Le Weekly #107 – Flow State 🍳
One quote, one word, one shoutout, one story, one neigh from Philosophical Horse and one question.
Greetings everyone. Happy Monday!
Take a deep breath. Read slowly. Pause after each section. Enjoy.
Le Quote 🗣️
“Don’t force the horse.” – Azraa Sellar (or, at least, it’s what I thought she said).
Le Word 💬
horse (noun) a large plant-eating domesticated mammal with solid hoofs and a flowing mane and tail, used for riding, racing, and to carry and pull loads.
Le Story ✍️
On Saturday night, I woke up in my sleep, rolled over, and, to my horror, my entire arm was completely numb.
Now, I’ve woken up with a numb arm mid-sleep before, but this time it was completely numb.
“This is it,” I thought. “I’m about to lose my arm.”
But, thankfully, after flailing around for a bit, I regained a touch of feeling.
Slowly, I started moving my fingers and, thankfully, after a bout of painful pins and needles, all feeling came back.
I went back to sleep peacefully.
Le Shoutouts 🧣
The next morning, I woke up and drove to a coffee shop.
As I walked in, I saw a man named Zach and another named Suraj.
“How is the magazine going?” Zach asked.
Judging by his question, I calculated it had been roughly two years since I last spoke to him.
“It’s good,” I replied. “Except, it’s now just a weekly newsletter, but it’s going well.”
He smiled enthusiastically.
“That being said,” I continued. “There are some weeks where I find myself unmotivated to write. I don’t want to force things, and I don’t want to stop writing just yet, so I have this opportunity to learn how to write even when I’m not.”
“Don’t force it,” Zach said.
“Take a step back,” Suraj said.
“Go for a walk,” Zach added.
“Just let it flow,” they said in unison (or, at least, it felt like they did).
“Hmm, perhaps going on a walk can be part of my new writing process,” I replied.
They nodded and smiled. We shook hands. I went inside, ordered a coffee, returned outside, sat on my own, and opened my notebook to write.
As I sipped my coffee, looking at the blank page in front of me, I decided to listen to their advice, step into flow state, and not force any stories.
As I sat there, one of the waiters walked outside with a rather large dog following behind him. In the waiter's hand was a rather large dog bowl. In the bowl were some hot scrambled eggs.
“Is that for the dog?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
“Did the owner pay for it, or are you donating it?” I asked, chuckling.
The waiter smiled.
“No, the owner paid,” he replied, before returning his gaze to the scrambled eggs inside.
At first, I thought he was mashing the eggs to make them easier for the dog to eat, then I realised he was stirring them around to cool them down so they wouldn’t burn the dog’s mouth.
“The dog loves me,” the waiter chuckled, looking back at me. “He’ll always come inside and look for me because he knows what he’s about to get when he finds me.”
He stirred the scrambled eggs some more, cooling them with the fresh morning air, then lifted the bowl to his face and blew on them gently.
“You should put an ice block in there,” I said, offering some egg-cooling advice.
“No, it’s fine,” he replied. “I’m patient.”
He blew on the eggs once more, nodded, took the bowl inside, placed it on the floor, and watched as the dog gobbled it all.
Le Neigh from Philosophical Horse 🐴
“Neigh?” – Philosophical Horse.
Le Question 🤔
How are you cooling down your scramble?
Have a powerful Monday, everyone.
If you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, please forward it to someone you think would also enjoy it. To send me a cup of coffee, please click here. For previous newsletters, click here.
The panic from a completely numb arm or leg mid sleep in underrated!
Regaining the ability to be present is so similar to regaining the use of a numb arm. It's easier to stay emotionally numb when we know the alternative is having to process pain and discomfort. But it's in that pain that we get to discover our resilience and the trust that pain never lasts.