Flow is a truly delicious state of being, one that you will have experienced at some point in your life. It may have occurred while you were immersed in cooking, connecting with your child, out in the surf, on your yoga mat, deeply engaged in conversation or simply while you were nutting out a Sudoku.
It is characterised by complete absorption in the moment and deep involvement with the task at hand. In this state of intense concentration people report losing all sense of time and self-consciousness; you are simply so focused that there is no space left for irrelevant feelings or thoughts.
People also report a feeling of being powerful, switched on, in control and at the peak of their abilities when in flow and it can often invoke a natural high. By being stretched and drawn towards greater challenges in the repeated experience of flow we grow to become more skilled, complex and capable beings.
What are the benefits of flow and why seek opportunities to experience it?
At the heart of flow is the intention to cultivate happiness. The father of flow, Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-SENT-me-hi) states “people who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy”. But happiness itself can’t be pursued, it can only ensue from our actions and the way there begins with achieving control over the contents of our conscious mind.
The repeated experience of flow, inherent in which is a constant process of committing to more and more challenging pursuits, leads to a sense of mastery and participation in life. Being so completely absorbed in the moment involves a loss of self-consciousness and when we are not so consumed with ourselves there is the chance to expand the concept of who we are, the boundaries of our being expanding.
There is also an absence of the usual worries that can plague us in everyday life, so flow can be a powerful means of escapism. Basically flow is intrinsically enjoyable, the doing is in itself the reward, and it allows us to grow.
What are the necessary conditions for flow?
- Awareness: Concentration is so intense that there is no attention left to think about anything irrelevant or to be concerned with worry. While the flow experience appears to be effortless it can often require great physical exertion and finely focused mental activity. It only happens in the presence of skilled performance and any lapse of attention will stop it.
- Goals or tasks that match your skill level. The challenge of the task at hand needs to be balanced with the capability to do the task. If task is too easy we get bored or if the task is too difficult we become anxious or frustrated. Flow is the experience that falls just in the right place between boredom and anxiety.
Ways to cultivate flow:
There are many different means to cultivate flow. You will find it when you expand yourself mentally and physically to the limits, in striving to accomplish something new and in being alive to the joy present in each passing moment. Because flow is based on your ability to control the contents of your conscious mind the methods that will work for you will depend on your values, strengths, interests and creativity.
Some types of flow activities include:
1. Flow in movement: sport, dance, yoga, martial arts, and even routine tasks like brushing your teeth can be transformed into a state of flow.
2. Flow through your senses: visual skills of viewing natural beauty, sensation of moving through water, listening to music with abandon, joys of tasting.
3. Flow of thought: chess, card games, crosswords, riddles, writing, daydreaming, contemplating science, maths, philosophy or scripture.
4. Flow via art: making music, painting, sculpture, acting, also in appreciating great art.
5. Work as flow: when your work becomes a calling, ie you would keep doing it even if you had all the time and money in the world. The challenge here is to imbue your work with purpose, meaning and complete engagement.
6. Flow in relationships: in conversation and intimacy.
My experience of flow:
One of my peak life experiences remains from my competitive figure skating days. I remember vividly one performance where I could only describe it as ‘being in the zone’. It was a truly wonderful experience where everything I had worked for more than came together on the day – it was the skate of my life…
I pulled off every trick to the best of my ability and I was so in the moment in that routine it was as if nothing else existed. When I came off the ice I felt like I’d been in an altered state and was seriously elated. Winning the event was genuinely secondary to the elation of that optimal experience on the ice.
I spent the rest of my competitive career trying to emulate that performance, seeking that elusive mental state. If only I knew then about the necessary conditions for flow I think I would have been more successful at replicating it – I understand now that I needed to strike a better balance between my skill and challenge of the routine and I needed to have a better grip on directing and sustaining my attention and thereby controlling the contents of my mind.
I want to share these concepts with coaches and athletes not only to help maximise sporting performance but most importantly to enhance ENJOYMENT!
It’s not just for athletes though! Now I have hung up my skates… I find flow in reading and writing about positive psychology, my work which I am so lucky is also my calling, conversation with loved ones, friends and my beautiful clients, my yoga, immersing myself and all my senses in nature, meditative swimming at my local rock pool where I can look up at the cliffs where my Dad loved to sit, the wide blue sky above me and the surge of the ocean around me, and of course dancing with abandon with my toddler whenever “One Direction” (who she calls One Decoration) comes on the radio – true bliss!
Open your mind to the concept of flow and find yours!
Love to all, Suz xxx
For more information about the concept of flow and how to cultivate it I recommend: “Flow. The classic work on how to achieve happiness” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Suzy is available for counselling, coaching and private yoga sessions at her consulting room in Cammeray, Sydney, home visits, coaching via phone or skype, and ‘walk & talk’ sessions by appointment.
Contact Suzy at: suzy@suzyreading.co.uk
Follow Suzy at: www.facebook.com/SuzyReadingPsychologyAndYoga
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