In 1984, there was a horror movie that came out called “Impulse”. Basically an extended Twilight Zone episode, the movie demonstrated what could happen if people lost their inhibitions and literally acted on impulse. Of course, the result was chaos.
I was thinking about this movie the other day and how it applied to flow. The interesting thing is that when you are in flow even if you “act on impulse” the result would be the same – success. You see, impulse or a rash act, whether it’s buying something expensive in the store or quitting your job in anger, stems from a blockage of flow. The job scenario is a fairly obvious example. If you are so angry you would quit your job on impulse a lot of blockages have built up prior to the act.
But what about something innocuous like shopping? Well, the same applies. The typical scenario is that you want to buy something but it is too expensive. So you debate back and forth and then suddenly buy it on impulse, worrying about the credit card bill later. And, usually, when the bill does come you regret buying the item and may even end up taking it back.
When you are in flow impulse is never a negative thing. Yes, there is excitement in acting in the moment, such as getting in the car and heading to a vacation spot with no reservations. But your actions are have the end result of bringing success. For example, in flow you wouldn’t take off on vacation if you had a big presentation the next day or no babysitter for the kids.