![]() ![]() ![]() The conscious, thinking part of the brain tries to register and react to anything it recognizes as related to its owner often even to irrelevant things that just happen to cross into our stream of awareness. Ego & FlowĮverything that we perceive elicits some kind of response from us. It makes sense, then, to assume that regular flow can have a greatly beneficial effect on the quality of one’s professional and private life. Teresa Amabile, an industrial psychologist from Harvard who has been researching motivation and inspiration in work for decades, found increases in measures of creativity, productivity, and happiness in workers up to three days after experiencing the flow state. This can facilitate our process of self-actualization and help us reach personal balance and better understand our purpose. They are highly useful as they bring us confidence and the rewarding feeling of being a good fit for something. These are the people who do things simply for the sake of doing them and enjoying the process, which usually leads to realizing the goals themselves.įlow states, however, give us much more than mere pleasure with what we’re doing. These so-called “autotelic” personalities are characterized by strong interest in life, low self-absorbedness, and high persistence. Aside from this requirement, it has also been shown that certain types of people are more inclined to achieve flow. As Csíkszentmihályi notes : “ there is something in the process that is so attractive that it overrides almost everything else, except maybe the need to eat and sleep and go to the bathroom.” Arguably, even these motives descend in priority to allow for intense channeling of flow.įor things to start flowing, the level of challenge presented needs to be supported by the level of skill and interest the individual has available to tackle the task. Flow is usually followed by neglect for time and space and a diminished awareness of one’s personal needs. One’s performance is adjusted based on immediate feedback received from the process and the intrinsic feeling of success and ecstasy serves as further motivation, thus perpetuating the reward cycle. The flow state is characterized by visualizing and intensely focusing on one’s goals, which are perceived as real and attainable, with a strong feeling of command over what is being done. Flow can be experienced by doing anything that you can lose yourself in – it can be triggered by meditation, creating and appreciating art, traveling, sports and exercise and, as discussed later, psychedelic journeying. ![]() It is achieved by practicing activities that are mentally, physically, and/or spiritually challenging and inspiring. įlow is, simply put, a state of heightened immersion into an action. Through many interviews he had conducted with talented artists and athletes, he found that they often report on moments of great inspiration and peak performance in terms of their work effortlessly flowing out of them, without conscious involvement, as if they were channeling some greater force. There exists nothing beyond your pure, engaged presence and your spirit and senses are completely consumed by the experience that’s getting the best out of you.Ībout five decades ago, a concept that has for millennia been weaving through eastern religions and philosophies in different forms was researched and described by the pioneer of positive psychology, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. The activity you’re engulfed in occupies your full attention, loading you with energy and the timeless sense of doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing, right there and then. It’s called flow, and it’s likely that, while in it, your mental resources are too scarce to reflect on how smoothly the process is going – maybe just sufficient enough to allow you to regain awareness of your surroundings and your physical state every once in a while before slipping right back into immersion. Psychology has a name for this state of relentless focus. Have you ever caught yourself in a state of complete fascination with what you’re doing? Ever find yourself starved halfway to dizziness after many hours that just seemed to fly by while you were working on accomplishing your goal? ![]()
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