Life In Flow
Life In Flow Podcast
How Do We Converge Generatively?
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How Do We Converge Generatively?

Why can’t we just “yes and“ through life? Flowing with what’s been a challenge for all three of us — saying no to the infinite possibilities the world presents to us, aka converging.

Greetings!

Today we are flowing with what’s been a challenge for all three of us — saying no to the infinite possibilities the world presents to us, aka converging. Why can’t we just “yes and“ through life?

Picking up from our earlier exploration of utopia and the dance between the individual and the collective, we acknowledge: the realm of infinite possibilities is beautiful, but nothing actually happens there.

We sense into convergence somatically, muse on why creative people struggle with it most, and wonder whether we’re making decisions at all or just floating on a raft, under the illusion that we steer.

You are in for a game of impossible choices, Yulya’s story of choosing from the body during her son’s illness, and Polina’s reframe-provocation.

And here are some quotes that have stayed with us:


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Irina:

“There is this realm of infinite possibilities where everything is possible, but nothing actually happens, because it’s all just possibilities. For these possibilities to take form, we need to bring them into the realm of matter, where not everything is equally possible. We are obliged to reduce the options, focus our efforts on something, and say no to other options.”

“The principle of ‘yes, and’ is the principle of the generative phase. We are saying yes to other options, and it allows us to explore novelty, new possibilities, this realm where everything is possible. But sooner or later, we need to go back to the realm where we have to say no to things.”

“Every choice I make feels like the killer of all other alternatives. Sometimes it feels unbearable. If I go in this direction, does it mean I will never be able to explore all other paths? How come? I want to explore all of them.”


Yulya

“When something is framed explicitly as a decision, it becomes harder than if you take it as a sense of flow, as the flow of life. There is something about improvising versus decisions being framed as specific decisions that signify something, or represent a fork of some kind.”

“When I feel like I’m flowing, I also feel like I’m surrendering to some extent. I feel more guided than I feel in the frame of mind where it’s me making a decision. I do have agency, but it’s a very diffused kind of agency.”

“I’m not buying that it’s completely my choice, or my free choice, because of the many configurations. If my family history had been different, if this and that had been different, my decision would have been different. So it’s never mine. A lot of it is in the field and part of the configuration.”


Polina

“Making a choice depends on the situation, but at the end of the day, it is a gamble. And it’s a gamble where you have very little input or control. It’s a risk you take, hoping for outcomes that will be generative, while knowing you’re signing up for variables you could not foresee.”

“There has to be enough energy in the field to feel a pull toward a decision, especially when you are not sure about the variables you’re choosing. Every single thing we choose is a gamble. So I need some kind of energetic signature to feel that, even though this is a gamble, the energy is leading me that way for whatever reason, without me knowing why.”

“What if none of it is actually true? What if we are never actually making any decisions? We’re just in our little raft floating along, and things have already been decided, or something else is deciding. Maybe we are only becoming more conscious about the different variables in the road, while thinking we are making decisions.”


In Flow,

Irina, Polina and Yulia

We cherish your presence, and joining us in flowing.

These conversations are open explorations, that become richer with time and participation of others. We’d love to hear if anything touched you.


Life in Flow is a reader- and listener-supported publication. If you enjoyed flowing with us, pls share with someone who might like it as well. It’s how this work reaches more people.

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📍Chapters

  • 00:00 — Welcome to the Life in Flow Podcast

  • 01:15 — Beyond “Yes, And”: Why We Also Need to Converge

  • 04:00 — Irina’s Frame: Divergence and Convergence in Every Creative Process

  • 06:46 — The Central Question: How Do We Converge Generatively?

  • 09:41 — The “This or That” Game: Rapid-Fire Forced Choices

  • 24:45 — Behind the Masks: How Does Forced Choice Actually Feel?

  • 26:22 — Yulya’s Story: A Sick Son and a Pine Tree’s Guidance

  • 33:14 — The FOMO of Convergence: When Every Path Calls You

  • 38:00 — Polina: Every Choice Is an Energetic Gamble

  • 40:26 — The Subway Map of Lost Futures

  • 44:35 — The Energetic Signature: Feeling the Pull Before You Decide

  • 47:53 — Does Making a Choice Mean Giving Up Who You Are?

  • 58:09 — Freeze, Depression, and the Hidden Cost of Not Choosing

  • 01:11:38 — Polina’s Twist: What If We Never Actually Choose?

  • 01:14:38 — Yulya’s Vision Quest: Being Dreamed by the Desert

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💌 Resources used under Creative Commons license:

Music “Echolocation” by airtone, source: CcMixter

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