Flow and Surrender at Sub-Zero

My favourite quote is, if you are looking for that one person who has the power to change your life – look in the mirror. And that was exactly my motivation when I signed up for a road trip with the XSO Drive Subzero Spiti expedition at the start of the year. The 1700 km adventure from Delhi to Spiti was a life changing, and taught me about Flow and Surrender.

The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes Flow as “Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement and thought follows inevitably from the previous one. Your whole being is involved, and you are using your skills to the utmost.”

I experienced it amidst the snow-capped mountain ranges at -25°C. I found that to be in flow – I had to surrender. And I had to let go of cognitive rationality and the notion of control to find flow, and find joy.

When you drive through snow slushed, ice skidding mountain roads, with more bravado than experience of such terrain, or even the vehicle you are driving – Flow and Surrender show up in myriad ways.

I learnt that Flow and Surrender is to:

• Be on a slippery precipice and follow the instructions of your Lead without doubt, believing you will be fine (even as your heart is in your mouth thinking of the ravine below).
• Trust your car, friction and gravity to propel you over sliding ice without touching your brakes (unlearning in a hurry what years of driving practice has taught you).
• Drive with discipline in a convoy without questioning your place in it, respecting the driver in front of you (contrary to our predatory instinct to overtake and get ahead).
• Become one with the elements, finding that adrenaline will pull you through the freezing weather (even as you come back and shudder in the office AC).
• Realise how small you are as the mountain peak stands majestically above you, demanding you bow in veneration as sages and gods did for eons before you.
• Stare into the mesmerising embers of a bonfire or the stars in the inky black sky, immersed in them, no other thought entering your mind.
• Stop in your tracks at the sight of a frozen waterfall and thankful for the tenacity of our human body, which still keeps our blood flowing.
• Marvel at the snow leopard who eats seabuckthorn berries when prey becomes scant in the harsh winter months (a lesson of survival, humility and resilience).
• Jump about in the snow gleefully, create snow angels, build a snowman, allowing the child within to be set free.
• Merrily go for a drive 5 hours to a village only 23 km away just to eat Maggi at a Dhaba (even as you curse with frustration when stuck in traffic on your way to work in Mumbai).

I witnessed it first-hand that Flow happens when you are doing something you really enjoy and feel passionate about. Challenges become welcome and small wins become badges of honour. As you allow yourself to surrender to the elements and to the child within you – you finally let go of your ego and you are set free.

(Photo credits: XSO Drive Subzero Spiti expedition group members)