A Thing A Day: 174 Present-Moment Positive Feelings: Flow Does the following sound familiar? --Total absorption into an activity you enjoy --A sense that time has stopped or is not relevant while engaged --Intense focus and concentration that leaves no room for extraneous worries --An experience so gratifying that self-consciousness disappears --Enjoying stretching your mind or body to its limits to accomplish something worthwhile --Engagement in an activity that makes your consciousness feel totally ordered and harmonious If that sounds familiar, I invite you to reflect for a moment on what you were doing at the time. Consider not just the activity, but also the context. And, were you were drawing upon any particular personal strengths or skills at the time? The experiences I described above are attributes of what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s calls flow: “flow — the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter;…” “Concentration is so intense that there is no attention left over to think about anything irrelevant, or to worry about problems. Self-consciousness disappears, and the sense of time becomes distorted. An activity that produces such experiences is so gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, with little concern for what they will get out of it, even when it is difficult, or dangerous.” Csikszentmihalyi developed his theory after he and his research team interviewed thousands of people from various lifestyles, professions, economic status, and activities - men and women. He points out that these activities and flow states become highly meaningful and contribute to a rich and enjoyable life. Csikszentmihalyi advocates for organizing and developing our lives so that flow states, also called “optimal functioning,” can occur in even the routine events of life. By doing so, he advocates that “Mowing the lawn or waiting in a dentist’s office can become enjoyable…” Can you imagine that?
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 23:27:18 +0000
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