In The Zone

I read the phrase in the morning paper a while ago and it ignited a couple of things.

 One often hears athletes use the phrase to account for some spectacular play. I exerienced it once playing softball.  I was playing third base.  One out, runner on first, clean-up hitter at bat.  As the batter swung, the zone happened.  Time seemed to crawl.  I saw the ball at impact. I knew the trajectory of the high line drive immediately, moved right and leaped, catching it at the edge of the webbing.  I landed and turned, seeing the alarm on the base runner’s face as he spun (slowly) back toward first.  I had all the time in the world to make the throw to end the inning.

But “the Zone” isn’t reserved for sports.  Think about the arts.  When a writer puts pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and begins to make words.  What is sometimes drudgery suddenly becomes a race to keep up with words that pour out.  Time is a non-entity.  The only thing in the world is the word, the connection of one to the next, and the next, and the next…  Knowing, without knowing, that the words are good, that they fit to make a story or a poem. 

Or the painter in “the Zone”, removing the blankness from a canvas to reveal a scene, a portrait, an abstraction, a slice of life, without concious thought, allowing the brush or pallet knife to do its work unencumbered by concerns about rightness, certain it is there.
I know a wonderful musician who on a break from a recording session went outside to enjoy the few minutes respite.  Sitting on the wall that surrounded a fountain that served as a moat protecting the statue of a woman who gave the studio its name.  With her mind and voice relaxed, lyrics wormed their way in and by the time the break was over she had a new song.  It is in my opinion the most creative one on the album.

“The Zone” is sought after by sculptors, craftspeople, laborers, teachers people of all occupations and vocations.  It happens when the work becomes all-consuming, when nothing exists but the material and its manipulation by whatever tool fits to complete the task.
Did you ever wonder how a surgical team can work for seven, eight, or more hours to save a life?  I have to believe they are “In The Zone.”

In less than three weeks I am having surgery on my skull.  I only hope the two surgeons performing the operation will be “In the Zone” as they work.

Until next time, Namaste