Flow, as defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, involves Optimal Experience, when “a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile“. And, according to him, this experience is extremely pleasurable, the basis for happiness – “Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person’s capacity to act”
We should thus normally seek to be more often in that state. Most people are never or rarely in Flow, so their problem is to be in that state more often.
On the other hand, for those that have found a way to be in Flow often, could we eventually manage to be in that state all the time?
To be in Flow we need to be able to focus our attention on a task that requires a large amount of our internal resources.
In my experience, and also in the experience of other people (for example those involved in creative activities), this state is very pleasurable and also very exhausting, because of the resources it requires. While we should seek to be in Flow often, we can’t sustain it for the entire day. We also need to rest doing more menial tasks, or even lay our mind to rest through meditation or contemplation. Indeed, most writers and creative people are in flow for only a limited number of hours per day, and spend the rest of the time doing daily tasks that do not require much effort.
Nevertheless, the sense of achievement from the moments we have spent in Flow is generally sufficient to make our day.
By all means, seek to be in Flow often, but don’t beat yourself if you can’t sustain that state for more than a limited number of hours per day!
All quotes from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book ‘Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience’.
