I do not have a great powerful memory, I wish I had. Once I really learn something my conceptual mind can remember it forever (?) but if you ask me what I had for dinner 2 days ago I will most likely won't know. In the case of dinner it's not a big deal but I have forgotten more than I'd like in life. In the end, if you can't remember it, did it really happen? For all practical reasons, it seems like it didn't but I digress.

Now, let's go back to my flow experience. I did not know what flow was at that time, but it was so impactful that I have vivid memories of it now, more than 25 years after. The year is 1997, I was part of a funk rock band, I played electric guitar, mainly our own songs, heavily influenced by Living Colour. After playing live in some small bars, our friends got bored and we decided to move on to the next logical step: recording some of our songs.

Recording music in an actual studio is for the most part a magical experience. And here is where the flow happened. Several hours into it, it was my part to record a guitar solo. I never really "wrote" my solos, they were always improvised following a few motives and with some sort of consistency, but improvised nonetheless.

I can literally see myself playing that solo today, and it still gives me chills. Is always as watching myself from the outside, playing faster than ever, almost effortless, the sounds brilliant and clear, my fingers moving like crazy. At some point, I kind of realized what was happening and almost panicked: "I am losing control, moving beyond my skill level here". Gladly, I let go that thought and kept going.

It was a good solo, but I remember the feeling of the experience much more than the music itself.

If you are not familiar with what flow means here it is in a nutshell. Flow is a mind status when you're absorbed with a task that perfectly balances its complexity with your skills, so it not too easy for you to get bored, nor too complicated to produce anxiety. In that state, we can have great performance and it has good connections with what people in sports, arts, martial arts, and meditation practices have reported.