Today’s Veterinary Business provides information and resources designed to help veterinarians and office management improve the financial performance of their practices, allowing them to increase the level of patient care and client service.
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40 Today's Veterinary Business Community Put another way, Erin had mas- tered "flow." And as events would later prove, Erin could maintain this same level of productive, positive presence — that same flow — re- gardless of external circumstances. Everything seemed to change for Erin when she received a breast cancer diagnosis. Instead of buying hospitals as an investor, she was suddenly seeing them from the inside long before her daughter was grade-school age. But the most important thing, the essence of how Erin saw herself and interacted with the world, did not change. Instead of feeling like a victim of circumstances, she re- focused her priorities and applied the same positive presence to the situation at hand. People noticed. First, her local Texas newspaper featured her, and later she appeared on "20/20" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show." (Winfrey subsequently selected Erin as one of her most memo- rable guests of all time.) They all were fascinated by Erin's ease and presence, especially in a series of tapes that she created for Peyton containing life lessons on every- thing from how to put on makeup to how to pick a husband. With her husband, Doug, Erin wrote a book, "Living With the End in Mind," to help others in their journeys. She passed away in 1998, in flow to the very end. What Is This Elusive "Flow"? As part of his efforts to develop a better understanding of the under- pinnings of happiness, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi realized that some people experience an absorption in their activities to the point of a state of consciousness that he called "flow." In more mod- ern terms, this is often described as being fully present. Erin Kramp was one of those rare people who had it all together all the time. Whether playing the role of a successful businesswoman who served on boards of directors by her 20s, in her marriage or as a mother to her young daughter, Peyton, Erin exuded a joy of life, a sense of ease and a quality of presence that were both palpable and contagious. Community Go With the Flow By Jeff Thoren, DVM, BCC, PCC What about now? When in 'flow,' or fully present, goals are clear. Concentration deepens when someone is in a state of 'flow.' By Trey Cutler, JD