FLOW PSYCHOLOGY

Source: Creative Flow

“If you realize what the real problem is — losing yourself — you realize that this itself is the ultimate trial. When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves , we undergo transformation of consciousness. ~ Joseph Campbell

Perhaps you can think of times in your life when you hove been completely engrossed in an activity and were excited as much about the process as the end result. It can be described as forgetting the self, time, space, but being totally in the “now”

A composer describes those moments when his work is at its best:

“You are in an ecstatic state to such a point that you feel as though you almost don’t exist. I’ve experienced this time and again. My hand seems devoid of myself, and I have nothing to do with what is happening. I just sit there watching in a state of awe and wonderment. And it just flows out by itself.”

His description is remarkably similar to those of hundreds of diverse men and women-rock climbers, chess champions, surgeons, basketball players, engineers, managers, even filing clerks- when they tell of a time they lost themselves in some favored activity.

Athletes know this state of grace as “the zone,” where excellence becomes effortless, crowds and competitors disappearing into a blissful, steady absorption in the moment. Diane Roffe-Steinrotter, who captured a gold medal in skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics, said after she finished her turn at ski racing that she remembered nothing about it but being immersed in relaxation: “I felt like a waterfall.”

That experience is a glorious one, a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture. Because this experience feels so good, it is intrinsically rewarding. It is a state in which people become utterly absorbed in what they are doing, paying undivided attention to the task, their awareness merged with their actions. It can be interrupted by reflecting too much on what is happening, the very thought “I’m doing this wonderfully” can break the feeling of absorption. Attention becomes so focused that people are aware only of the narrow range of perception related to the immediate task, losing track of self , time, and space.

A surgeon, for example, recalled a challenging operation during which he was in flow; when he completed the surgery he noticed some rubble on the floor of the operating room and asked what had happened. He was amazed to hear that while he was so intent on the surgery part of the ceiling had caved in-he hadn’t noticed at all. …

“In self-forgetfulness, one draws closer to God.” ~Henry David Thoreau