The Art of Flow

The concept of “The Flow” has been really popular in recent years. For those of you that did not hear about it, this is the so called “happy state”. Almost every self-help Guru out there will talk about it, sooner or later. But why is this such an important topic for so many people?

What is Flow?

The Flow was defined and popularized by a psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This is the state of ‘’being in the zone’’ (as called by athletes), almost a mystical feeling that you are on the right track, that you can’t miss. The time has slowed down and you are the right person, at the right place, at the right time.

According to Csikszentmihalyi, if we want to be happy, productive and creative, we need to get into the Flow State. In this state, we are at our best and can express the most of our talents and abilities. This sounds like the best drug (legal or illegal) ever made, but what in fact constitute this state? Csikszentmihalyi had interviewed many artists, athletes and people from various professions, and concluded that all of them had very similar experience of this state.

The Characteristics of Flow

Here are the 8 common traits of people in flow state:

1. Complete concentration on the activity

2. Clarity of goals and immediate feedback

3. A balance between challenge and skills

4. A feeling of control over the activity

5. Effortlessness and ease

6. Distortion of time (speeding up/slowing down)

7. Melting together of awareness and actions

8. The experience is autotelic — intrinsically rewarding

First of all, this is not a state of passive bliss, where you are meditating on the field, loving the whole universe. The flow is achieved when you are involved in an activity that is very fulfilling and inspiring for you. You are perfectly aware what is the goal and you have constant feedback if you are doing it right.

It is very interesting and fulfilling to you because this is where the challenge meets skill: the difficulty of this activity is very similar to your skill. It is something like a “Goldilocks zone’’: the activity is difficult enough to be a challenge, but not too difficult to demotivate you.

This is an effortless effort. It does not feel like effort: you are giving your best but you are not feeling stressed or tense. It is almost an altered state of consciousness, where your awareness and the activity are one. You are actually so immersed in the activity that you have distorted perception of time, or none at all.

“Okay”, you might say, “that all sounds great, but how can I get in that state easily and stay there for a long time?” Here is my take on this.

My Kind of Flow

I have known about the Flow for some time now, but haven’t really experienced it myself, at least not consciously.

In the last few months, I started writing more often than before. Since this activity is something challenging and inspiring for me, I get so focused on it that occasionally I start losing sense of time. For example, an hour passed and I had a feeling that it was 15 minutes at the most. During that time, I also got some great ideas about new articles I want to write, which inspired me even more. It felt great! You have a sense that you are doing exactly what you should be doing, as if you are perfectly aligned with the universe :).

In that period, a lot of synchronicities also started to happen (The Flow and the synchronicities are definitely connected, but that is a huge topic that I do not want to get into at this moment). For example, you are thinking about something and it appears within an hour.

Then one awesome situation happened with the traffic lights. On a particular route I take, there are approximately 10 traffic lights. At least 4 or 5 of them will be red when you are taking that route. But against all odds, all the lights are now green! This does not happen to me at all, I mean ever. From my experience, it is impossible. Yet it happened… on a day when I felt inspired, on track, aware that I was in Flow. Coincidence? I don’t buy it.

Get in!

Csikszentmihalyi noted that it is easier for autotelic personalities to get into Flow. These type of people like performing activities for their own sake, rather than using them as a means to end. That only confirms that the activity needs to be something that you value and has a meaning for itself. So all you have to do is find something that you like, that inspires and challenges you and go for it. When you reach that fine balance between challenge and skill, the Flow should be just around the corner. And when you start losing the sense of time, you will know you are there.

So, if we want to be productive, efficient and creative we should be definitely doing something inspiring, that we really like and would do it for its own sake. When we start getting the hang of it, that wonderful Flow state will ensue.

But what is the root cause of this state?

It is my core belief that we are Gods on Earth. As with any God, your mission is to create. We know deep inside what is that area/s that we are meant to express us in. Everyone has some talents, unique skills that he or she should cultivate. When we find it, we know it is The Thing that we want to do. There is no doubt about it. That is why we feel so divinely inspired, because we are fulfilling our purpose. That is that High that we are looking for in life, usually in the wrong places. But when we find it and start exploring it, we get to our peak creative and productive state of Flow. There is no time and space anymore, you are blissfully lost in the process…and nothing else matters!