Feel The Flow
I saw a postcard once that read: HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME. WISH I WAS HERE. I love the idea that “having a wonderful time” is like being in “flow,” the optimal state of consciousness. FLOW is the ultimate vacation destination, one-hundred percent, 24/7. Once you’ve visited, you never want to go anywhere else.
Scientists started talking more about the concept of “flow” in relation to peak performance in sports. It reflects that moment or moments when an athlete is fully in sync with his or her body and can perform to the best of his or her ability. It’s when a person is so involved in an activity that they can only focus on that one thing—and have no desire to be anywhere else. FLOW relates to connection, of course. It is the ultimate connection to self and center.
Some people experience a state of FLOW while balancing on a high wire, immersing themselves in cooking a meal, painting, or writing a poem. Whatever is going on, people in FLOW find themselves consumed by the moment—and trying to figure out how they can keep this going for as long as possible. A person in FLOW predictably wants to achieve said state as often as possible. And why not?! It seems to parallel the concept of “nirvana,” a state of consciousness described in both Buddhist and Hindu belief systems which conveys an ideal condition of rest, harmony, stability, or joy. So what does true FLOW feel like? There are specific qualities that one experiences in a moment of FLOW:
The person experiencing FLOW has blinding, clear goals that materialize easily (Like, “Wow! I wished it and it just…happened!”)
Feelings of self-consciousness disappear during FLOW (“I’m king of the world!”)
People experiencing FLOW have an altered sense of time—it either passes too quickly (wow, it’s already midnight?!) or it hardly passes at all (wow! It’s only been five minutes—I feel like I lived a lifetime in the blink of an eye!)
A person in FLOW is a bit like a pinball machine, so hyper-focused that they respond and react to everything quickly
When someone is in FLOW, he or she has an unusual balance of ability plus challenge; he or she can “rise to the occasion” with seemingly no effort
A person in FLOW has an exquisite sense of personal control over a situation (“Yo, I’ve GOT this!”)
FLOW gives someone the experience of feeling fundamentally rewarded just from connecting to and doing what he or she loves/enjoys.
FLOW state always includes a high degree of laser-beam focus on any task or skill
The FLOW “guru,” as he’s called, is Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a positivity psychologist whose pioneering work helped to define the creation and effect of FLOW in a variety of situations. He first observed FLOW as a heightened state of interest and immersion in play, art, sports, and work activities. What was striking about his observations and studies was the fact that FLOW was thriving in an ever-distractible world. The 21st-century world has created a huge challenge where balance feels impossible. Work and home are competing for our attention. We feel pressure all the time. FLOW is reconnection with everything at once, the state of being completely present in a moment. There is no worry, no critique, no commentary of the moment. There is only the moment itself.
What if, Dr. Csikszentmihalyi asked himself, people could harness their energy and turn it towards the things they love the most? What if we could cut back on that distraction and get in sync with our goals and ourselves? The concept of flow is based on quantum physics theorems of Albert Einstein, so what if we looked at science as a way to understand how FLOW can be used by ordinary people, every day.
Stored energy within any system is called Potential Energy (PE). Potential energy exists all around us waiting to be converted to kinetic energy, the energy of motion. A rollercoaster at the top of a hill is a classic example of potential energy converting to kinetic energy on the way down. Are we riding on that rollercoaster together? Dr. Csikszentmihalyi once described the mental state of flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake, where the ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."
Constance Grauds, an author and healer whose Eastern influences inform all of her work on connection, wrote in one book: “The shaman would say there is only one disease: the disease of disconnection. And fear is the ultimate dis-connector.” The author believes that constant stress, anxiety, and fear may leave brutal scars on people.
I agree that without FLOW, things cannot always connect and people are left fumbling emotionally. However, I also see a solution. There are so many ways to boost our energy resources, starting with self-care. Consider these essential ingredients for that care:
Breathing: We need to make sure our breathing is working alright. Think long and hard about each breath when you take it in—and when you let it out.
Drinking: We must keep ourselves hydrated with water all day long. Know this: chronic dehydration breaks down cell structure, impairs the flow of nutrients, brings on fatigue, and disrupts the flow (aha! FLOW!) of good chemicals to the brain.
Contact: Being around other people (even in a socially distanced way) is essential to our well-being, too. You need the contact, the conversation, the connection of other people to keep your mind active and your heart engaged.
Good Things: Being altruistic means you have open channels of energy. Being focused only on ourselves is not healthy. We are meant to think about others! Service to them has mental and physical rewards for us.
Once we examine our own actions and begin to accept FLOW and connection in our daily life, there are very specific ways in which we can tackle challenges at home and at work. Some of the rewards we will achieve include a raised consciousness that can help and inspire others around us. You can feel a deep sense of purpose which helps you get more accomplished and attract more success in your life. A person in FLOW is more engaged, more relaxed, and better able to make smart decisions and have access to their own intelligence and potential.
There is one very important thing to remember about FLOW. Though it seems like it is something utterly in sync which appears quite effortless, real FLOW takes a great deal of effort. We are living at a time when we feel disconnected from purpose—working too many hours, overburdened by our responsibilities, distracted by the media and the white noise of the wild world around us. We’re this close to burnout. To find a way to harness our energy positively in FLOW, is to leave disconnection in the dust. But not without some bruises and bumps along the way. Not without some exhaustive, manic moments. Not without our failures.
At the end of it all, we put in the time in honor of the moment that finally arrives, when everything just makes sense. When FLOW just is.
When do you experience flow?