I wanna be IN THE ZONE aka what is Flow?

No no, not "Highway to the Danger Zone" (shout out to all you children of the 80s). I'm talking about the kind of zone sports people wax lyrical about. That convergence of space and time when everything is perfect, magical, easy. Goals are scored, defenders are easily evaded, you're running faster than you ever have before but without feeling fatigued, you are supremely focused and you feel like you have all the time in the world to make your decisions. Bliss in action. This is Flow.

Mark Chadwick

Flow was coined by a psychologist with a (mostly) unpronounceable name to those of us native English speakers: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He's given a Ted Talk on it (of course), and written several books about it, most notably Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. While the book is clearly written by a psychologist and not a pop-psych author prone to catchy titles, in it he details why the study of Flow is so important and his findings.

While most notably we hear about being "In The Zone" from sports commentators, people in teams also experience it when everything comes together. This has been of great interest to the corporate world looking to get the best performance out of their staff. Artists also enter this state, perhaps referring to it as communing with their muse.

Csikszentmihalyi suggests that everyone has the capability to enter a Flow state. A span of time when our activities are effortless and time passes unnoticed and we experience a deep sense of "rightness" to our actions. Sounds like a great way to feel satisfied and happy with our day to day lives! But more importantly, it is the kind of longer lasting inner stillness we are seeking.

Mind you, this is where I found that Eastern philosophy meets up and agrees with Western science. Taoists describe this state as "Following the Tao" or "Following the Way". If you are aligning yourself with the universe, then life is easy and you will fulfill your potential.

So this is all very exciting and promising to us Students of Stillness, but how do we get into a state of Flow? Fortunately, it doesn't require hours of study, or personal sacrifice, or dedicating yourself to Taoism or a sacred rubber chicken dance under a blue moon! I'll talk about the Flow conditions next week, which are very mundane and quite achievable. Stay tuned!