In The Zone

In the previous post, I was writing about an article on Steve Taylor's book Making Time, about how time can seem to get shorter as we get older. That article mentioned how top sports players often report that time seems to slow down when they are in a state of consciousness they refer to as 'in the zone'. When they are in this state, time seems to move so slowly that they are able to predict with absolute certainty where the ball will land and have plenty of time to make the right response to it. They know exactly how to strike the ball and where it will go.

Players seem to enter this 'zone' spontaneously when they are having a good day and the phenomenon has become so widely known that the phrase 'in the zone' is now in common use. This is perhaps the most generally recognized example of being 'in the moment', the practice promoted by Eckhart Tolle in his book The Power Of Now. The players are concentrating so hard on their game that they are completely present in the moment, instead of being lost in thought the way we all so often are. They are fully alert to everything their senses are telling them and so can pick up on information they would otherwise miss.

Chris and I had an example of this the other day. We were sitting in a garden, chatting away, and decided to practice being in the moment together for a while. We let the chatter, both verbal and mental, fall away and connected instead with our senses, so that we were really there in that lovely garden instead of somewhere away in our heads as usual.

After a while, we reported back on our experiences. We had both been focusing on a nearby fountain. Chris reported seeing areas of light and shade in the spouts of water which she hadn't noticed before, while I remarked on something similar in the sound of the fountain. There had seemed to be almost a choir of voices within the sound. I hadn't realized that gurgling could be so complex.

In our everyday lives, such complexities tend to be overlooked. If we hear the sound of the fountain at all, we file it away in our heads as 'the sound of the fountain' and dismiss it from further investigation. Then we rush around in our heads, giving simplistic labels to everything else our senses are telling us, leaving us free to get back to the all-important business of worrying about whatever is on our minds today.

It is the same for the sports people too. If they have a problem in their private lives or are concerned about how they are playing or something that might have been written about them in the press, their game is likely to suffer. Preoccupied as they are with these worries, they will be out of touch with their senses. They will not be 'in the zone'. They will not quite connect with the ball and the perfect shot will elude them.

Perhaps it would help if they read The Power Of Now...

I wonder how many of those who regularly find themselves in the zone on the sports field - and we are talking here about a great many people, not just professionals - realize that they could carry this over into their everyday lives, that if they focussed on their senses all the time, just as they do on the playing field, they could live their whole lives in the zone. Then they would always be alert to what is really going on in front of them instead of being lost in a tangle of thoughts; able to respond in spontaneous perfection to whatever life might throw at them; and able to experience life in all its glory, moment and by moment - like a ball well observed and perfectly smitten, heading towards the sky.

Comments

[Linda]

There is a 4 part series on TV about Time that Michio Kaku does that has been re-run recently. It is fascinating when he has people on the street count out what they think equals a minute. Young people usually think a minute is shorter (50 or so seconds) and older folks think it is longer (75 seconds or more). Thus the concept that time seems to be going faster when we get older has been demonstrated -- in that when I think 10 minutes has passed, and I look at the clock, I am surprised to see that 15 minutes (or so) has actually passed. 'My that time went fast' I think. Of course when doing a lot of stuff in a short period of time, one can think, wow, time must have slowed down for me to do so much in so little time! One other thing -- the trips I took around Europe in 1966 and the Middle East in 1971 are still emblazoned in my memory bank and i can recall events that occurred with immense detail, compared to what I did last week, for example! It is stuff that is out of the ordinary that actually gets remembered the most. Thanks for the thought provoking words.

[Desiree]

Great post Simon. I don't think though that we need to live in the zone. I think it's a nice place to visit but I like the chatter in my head sometimes too. I think it's important to bring it into your life. I love to do this I find it a great form of relaxation.

[Chase March]

I have found myself in the zone at many different points in my life. It has happened in athletics as we typically would expect, but it has also happened to me while working on my writing projects and teaching.

It is a great experience to feel so completely connected to everything. I wish it happened more often.

[thethinker]

I can definitely understand the "in the zone" feeling, even though my sport is gymnastics rather than basketball or soccer or anything like that. A two minute routine always feels so much longer.

[Mark]

Great post! It is true, we can learn how to "be in the zone", the key is to living in the now, as you have said.

[cardiogirl]

It's so strange that you mention this today. Last night I was sitting with my baby (2-year-old) right before bed time. She still sleeps in a crib, but our routine is to lie together on the full-size bed that is in her room and enjoy some time together before I pick her up, kiss her neck and lie her down in the crib.

Anyway, last night I was lying there, looking at her face and thinking what a long, rushed day it was. And then I was thinking about how nice it is to lie down with Emily and just focus on her face, her tiny ears, the way her blond hair is whispy in the front and a little wavy in the back.

Like a mirror, she imitates my facial expressions. So as we lie there at night, I slowly smile at her and she slowly smiles back. I kiss the air and she kisses the air back.

It's such a pleasure to take just a small moment in time and really enjoy and experience it. Amen, brother!

[Secret Simon]

Thanks for all your comments.
Linda - Thanks for mentioning the TV show. It's interesting to know that this has been tested. I know what you mean about your trips abroad. My overland trip across Europe in 1980 is still very vivid in my memory - as are the people with whom I shared it. They still seem like significant people in my life - even though I only knew them for three weeks!
Desiree - Your comment about liking the chatter is interesting. I made a similar comment to one of my meditation teachers a few years ago. She gave a kind of puzzled grimace in return. I guess it really depends what the chatter's about. One of the ironies about writing a spirituality blog is that you're often in your head, thinking over what you're going to write about next! Which is not unpleasant provided it's kept in balance. But some of my other chatter these days is driving me crazy and I'm a lot more in agreement with my meditation teacher than I was back when I made that comment. The thing is: no one's forcing anyone to live in the zone, but I know from your blog that you want to change the world - as do we all - and my own personal belief is that the change is not going to happen unless all of us make that subtle shift in consciousness.

[Secret Simon]

Chase - Hello and welcome to my blog! I think that you tend to get in the zone if you are doing any kind of performance really well because you have to be in the moment and focused on what you are doing to do it properly. And teaching is very much a performance of course. It's less easy with writing, perhaps, but it's great when it happens and you tend to produce the best output when it does.

Your comment reminds me of Tony Robbins' technique for getting in the zone. Next time you are there, think of some appropriate word and fix it in your memory, associating it with how you feel while you're in that state. Then next time you want to be in the zone, think of that word and you'll be magically transported there! Give it a try...

[Secret Simon]

Thinker - Yes, and sport too is a performance, of course (as is playing a musical instrument). I wonder if you have felt in the zone at any other time?

Mark - Yes, being in the zone and in the moment are really one and the same thing. Tony Robbins' is one way of getting there - Eckhart Tolle's is another.

Cardiogirl - Thanks for sharing this delightful story! You don't really need to be out on the sports field, you see, you can just be there with your baby. Or focusing on whatever the moment may bring.

[Sue Ann Edwards]

Greetings Simon!

It actually makes a lot of sense. For the way I understand 'time', it is an experience of walking backwards into the Present.

[Secret Simon]

Welcome Sue Ann - great to hear from you! Thinking about time can be a bit mind boggling and I'm struggling to understand the walking backwards bit but yes, I certainly agree about time leading into the present - it's the only place to be.

[Sue Ann Edwards]

Hi Simon! Thank you for the link! {hugs}

'Time' is the experience of slowing down reality, so that we may savor every experience Life has to offer. Intimately.

The minute we think it, we're there. Our experience of 'time', is how we got there. For instance, I get up in the morning and imagine being at work. I'm actually already there, having created that as my next experience...'being at work'. Time, then, is the experience of how I got there. Was it a good drive? Was there traffic? I can squeeze a lot of experiental juice out of one projection.

And since most of us live in the Past, we're looking backward. Looking backward, moving forward is walking backwards.

You could say we walk backwards into our futures, too. Instead of saying we walk backwards into the Present.

I'm just a rascal and say there is no time but the Present.

Now is just one moment, that forever expands.

[Secret Simon]

Thanks for explaining, Sue Ann. This reminds me: way back when, I used to be an editor of a science fiction magazine and we published a story about a guy who lived life backwards, so he always knew what was coming next. I wish I could remember who by! (I think Martin Amis did something similar later.) The guy in the story described his life as like climbing a flight of stairs. He could see what was in front but what was behind kept vanishing into mist.

We, on the other hand, are walking into the mist which lies ahead of us. Scary, if you think about it that way. But not if you don't concern yourself with the mist, whether it's in front or behind, but concern yourself instead with enjoying whatever step of the staircase you're on at the moment.

[Sue Ann Edwards]

You got it!

Savor the journey.

Good moment, bad moment, each moment is a Present.

A Gift.