Flow

I was in a good flow this morning. Every stone I touched went directly into the wall. No second guessing. No internal deliberations. In fact, no thinking at all.

And then my phone rang.

“Potential Spam.”

A small interruption, the price of keeping my phone on me when I work alone. Instead of slipping the phone directly back into my pocket, I made the mistake of checking my texts and emails. I responded to two, neither of which were urgent, then got back to work. But something had changed.

The first stone I grabbed didn’t fit. Neither did the second. They were no longer marching themselves into the wall. Instead of picking them up on instinct, I was analyzing every stone in the pile, searching for the perfect fit. I’d tightened up. The work went on, but the spell was broken.