Find your "tuning fork" moments.

And hit them often.

Earlier this week, I played a round of golf for the first time in over a year. It was just a short executive course, nothing but par 3s and par 4s, but still quite enjoyable.

I love the game of golf, though I’ve never been very good at it. I first picked up a golf club about 20 years ago, but just never put in the time to learn how to play very well.

When the Covid lockdowns came crashing down upon us in 2020, golf courses were still allowed to be open, so I took full advantage. Prices were very low at a couple courses near me, so I was playing twice a week for a while.

I almost got my score down to “bogey” golf. I’d be thrilled if I could be consistently that good. Heck, forget the score. All I really want to do is hit the ball well.

Which brings me to the round I just played. Despite having not played in forever, I hit the ball really well off the tee. I even managed to score 6 pars. Yay!

There’s something that just feels amazing when you hit the ball well. It’s almost like not striking a ball at all. It’s effortless. Your body almost “hums” with the purity of your motion. When I strike a golf ball well, it literally feels like striking a tuning fork in just the right way to produce the perfect pitch.

I assume baseball hitters and kickers in football and soccer feel the same way. I also presume that it’s the way a dancer feels when they nail a piece of choreography just right, perfectly in the pocket, right on the beat, perfect form. I’m sure all athletes experience something similar when they do something just right.

Of course I also feel great when I take a nice long walk. I even feel similarly when I finish writing an article I’m particularly proud of, or find just the right turn of phrase when I’m podcasting. So, maybe it’s just dopamine and endorphins I’m talking about.

But there’s something extra special going on when it’s a physical thing you’re doing so optimally that you get that “tuning fork” feeling. We are embodied creatures, after all. I can’t help feeling that we get a special reward when we act “rightly” in the world.

And while I do think there are objective “goods” and “bads” about action in the world, I also think this rings true for self-defined activities. Golf, for example. There’s nothing objective about the structure of the universe that would make striking a tiny white ball with a malformed stick have a “right” and a “wrong” aspect to it.

But it sure does.

So, my point in all this is to strongly suggest that we all get out there in the world and find that thing that makes us feel like a perfectly struck tuning fork, and do that thing. Do it often. Do it well. Get as good at that thing as you possibly can.

Then find more things like that. I think if we could fill our whole lives with activities that make us feel that “right”, it would be a decent definition of heaven. Or close, anyway.

Naturally,

Adam