offense for a play and broke off a 85 yard run.

Originally posted by Harman
Anyone know how that feels?

Yup,
When I pull off a really good guitar solo I am in the zone.
You get to the point where there is no "thinking".
You sort of have a tune or a direction or feel in your head, then it just comes out through your body as an expression.
Very much a zone for me.

Also did my first skydive the other day, reckon I was in a zone then.
If you ever get the chance, do it. Don't even think, do it.
The experience, for a first timer, was nothing like I have ever experienced before.

Once when I played the first movement of Bach's 5th suite, I was so in the zone it seemed like time was standing still. I had an OOBE and I could see myself playing in front of the audience of 2000 people. You could hear a pin drop when I was done and there was this magical moment, no one wanted it to end. That was the most moving thing in my life and I have since been pursuing a career in music. I must have had so much adrenaline pumping in my body lol, I had this kind of euphoria and the music took over, much like our guitarist who posted above me.

I know exactly what you mean though, its like you have all of these ideas whirling around in your mind and they all want to coalesce (spelling?) and come out as ONE BIG IDEA!!!. lol

Good luck!!!


[edit on 23-10-2008 by PinealGlandThoth]

reply to post by Harman


Baseball, and yes it's incredible. It as if you can literally do anything you can imagine. Had it several times and it's such a rush. Example not horn tooting: played a state championship tourny with 64 teams double elimination(if that makes sense to anyone) with 16 teams left they gave me the MVP trophy so they could go home since no one else could mathmatically catch me in votes. Have'nt played in 5 years but if i did again it would be for hopeing i could get that feeling back.

What would you say brings this on? Practice, expertise? Something else?

reply to post by Harman


Ahh, the zone... I miss it greatly. I experienced it last year for about 5 months straight. In that time I wrote not only a 300 page non-fiction book, but a 200 page movie script as well. It was so intense, I thought I would remain in it forever.

I miss it very much.

[edit on 23-10-2008 by Tapped In]

Diet is very important element to being in the zone.

This is one of the most fascinating and illuminating books I've read on diet and how the body works.

www.zonediet.com...


I get into the zone when I'm playing guitar hero. My fingers move by themselves and there is a direct link between the game and my fingers, which is controlled automatically by my brain. While this is happening I am able to think about other things while letting my body run automatically. I have really profound thoughts sometimes and other times hallucinations.

[edit on 23-10-2008 by freakyty]

Writing, and Music. That is my zone.

I go through phases, where I write and I write and I write. I have about 6 or 7 novels started, none past 5 chapters. I get these intense Ideas and then I write and I write until i can write no more. The best is poetry. When I get the urge to write, I write for days. I'm currently in this zone. I have done more writing in the past 2 days then I have all summer. The words just flow, everything just comes out.

Music. Sometimes, I'll sit at the Piano and start working on a song that I wrote for my Grandfather's funeral. The 3 minute song, turns into a half an hour jam session, and I just feel as though the song isn't even close to being complete. I haven't played Piano in quite a while though, as my piano is at my parents house, and i live in residence at the University (can't exactly move an upright into my dorm room).

Sometimes just listening to a well written song, puts me int he zone....A song that pulls everything out of me, and sets it on the table and says "here, this is what you're looking for." Those songs, make me realize I have lots to learn about myself.

- Carrot

I've experienced it a number of times, .... for me its usually comes more often when I am in a really happy state. Its like when I am in the zone, luck is totally on my side and everything just lands my way.

I also love driving and I noticed that driving is probably the closest thing to that. Its not always on but when something happens (idiot drivers anyone?) it seems to kick in like a reflex. So maybe repeated practice and awareness helps.

For me the zone is a state of meditation, and with breathing and meditation you can learn to invoke the state. I also call it channeling of a sort, because what i accomplish while zoning i have oftentimes no conscious recollection of.

I rap. freestyle. When i'm motivated to do so i'll dive into the zone and flow forever, unstoppable, i can convert my instant reality into verse rapping about the world around me in intricate scientific, spiritual, and metaphysical detail. It's easy to get in the zone if someone tosses me topics, they'll mention a topic or concept and i'll express it in poetry on the spot. Any time i feel pressure i can zone easily. Rap zone is all mental though, i hallucinate when i rhyme, i'll drop ill and have no idea what i just said, it just came through me.

I also ride. BMX, MTB, biketrials, motocross trail riding, skating, snowboarding, and hardcore hiking/trail running, amongst other activities. It's easy to get into the zone with a shot of adrenaline. I'll admit it, I'm an adrenaline junkie of high order, i ride till my veins burn, my muscles spasm, my vision blurs, and i'm a sweating shivering depleted pile of mush. On my way to that state i'll be deep in the zone, the world goes away. I fade off somewhere into oblivion and athough i don't recognize even my physical reality i can recall what happend in the physical world. I go strange places unrelated in any way to riding, oobe, other planes maybe, but i definitely go somewhere else when i'm truly in the zone.

I used to get in deep shooting pool, i used to shoot 8 ball and 9 ball tournaments a lot, but i just don't play anymore.

Cooking, i cook for one of the top 25 fine dining restaurants in the state. On busy nights it's a swarm of chaos. at the center there is a calm peaceful place where everything is just happening, obseving from inside the bubble. The zone is at the eye of the storm.

When I compose music Im in the zone and no zoning law will take me out of it.

Here's a zone for me:

Writing code. I architect and implement computer software. When I get 'in the zone', I can take a large problem (for example, writing a sound mixing engine), and 'allow it', in itself, to reduce logically to many smaller problems. These problems then become, not 'problems', but emerging concentrations of causal flow, which can start to be described. Describing the outlines of each one, in terms of communicated data, functional interface, and persistent state, gives them shape and form. They evolve, one against another, in an entirely-logical ecosystem, that somehow retains the elegance of human relevance. As they become more solid, and the lines of code accumulate, the exactitude of the code becomes more precise, and intense. Each data structure, each parameter list, each control flow statement becomes like carving a diamond -- an exact exertion of specific force, following the natural lines of the element being worked. Unlike carving, nothing is fractured and split, the demarcation becomes the instantiation of the idea. And it gets a life of its own, beyond my description, running on the hardware, self-justifying. I've been known to write 10,000 lines of code in a day, when I'm 'in the zone'. It's a rush.

Other 'zones' I dwelt within are composition and persuasive expression of idea (using English as code, so to speak, without needing to nail it to implementation), and playing music -- letting the sound become emotion.

Great topic!

Originally posted by DezertSkies
For me the zone is a state of meditation, and with breathing and meditation you can learn to invoke the state. I also call it channeling of a sort, because what i accomplish while zoning i have oftentimes no conscious recollection of.

Exactly, i do have a recollection of it but when i read it back sometimes i surprise myself at explaining something so clearly, while when i'm out of the zone it would be harder for me to explain the same concept.

Thanks for the replies everybody. My 'zone' has collapsed since i wrote this but it is still nice to know it's still there somewhere.

[edit on 27-10-2008 by Harman]

reply to post by Harman


Harman - interesting thread - great questions

But now the questions, what is it that creates your 'zone'? Sports? Art? Music? Debating? etc etc etc

art - definitely - I get lost in it - to the point where I forget to eat

and, thinking - just thinking. you could call it daydreaming - but - whatever it is - I forget where I am sometimes I'm so absorbed by it

sometimes I even paint in my head - hard to explain - I know

And my big question: How can you get at that point (speaking to the creative 'zoneists' ( not zionists ) at will instead of that it finds you or is it something that just finds you and are you powerless to invoke it?

it's easier for it to find me than for me to find it

I can only get in the zone on purpose if I sneak up on it - but if I really want it too much - seems to kill it or chase it away

Again, being in the zone does not have to mean other people acknowledge me for it but it is the act itself that makes me happy in my case, i can write it in notepad, safe it and still be relieved it is out of my system.

I understand - if I knew no one would ever see a single thing I do - I would still do it

as it turns out - this is exactly what's happened :-)

I have a question for you -

do you think it's something that comes from you - or do you think it's something completely separate that just grabs you and takes you for a ride?

reply to post by PinealGlandThoth


just listening to Bach can do something similar for me

I can only imagine what it must be like to perform it

reply to post by freakyty

Diet is very important element to being in the zone.

Well, I once got a hat trick (scored 3 goals) against a county rival in football (soccer) in my Sophmore year in High School - and I was definitely in the zone...it wasn't so much a cliche like everything was in slow motion (though I did get a "blurry" vibe but for different reasons-see below), it was more a very earnest attempt at trying to emulate players who are at the highest level - and once in a great while it all comes together and you zone...

To cont. with the OP:

I say the word blurry above because I put away 4 beers RIGHT before the match with a beer-bong...I puked after the game, but I really did have a great game...so if barley and hops can be considered part of the "diet", then yes, it is very important...