Achieve Flow State: The Science and Steps Behind Flow State with Author and Violinist Diane Allen

Kristina Driscoll discusses the elusive concept of 'flow' with keynote speaker, violinist, and author, Diane Allen. As Kristina shares her own struggles with chaos and lack of flow, Diane introduces us to the transformative power of getting into the flow state. Diane explains how flow can dramatically enhance performance, creativity, and fulfillment.

Listeners, you will learn about the neurological basis of flow, the importance of balancing skills and challenges, and how to cultivate a state of deep focus. Diane even leads a unique exercise using her electric violin to help listeners experience flow firsthand!

This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to perform better in all areas of life. Plus, Kristina and Diane share heartfelt personal stories about caregiving and the bravery it takes, making this episode both deeply inspiring and practically enlightening.

Free gift courtesy of Diane Allen as mentioned in this episode:
www.tinyurl.com/FlowStateGift

Diane Allen Bio:
International speaker, violinist, and author Diane Allen, is a global authority on the flow state. She is known for her experiential Keynotes, Training, and Coaching programs that go Beyond Engagement™, featuring her three-step Flow Strategy™ system, which empowers people to get into their flow state, be in their genius, and love what they do.

Connect with Diane Allen:
Diane Allen's OVOU Profile

Diane’s Book:

Flow: Unlock Your Genius, Love What You Do

https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Unlock-Your-Genius-Love/dp/1737855623/

Kindle sale price: $1.99 (Now through the end of the day Sept. 22, 2024)

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Transcript

(Intro) Hey everyone! It's Kristina Driscoll, host of the She's Brave podcast. Let's go...

Kristina Driscoll, Host: You guys, we're going to be talking about a concept that we are severely lacking in today's world. We're going to be talking about the concept of flow. What is it? How do you get it? When was the last time you were in flow?

It's the end of summer for me. And I gotta tell ya, I have not been in flow this summer. It's been all chaos and family drama and work and everything else. And so, when today's guest, Diane Allen, when her name came across my computer, I was like, I've got to have her on my podcast.

Today's guest is keynote speaker and violinist, Diane Allen. She's also the author of the book, 'Flow: Unlock Your Genius, Love What You Do'. She's on a mission to help people deeply engage with their lives and reach their potential. A New York City trained violinist; Diane became the concert master of the Central Oregon Symphony. With her copper dragon violin in hand, she now helps organizations to cultivate their talent, increase engagement, and improve performance.

Welcome, welcome, Diane!

Diane Allen, Guest: Thank you so much. 

Kristina: I'm so excited to have you here. Let's just dive right in. Diane, tell us a little bit about yourself and how did you even get onto this Concept of flow. 

Diane: Diane Allen, obviously. I have played the violin for over 50 years, and I stumbled a lot with my auditions, that's a big part, whether it's youth orchestra in high school who's going to sit first seat just taking auditions, then I went to New York city, had the full-on conservatory training, top notch training.

And yet, I would go to auditions, and I would fall apart. So, the gap between my ability to perform and my ability to perform a high precision instrument under high pressure, there was a huge gap.  Now I had plenty of opportunities where I would get into the music to the point where there was no fear.

 For musicians, getting into the music is getting into your flow state.  So I had some tastes of it. Came in and out , and there was one audition, oh my gosh, Christina, I actually  walked out, I played the best I had ever played, I played this opening line, it was stunning, it was like, wow it far exceeded any previous time I had played that piece of music, and then my snarky inner critic interrupted  the whole thing and said, how are you going to keep that up?

And then I just bombed after that.  And so right there, okay, that is a classic thing that happens to all of us. I was on this high moment where it was, like, all of my skill became this transcendent experience and then when interruptions are the number 1 killer flow, and that includes your own self interrupting yourself, which is what happened.

 I lost it, right?  Fast forward, I got to this place in my life where I was doing well, I gained traction and I was at a concert one day where there was a ginormous interruption. And for some reason I could not get into the music. And I was the lead violinist of the orchestra at that time.

Which meant I was not showing up at my best. And when you're the lead violinist, you are second in command to the conductor and you're however, you do, whether it's good or bad, that's going to be a ripple effect throughout the orchestra. So I was going through the motions. Not acceptable.

And that was the day I sat down to figure out, okay, how do I get into flow?  How do I actually do it? And so I came up with the system, but I do, before we go into that at some point, I do want to talk about the definition of flow and all the background behind it.

Kristina: Yeah, let's do it. Let's start right there.What is the definition of flow?

Diane: Let me ask you, have you ever done something where you lost sense of time and like in a good way, right?

Kristina: Yeah. Yeah. Lots of times.

Diane: And then in that moment, did you feel like your inner critic was gone and you were fearless?

Kristina: Yes. Yes. A hundred percent.

Diane: Okay. And then did you have ideas and insights coming in from seemingly out of the blue?

Kristina: Yes. You know what? I'm still getting so excited. Yeah. Because this is. I have I was telling the truth and I said, I really feel, haven't felt like I've been in flow all summer, but I just started  of all things, a LinkedIn course, cause I want to get on LinkedIn, not knowing that the jerk who teaches it, and I say that tongue and cheek, he's actually really helping me a lot.

He- we have to write. He gives us a prompt, a writing prompt every morning and we have to write and post on LinkedIn and I have been experiencing that very thing on my very first post. I talked about how in college I had an internship where I had a boss who told me he didn't think I was that great of a writer.

And that impacted me for years.  And it's I went back to college and I wrote tons of papers and I'd always go talk to the professors and say, how's my writing? They'd always say it's excellent, but it affected me forever. So here I am, taking this right, this LinkedIn course, but actually it's really a right, it's really a writing course.

And it's fascinating because I get the prompt and then I  go into this flow state every morning. I think I get the prompt. I think I have no idea what is going to what is, what am I going to say about this topic? And then I start writing timestamp still.  Things start coming, popping into my head like crazy.

Diane: It is like magic. Yes. Yes. So, the losing sense of time, losing a sense of yourself, those ideas and insights coming in from out of the blue, like those moments when you get more done in 30 minutes and you had the last three days. Yeah. Okay. So that's like that sense of ease. Then you're in this positive feedback loop.

So if you're in a negative feedback loop, that means you're probably having to use willpower and forcing yourself to do something and get through it. But when you're in a positive feedback loop, you're, it's so rewarding, whatever it is that you're doing, that it actually refuels you. So you get into this, the more you get into it, the more you get out of it, the more you get out of it, the more you get into it  and you're experiencing overall more meaning joy and fulfillment.

Yes. So what we just talked about were the key indicators of being in flow.  Okay. So being in flow, finding your flow seems to be for most people something that comes and goes. 

Kristina: I agree.

Diane: Yeah. So, I'm all about, as I had to, as a violinist, like I was saying in my story, I had to figure out how to get into it pretty reliably because my reputation and my job security depended on it.

Same thing with  neurosurgeons, right? My son's a pilot, right? When you're in these  kinds of jobs where you have to be at the top of your game, we, there's a lot of people who have a habit of getting into flow.

And so what I'm trying to do is, how can we codify this for everyone? So that they can get it to flow themselves. Being aware, increasing your awareness.  Of being in flow is the 1st step. So  what happens  when you get into flow? There are a cocktail of peak performance hormones that get released. And they create these brain waves that are conducive that make your brain conducive to the flow state.

The neocortex amps up, which dramatically increases learning speed. The prefrontal cortex temporarily shuts down and that's where that inner critic lives. And And somehow your fight or flight response gets shut off. So that's fascinating. So you're saying the prefrontal cortex, which is where that sort of critical, talking, critical voice, and then that just like basically shuts down.

It temporarily shuts down. It's, it happens when you take a shower as well.  Have you ever had a lot of ideas come in  the shower? So that's theoretically not exactly flow state, but it's the same thing. When that part of the brain just takes a little snooze your inner critic is silenced and you're open.

And then to think about that, when your inner critic is silenced,  you're in such a powerful, brave place. Bye. Bye.  Oh my gosh. Like it's not even anything. It's not even like you have to be brave.  You are.

Kristina: Oh my gosh. I love this so much. This is crazy.

Diane: People say, I'm not doing, I'm being. And so, my question is yes, we have to do things in life, right?

If you're, doing all the time that is when you do get into a negative feedback loop. So the question is how are you being when you're doing, how can you bring that together? 

Kristina: So good. I love like the neuroscience behind it too. How you just explained it.

There's actual science behind this stuff. I know it's a real thing.

Diane: Flow state is a mindset. It is not a mind state.  Mind state with flow is going with the flow. That's when people say just be easy with it. We'll just roll with it. That's a mindset and then I've also heard people use the word flow more recently to indicate that they're really dialed in with manifesting their dreams.

In a quick and easy way, so I've heard flow being used in that sense more recently. But when I'm talking about flow, I'm talking about  positive psychology, because that's what flow falls. The flow state falls under the umbrella of positive psychology.  Is the opposite of what psychology started out as being is like, what are your problems?

Let's dredge them up. Let's figure it out. No, what's working. How can you reverse engineer that to create more of that goodness in your life and Martin Seligman? He's the person who the psychologist who coined the term flow state and he basically said it's your signature strengths when you are in your own unique signature strengths is when you get into flow. 

Kristina: Wow.  I love that so much, but I can already hear in my mind, my listeners out there, they're thinking to themselves great. Here you two are getting all excited about flow. I don't know how to do this flow thing.  I don't think it's for me. It's that I don't think I can do it.

What do you have to say to that person? 

Diane: What I have to say. Is that we're going to get into flow right now. 

Kristina: Okay!
So, what we're going to do for those of you who are listening to this, and you don't see it I have my electric violin that I perform on now, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to play a foundation line of music.

I'm going to walk you through a series of steps  that are designed to get you into flow. And then when we finish.  Afterwards, I'm going to ask you a few questions, and they will help you to determine to what degree you are in flow or out of flow, because, there's varying degrees. When you think about these people who just were in the Olympics I imagine a lot of those gold medal winners were, like, in their the most deepest states of flow.

But you could be a little bit in flow. You don't have to be all the way in flow all the time. So anyways, I'm just getting on a little tangent there. So here's before we do this, here's what you have to know though. If you don't participate,  you will not have the experience of flow.

So you have to do this in order to experience it. Basically, you're going to be clapping to the music, or if you're in a public place, just tap your finger, just do something where you're tapping to the music. And then I'm going to challenge you. You'll see I'll give you some challenges along the way.

And then that's basically it. I'm just going to start off with a recording of the foundation line of music and then I'm going to walk you through the steps. Okay.   So  the first thing I want you to do is just listen. I'm going to clap,  then I'm going to count you in.  One, two, ready, go!

So I want you to keep clapping while I'm talking.  Because the first thing I want you to do is deepen your focus. Because deep focus is one of the ways you can get into flow.

I want you to notice you're clapping with the violin.  I want you to just simply, with a neutral mind, observe.  Are you clapping right with the violin, a split second before, or a split second after?

As I talk, keep observing,  whether you're with the violin or not,  without judgment. You're just observing.

I now want you to add another body part. Maybe you nod your head,  or tap your foot.

Maybe you do it all.

And same thing, notice,  if you're right with the violin split second before or split second after

each of you that are listening and participating are doing this by yourself and you're doing your own part,  but this podcast is going to reach thousands

and I want you to realize that you are part of a huge network of people in this world.  And that you're all doing this exercise, at your own time, at your own place, but you're all doing it.  And we've all heard of the concept of oneness, and we are in a way experiencing that right now.

For your last challenge, I'm going to play a melody that you have never heard before.  And I want you to end the song at the exact same time. That I do. Just... Okay. So let me walk you through a few questions. Just answer these to yourself. And the 1st question is, we're going to go through some of those key indicators to see if you were in flow. And so, the 1st 1 is did you lose some sort of sense of time? And how would you know that? It's maybe the time felt like it went by quickly, or maybe it went by slowly, but in a good way, just was there some sort of time warp I guess is what we're looking for.

The next one is did you lose a sense of self and how you would know that is the quieter your inner critic, the more likely you are deeper in flow?  Maybe your inner critic went in and out. Maybe it was yelling a lot, who knows, but just notice and observe what was going on with your inner critic.

And then how about the added challenges? Did you find them satisfying in some sort of way?  And then when I talked about the concept of oneness,  did it take it to a whole new level? According to  this psychologist, whose name is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, he did the most. In depth research into flow  and according to him at the intersection of skill and challenge is the universal entry point into flow.

So the skills that we were just using were clapping deep listening and focus  the challenges were. Basically, with the violin and the purpose was the concept of oneness. Think about it, a skill without a challenge, not going to ignite anything. A challenge that's unskilled, not going to ignite anything.

It's the two together that ignites flow and brings out the best in us.  And then when you think about purpose, did that, did that take it to another level for you?  Because when you add that, if you imagine a three circle Venn diagram, that's got skill, challenge and purpose usually that really elevates the experience.

So it's the perfect diagram that explains  volunteer work, because we love doing volunteer work. We will work hard and find that work rewarding.  And so you have a group of people with a variety of skills coming together to meet a challenge and it's all for a purpose.  And people love doing that kind of work.

So how can you create that in your daily life?  And it's simply to just use this model, these three components, skill, challenge, and purpose  to as like an assessment tool, or maybe it's a planning tool.  So I want you to know that if you imagine Skill and challenges like their dials that you can turn up or down, like a volume  for sound on the system.

There's another level to this because maybe you're over challenged and you get shut down. Maybe that's such a great point. Maybe you're under challenged and you don't rise to the occasion. It's like finding just the right amount of challenge.  Maybe you're under skilled. Maybe you're over skilled.

I was speaking to a group of HR professionals and this woman, she said, I knowingly hired somebody who's over qualified for her job. I've been very nervous about retaining her.  And so I'm realizing now. That all I have to do is sit down and ask her, are there any skills you'd like to be learning?

What kinds of challenges do you really enjoy that bring out the best in you? And are you finding enough purpose in your work? She knew exactly that she could get this woman to spark that. That state of flow in her work, if she just had, she could see how she could use this system to really enroll this person in their job and not feel like she's going to move on because she's over qualified.

And then another woman, she said, at the same workshop, she said, learning a new skill is a challenge  and purpose keeps you motivated.  But once you have that skill honed, you've got to replan. For new challenges and maybe even new purpose. So the moral of the story here is whether you are leading yourself for leading other people,  you have to make sure that your skills are always challenged.

Your challenges are always skilled and that there's a very clearly defined purpose. 

Kristina: Yeah. I love it. I have never heard it explained that way. And this was such a fun exercise and it really, it's just interesting too, that, yeah, you're thinking about I was thinking about, clapping my hands softly.

I don't want to be too loud for the microphone, and then I started nodding my head and then tapping my foot and there was I, I, another way I would describe it, which was so nice was that it was really peaceful because I was, not  Yeah. The ego, the self was, just didn't need to be there.

I was like a hundred percent present the way Eckhart Tolle is trying to get us all to be all the time. And we're all like, what are you saying, dude? Don't understand. You tell us to be here now. Like it's easier said than done. Hello, how do we do that?  I'm joking about it, it's tough.

It can be. And if we can find tricks to. Like that worked for me, and yeah and again it gave me a sense of peace to again, that, that inner critic completely went away and that just feels so good, yeah.

Diane: Yeah. It's interesting when I do this live, because you have everybody clapping at the same time.

Yeah. And when we do it in person cause I incorporate my violin playing when I'm doing my speaking engagements. And everybody's clapping and it's an immediate feedback mechanism. And so there's I'm blanking on the author's name right now. I feel really bad about this, but it's called deliberate practice.

And it's basically the same thing because flow gets ignited just outside of your comfort zone. And when you, when I was talking about the skill and challenge and thinking of those as dials, for example, let's say you've got just the right amount of skill. You need to put that challenge dial. At the right place for you, because challenge is very subjective.

One person's big hairy audacious goal is going to pump them up and just really work for them for somebody else that might crumble them. So it's very subjective. You have to find out like, what's the right challenge for you. Anyways, deliberate practice includes a third step, which is immediate feedback.

When you have an immediate feedback. Feedback mechanism, then the mirror is really held up to your performance. And and so when we do it live and you hear, you'll hear that the the, the clapping is spattered. And then by the end of it, it's as if everybody is clapping at the exact same time, it's really cool.

Kristina: Yeah. And why is it that I found myself just naturally stopping exactly when you did? Is that usually what happens? Like at the end? 

Diane: Mostly. I think maybe there's a couple stragglers it, when I do it live I can hear.

Kristina: A couple stragglers.

Diane: But I think that not as in much flow, but there's also a thing about you can tell when the end of a sentence is coming. Yeah. Cause of the way we pace things and, music has structure as well. So I, it's, you could anticipate it.

Kristina: Yeah. I was just, it was just cool because it just, just all ended up neatly wrapped in a nice little bow, it just happened. It just  happened.

I love it.

Diane: Kristina, I want to circle back to something we had started to talk about before we hit the record button.  And I think that you and I share a really profound, brave moment and that is caregiving for somebody with Alzheimer's and the bravery that it took I, I want to share, and you also mentioned being out of flow.

 The time that my mom had Alzheimer's my son was at the height of his teenage years. Rebellion depressed at the same time. He was also 18 years old. So already I'm an adult, leave me alone. And so it was during that time. When I was the most interrupted, and I found myself, I had already been with the orchestra for 15 years.

My violin students started leaving me for other violin teachers.  I was sitting on stage, not able to get into the music. I was.  Completely numb.  And I'm wondering if you experienced a similar thing when you were, I did, I, that is such a great way to describe it. Numb because, I've been podcasting I started my class almost two years ago and I'm like, wow, why didn't I start this before?

Like I, I could have done this 10 years ago when my son was growing up and I was caregiving for my husband, but I couldn't mentally do it. I, it took all my mental energy just to take care of my husband and my son. And my coping mechanism was being numb. I think that's a coping mechanism is to numb yourself out.

Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah.  So in that time period for me I took a year's leave from the orchestra. I had already fallen in love with public speaking, so I was already doing some speaking  and it was really confusing time for me to the point where I thought I was done with the violin. Amen.

And so I, I sold my gorgeous antique violin. I quit the orchestra sold all my music. Like I was like, I'm done. Wow.  I'm done.  And it was murky for a few years. I can't even remember what year, what happened at that point. And my mom was just like a sinking ship and I was like, sinking with her.

There was like an energetic and entanglement between her and I and the closer she got towards. Passing away the darker it got for me and I went and sought counsel cause I was like drowning and this is a podcast about bravery. And this, I think this story is like my two bravest moments in life.

And she said, this counselor, she says, you are you have to lead yourself out of this. Wow. I like, I really, wow, that's fantastic. I was.  Keeping my brother and sister in the loop with everything. I was always there for my mom, but she was like, you are not leading.  If you are going to lead your family, you have to start by leading yourself.

And it felt like taking like the biggest  shipping tanker you can imagine, and moving it the other direction, 180 degrees.  It felt like it took all my might,  but I had a cookie eating habit. I'd go visit my mom and then I'd go get cookies. So the first thing I did was, I put myself on a diet and it felt like it was the hardest thing in the world.

It was as hard. It was just as hard as, when you have a child and they say, take a nap, whatever they do.  And then it got to the point where I was like, I can't do this anymore. And I changed not napping. I remember that having that same, this is like really hard. I'm going to keep myself awake no matter what kind of feeling.

 It felt really hard. And then instead of telling my brother and sister, every little thing that was going on I just stopped and they stopped bothering me. It was amazing. So that was like the big brave moment there. The second. Biggest brave moment was being with my mom on her last 24 hours.

And she was hanging on. She just wouldn't go. I got to the point where I was like, mom, you're done. I like actually had to talk her through that last step. And  I'm just wondering for all the listeners here, if you could truly acknowledge when you were brave in these kinds of moments and what was the bravery for you, Kristina, in all of that?

Kristina: Oh my gosh. I'm getting interviewed on my own podcast. My guest  is asking the questions, what is going on here?  Cheers. 

Diane: Cheers.

Kristina: With our tea and our water. Yes. So, what were my Brave moments. There were a lot. For me it was really hard to accept that I had to put my husband in a care home because he was wandering at night, and he was combative with caregivers in the home.

So it, I tried to bring people in at night to, to, keep them under control. But, he fell and hit his head and completely blacked out, called the ambulance. They took him to the hospital and the doctors told me, you cannot keep him at home anymore.  And there's a lot of guilt when you are a caregiver and you have to let go.

So like that, that sentence that you were talking about leading where your counselor said, do you had to start leading yourself, and I think it's brave to put your loved ones into a home. It is. And I saw a Alzheimer's counselor, but she was a PhD specialist who dealt with the families of  people who have a loved one with Alzheimer's.

She was like very knowledgeable. So after all this, I just put my husband in the care home and I went and saw her and, she said also like a same thing. It's very brave. It's very hard. You're doing the right thing. It's very chaotic for your son. He's young. He's little. He's like nine.

He was nine or 10. And he needs that stability at home. And so you're, you need to. To not feel guilty about this and here's a really weird part of this. So everybody in the audience is going to get to hear this weird little like coincidence, maybe not a coincidence.

So this woman, Psychologist, um, that I went to see, and she was in a particular neighborhood in Seattle, and I was really struggling with putting my husband in the care home. And she told me, you know, for the sake, even just for the sake of your son, you have to do this. He needs order. Like it's too much chaos at home.

And, um, but years later, and we're talking years later.  I met my now husband. Okay. He's downstairs in the hot tub right now.  Friday night tonight.  He's already, he's like, I'm starting Friday night. I'll see after your podcast. But, um,  I met this guy, his name was Blake Johnson. And you know, we, we started, we hit it off right away.

And, um,  one day he took me to his office  and his office was. Right across the street from that counselor that I saw, I was literally a stone's throw away from him working in his, in his office,  but I wouldn't, but I, but I wouldn't, but I wouldn't meet him for years later.  Isn't that wild as a wild story.

Diane: Yeah. Wow.

Kristina: Yeah.  I mean, I, I, the whole thing is, yeah, I mean the whole, the whole Alzheimer's journey is.  Is having to learn to be brave and I mean, I didn't start out brave and a lot of people have heard the story of when my husband got his diagnosis, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep and probably this was probably the bravest thing that I ever did.

I got in the car one day because I couldn't think because I wasn't sleeping  and I went to the ER. 

Diane: Mm-hmm.

Kristina: And I just walked in and one of my friends, her husband worked there, and I was so, but I was like, please, I hope he's not working. Of course he was working that day.  I walked in. I just said, I'm not eating.

I'm not sleeping. I don't know what's going on, but I need help. And I don't know what to do. I can't think. And he came in, my friend's husband, and he said, I can't treat you obviously because you're a friend, but. I think what you're feeling is really normal, considering the fact that you have a five year old son and this is a huge diagnosis and you're in the right place and you're going to be fine.

And I'm really proud of you for being here and taking care of yourself, you know, instead of just like trying to hold it all in and, and like, you know, function badly. So he's like, we're going to get you eating and sleeping and. Get you better, you know, so I mean, yes, I had to go on sleep medication. Yes, I had to go on some anxiety medication, you know, um, I started counseling, but you know, I, I, that was like  so hard to do.

That's like probably the hardest thing I've had to do in my life where I just incredibly hard.  To stand up for yourself in that moment. 

Diane: Yeah. Yeah. 

Kristina: I had to, you know, for my son too, cause I was like, I can't like, I want to be the best parent I can be. And if I'm falling apart, like how can I, I can't, I can't be a good parent.

And so even though I'm embarrassed that. I'm having like, clearly I'm having some kind of mental health issues,  you know, um, it's embarrassing, you know, and I remember one of the very first times I was interviewed on a podcast and it was, um, it was a podcast with three sisters and you know, their mom has Alzheimer's and  so, um, you know, and I told, and I did tell that story on, on their podcast and one of the sisters looked at me and said,  You know, cause I think I said something, they diagnosed me with an anxiety disorder and she looked at me and she said, well, who wouldn't have an anxiety disorder in that situation?

And that made me feel so much better. You know? Yes.  You know?

Diane: Yeah, yeah. I, uh, yeah, the, it's interesting because my mom, when she was, you know, still cognizant, she said, can you find me a support group? And all I could find was support groups for caregivers. Oh. Oh, interesting. And I was like, do you think it occurred to me to go to one of those for myself?

Kristina: I know. It's so weird. Right. It's so weird how we don't get, and like I, that's my biggest piece of advice for people in the journey too, is please like ask for more help. Like I didn't ask for enough, enough help. I didn't, I didn't ask for enough support. I should have asked for more. Yeah. 

Diane: So yeah, for those of you who are listening, uh, we give you full permission to have the bravery to ask.

Kristina: Yeah. Yeah. 100%. 100%.

Diane: Yeah. So, the, um, so the, I want to just circle back, uh, because at, at this point I had sold my violin and right. Everything. Yeah. Um, it was trying to do the speaking and, um, there, there's so much about, um, anyways, I don't want to get sidetracked, but the thing is, is that, um, I, I can't, like I said, I, I mix up what was going on and what year and whatever, but I was, I was doing some speaking and I was sitting in a, uh, at a film festival, watching a documentary about some counterculture artists, and they were questioning everything like, who's to say, this is art.

Who's to say, That this is not art and who's to say that this art is valuable and this art is not valuable, but they were also like running a business. They wanted to like, start their own museum. And they're like, well, who's to say what leadership is who do we even need leaders? Should we just all be equal?

Right? They were, they were questioning everything. And for some reason I couldn't sleep that night. I was so stimulated by it. I was thinking and thinking in that morning, for some reason I could feel the power of the violin coming back into my life. Wow. And I borrowed a violin  from my friend Janet this morning.

And if you knew Janet, of course, you know, that she would come over with a purple violin. Cause that's what she's like  purple violet, purple violet. So I played a little Bach and it was like, no, I played a pop tune. I was like, yes. Okay, it took me 10 minute experiment to figure out what I was so confused about.

Um, I wasn't done playing the violin. I was done playing classical music.  To this day, I really still don't listen to it. Because I think I would just got way, way, way, way, way, way oversaturated by it.  So, um, so what happened was a week after that, I borrowed an electric violin. Six weeks later, I'm incorporating my violin playing with my speaking.

I love it playing my own music. And combining with the speaking, everyone, all my friends were like, Diane, can you not combine the violin playing with the speaking? I'm like, no, these two worlds will never collide. But when it happened, I love it.

Kristina: Oh, my gosh. Wow.

Diane: And so, there was this momentum energy that was behind this.

And it wasn't like, oh, reaching a goal that you, you know, like for all the violin years that I was practicing and practicing and trying to get work and, you know, finally getting the job of my dreams, right? It was the complete opposite. It was like I was being sucked forward into something. I had no idea where I was going.

And, um, through the lens of, of courage, right?

Kristina: It's like the courage to say yes to that momentum, the courage to say yes to the momentum. I love it. Diane, not knowing where you're going. Yep. Totally. A lot of times we don't know where we're going and that's okay.

Diane: So here we are, I'm a speaker who plays the violin, who talks about flow state, as far as I know, I'm the only one in the world who's doing that.

Kristina: That's actually good news too, is that you know, we all- that's what my podcast is about. Also, the courage to be authentically you be, so you are unique. You are being you, that is your superpower.

That is everybody out there. It's your superpower. Be you be a hundred percent. You don't be anybody else. That is your freaking superpower. You guys.  Right? That's why you're at where you're at, Diane, right? Like all these things you've done, all these things you're doing, your new book is coming out. I'm super excited.

I'm psyched for it. The world needs this right now. We need to learn more about flow because we don't have enough of it in our lives. We're forgetting about it. I know I have been, you know, it's like, I was just like, I need to have you on my podcast because we reminded about the power of flow, and we need to be thinking about how to get more of it into our lives.

And you explain beautifully so well, how it works, the science behind it. There's actual science. This is how it works is what's, what's going to happen in your brain and how beneficial it is and how we, how much we are going to benefit from it.  It's incredible. So, thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much. This has been such a treat.

I had no idea we were going to be like doing a violin exercise and, you know, going through and that you were going to be in the hot seat. I was going to be in the hot seat.  It's full of surprises today.  I love it. You are just pure joy. Diane, I cannot, I cannot, cannot wait to get this book in my hands. So, you know, we're, we're airing this the week that your book is released and.

Very, very excited about that for you. Can't wait to hear what comes up next in life for you, Diane. Let's stay in touch.

Diane: Yes, absolutely.

Kristina: Well, thanks so much for coming. And I think our listeners and me and everybody out there listening, I think we all learned and benefited so much from you today. Thank you.

Diane: I have a gift. That I'd like to give to people. Okay. I have, uh, what I have, it's a web page filled with resources. Um, so it will give you the, um, everything that we talked about, but it's an outline format. So, it's like very quick and easy to follow. It's basically like a guide. Um, I also have another system.

For getting for figuring out how you uniquely get into flow and on, uh, which is on my TEDx talk. So, on this web page, I have this guide. I've got a couple of videos and, um, it's just going to be able to, um, give you the information that you a review, but it also, um, We'll take it to the next level. And then, um, we'll also include the link to my book.

So how you get that gift is, uh, it's a tiny URL code. So, or URL. So it's tiny URL. com slash. Flow State gift.

Kristina: Okay, so that'll be in the show notes. You guys, all you have to do is go to the show notes and tap on the link and boom, you'll be in. Yeah, so you don't even have to like write it down or remember it or anything.

So there you go. Thank you so much, Diane.

Diane: Thank you. 

Kristina: All right. I cannot wait to see what is in store for you for the future, but for now I'm gonna say stay in flow, Girlfriend!