Flow Theory Part 2 – Understanding Why Flow is Important

Flow Theory Part 2 – Understanding Why Flow is Important

 “Of all the virtues we can learn no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.”  “…It is when we act freely, for the sake of the action itself rather than for ulterior motives, that we learn to become more than what we were.”  “The task is to learn how to enjoy everyday life without diminishing other people’s chances to enjoy theirs.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

The frame of reference in one’s mind is directly proportional to one’s frame of happiness and empowerment.  Consider a beautiful idea by Nelson Mandela, who after 27 years as a prisoner, left his prison saying, “I knew that if I didn’t leave behind my bitterness and hatred I’d still be in prison.”  We pollute our consciousness whenever we allow negative thinking like envy, anger, and disempowering thoughts to persist running through our minds.  This kind of thinking merely maintains a negative core of thinking that injects fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and hopelessness into our lives.  Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I’ll never let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”  Our conditioning allows others to do this, but what is worse, is that we do this to ourselves even more viciously.  Continuing my postings about ‘Flow’ Dr C (Cziksentmihalyi) talks about Flow as a state of mind that is an ‘enjoyable’ experience.  It is pertinent to note from his writings that he says enjoyable as opposed to pleasurable! Flow experiences, such as sports, recreational adventure, writing, art, etc., are enjoyable, active and feel as if time has stopped.  Pleasurable experiences, like sex, eating, watching TV, and sleeping are typically passive and fleeting.

I need to dispel the notion that Flow is always positive.  It is neither good or bad, but simply experiencing life more fully and intensely, and often with more meaning that defines who we are.  Consider the Flow frames of a gambler versus a writer.  The gambler can enter a Flow experience and feel as though he can never lose until his all crashes down around him.  Meanwhile a writer can feel the words just coming out of apparently nowhere until he reaches a point when he hits a block.  While the gambler has potentially lost everything, the writer and go for a walk and come back later refreshed ready to enter Flow again.  So, recognizing what kind of subjective positive experience you are having is key to creating an optimum experience.  Dr C, says, “Flow is the subjective experience of oneself and one’s environment. This experience includes the awareness of one’s feelings and emotions and the awareness of, and perceived control over, one’s thoughts and behaviors.”      

When I was growing up I remember being told that ‘idle minds do the Devil’s work.’  And amazingly, despite parents always giving us weird quotes to make us behave, this one quote seems to have some validity.  When it comes to Flow our greatest control comes when we have full ‘Attention.’  Sadly, our minds seem prone to something psychologists call negativity bias – that is we lean towards negativity when our minds are running on idle.  It’s an evolutionary thing where negative experiences and information gain our attention more readily than positive or neutral attention.  This is actually beneficial when looking out for lions on our path (often referred to as system 1 thinking), but unfortunately in our modern world, the overwhelming negativity we get from the media pushes us into overdrive making us live completely from a negative perspective.  (And as I have said in a previous post Reality 2 – A Spiritual perspective – How your thinking affects your reality – negativity creates more uncontrolled cortisol leading to despair and illness).  Being metacognitive of our state of mind puts us into our more conscious mind and allows us to control our thinking (Referred to as system 2).  System 1 is unconscious reaction like a speeding car without brakes, while system 2 is the conscious mind like brakes on a car that slows it down. 

Once you know what motivates you can begin to focus your attention in that direction and lead yourself to complete immersion in an activity that you deem enjoyable in some way.  The more it challenges and tests your skills, the more likely you are to enter a Flow state.  All rewards are intrinsic and can lead to feelings of exhilaration and bliss.  When I am writing this blog I sit for a while pondering from the information in front of me what I will write about, and then I seem ‘to get on a roll’ (in a Flow state) where often more than a 2000 words get written in what seems like a short period of time.  Then I edit down to my weekly 1000 words and that seems more tiresome.   Dr C emphasized nine major components that describe Flow (list from Kori Miller – Flow Theory).

• The task is just outside our grasp, but we believe we can reach it.
• We’re able to focus all of our effort and attention on the task.
• Our goals are clearly defined.
• We receive immediate feedback (which includes course corrections.)
• Our time spent on the task seems effortless to us.
• We feel a sense of autonomy over our actions.
• Our focus isn’t on ourselves.
• The experience is timeless.
• The experience is autotelic (an activity or a creative work, having an end or purpose in itself.).

For some, the reason for me pursuing this line of discussion is not yet obvious.  Wee need to change the world if we are to become Sustainable in a near timeframe.  If we get past our hopelessness at the control by the elites and the Cabal, we need to become the ones we are waiting for, and Flow is one way to empowering ourselves to get there.  Consider the tasks we can do much better and really enjoy at the same time.   Again, adapted from a list by Miller: Pushing ourselves to accomplish difficult task like solving intricate problems leads to satisfaction and enjoyment; Memories, recalling enjoyable events allowing us to relive positive experience and release negative ones; Contemplating philosophical questions with purpose and clarity; Communication by conveying our thoughts to others and being understood; Writing that brings organization to our thoughts and ideas so people listen; Jobs or work  where one is able to gamify one’s tasks; Solitude that brings comfortable experiences with being attentive in our thoughts can lead to exciting discoveries about the topics we find most enjoyable, and; Lifelong learning that allows us remain engaged in activities we enjoy.

To Be Continued……………..