Flow is a fascinating phenomena defined as mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. The seven conditions of flow are: -Knowing what to do -Knowing how to do it -Knowing how well you are doing -Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved) -High perceived challenges -High perceived skills -Freedom from distractions
So Hubski, when do you experience flow?
Whenever I am coding or designing. My workmates laugh at me because I'll tell someone it'll take 4 days or 14 days or whatever, but if I happen to have a good stretch where I can just put my headphones in get it done, 40 hours becomes 6. Mainly, I need to be in an alright mood and no calls, emails or other disruptions. This is becoming more and more rare though. Sometimes my workmates have taped a sign to the back of my chair when I really need to get something done "Crazy Chick Will Bite Your Fingers Off If You Disrupt Her." That helps cut out on the outside interference quite a bit.
Any tips for sticking with meditation? I'll be able to occasionally get myself to do it but then I kinda forget as sad as that is to say. It's hard to motivate myself to meditate haha. I try to use calm.com because the music + guided voice would help get me into a clearer state of mind.
Hmm.. I wish it was possible to offer practical advice to help you with sticking at it, but every person's motivation is different, which makes it almost impossible I think. In my case, I started out because someone said meditation would help me handle stress better, but it soon delivered such incredibly life-changing benefits that it became absolutely indispensable to my daily routine. At which point I became an addict. :)
I would recommend no music, no voice, no nothing. Zazen is where it's at. It's a specific posture, a specific way to sit, but other than that, it's just calm and quiet and you versus the silence of your mind. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazen But honestly, whatever works for you. If it's music and a voice, that's fine by me. As I've talked about in the thread insom linked, there's all kinds of sects of buddhism and you would have to find what meditation style works for you. But many come back to pure zazen because it seems to work the best. As for sticking with it, just start small, 15 minutes a day. It's just sitting after all, consider it a productive nap of some sort. I do 30 minutes a day normally, sometimes it's only 20. Depends on the day.
Did you see this post: http://hubski.com/pub?id=114668 ?
Me and Blob Castle are selling enlightenment for four easy installments of $50. Come one come all!
I'm sorry, I'm about to send a wire transfer to a Very Important Person (sorry, can't name names, tee-hee, but let's say he's of royal blood ) in Nigeria. I'm in a rush... Will you guys still be here when I come back? (Credit cards okay? Can I buy some for my cat/brother/sister/parent as well, or do they have to purchase their own - do you offer gift subscriptions?)
So passe, you can just email money now, -don't even need to sign up for anything: https://square.com/cash :D P.S. I am also a Nigerian prince.Credit cards okay?
Of course, enlightenment makes a great stocking stuffer with the holidays coming up.Can I buy some for my cat/brother/sister/parent as well
Every great once in a while when I'm trying to wrap my mind around an idea -- a book or a philosophy, something political, maybe physics -- I get in the shower and pretend I'm teaching that idea to a third party. Talking out loud, hand motions, the whole nine yards. By the end of the shower not only do I understand whatever it is I was talking about, I've pretty much got it memorized for good.
I experience "flow" when I am writing/recording music. I also, when I am playing well, experience "flow" on the tennis court. This is an awesome feeling that is normally only fully-appreciated after the fact. I recorded music last night and I was never really in the "flow." But there are times when I am and the results are so obviously better. There are times when I feel like a "vessel" and have no input in to this thing being created. -Those (rare) moments are really special. This song was like that. Good question HedonicTreadmiller.
This afternoon i was jamming with some people from school and definitely had a flow moment. We were playing Sir Duke and i had never really played it before but when it came time to do the lick i got the entire thing down through educated guesses. It was a REALLY satisfying feeling for me.
First, I'm jealous that you were jamming Sir Duke, that sounds like fun, what a great song. That instrumental breakdown lick is all over the place, I can see why you were proud. Nice work. Did you guys have horns jamming too?
Horns make everything better :) You get the CD's and the stickers?
Ditto on music. It's kind of a double-edged sword, though. If I get too far into the zone I not only forget to eat, but I lose all appetite. If it's too late at night, I won't be able to sleep, either. So well put.There are times when I feel like a "vessel" and have no input in to this thing being created
I remember being a kid, playing my guitar and for the first time realizing this effect. I "came to" and realized I was so in the "zone" that I was drooling.
I've been covering this phenomenon in my psych elective (and your username as well haha). I used to get into flow while creative writing but I find it happens as frequently during academic writing.
Same here for teaching. Today I was out of the class for professional development meetings all day and was reminded of how slow time can go compared to when I'm with my class. I also may have experienced flow when working to pronounce Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's name.
When playing guitar sometimes. When it happens it is awesome. The music is leaping from my hands faster than my brain can process it; it is like I'm listening to someone else play. Most of the time though there is more 'intent' before each chord or note, and it is more laborious mentally, and frankly less interesting, but still eminently enjoyable.
When I'm reading. If I like the book, I am able to completely absorb myself in the world that is going on. I flow through the pages like I'm a part of things. I feel like its very easy to do because reading is easy, but its difficult to immerse yourself fully. I love this feeling, its a high for me...but it doesn't work for textbooks
When I am doing either: - repetitive, but challenging tasks - writing. For work, for instance, I have to perform interest calculations, which involve plugging a whole lot of numbers into an Excel calculator and making sure everything comes out OK in the end. Intellectually, this is not challenging, but it is engrossing: I will turn on music or podcast and tune out the entire morning as I happily input numbers into little boxes. There are usually challenges along the way which keeps it interesting, and the task is challenging enough that I can't zone out. Recently there have been many times I haven't been able to get the calculations to align, which can either be frustrating and pull me out of the "zone," or keep me engrossed and interested - depending on how hard it is to figure out where everything went wrong. (Since I'm manually typing numbers into Excel, it is just as likely that an issue occurred on my end as that there is a problem with the actual interest calculation.) It is challenging enough that I am engaged but I am capable of doing the work and the time will just pass by. In a weird way, I enjoy it. As for writing, usually I hit "flow" when I am writing often. I think it is more likely to hit a flow state when I am writing longer pieces, which puts my poetry at a disadvantage, but I also find that when I am writing prose pieces in addition to poetry, I am much more likely to become poetically "inspired" and, as thenewgreen put it, feel more like a "vessel" through which something is created than the actual creator of the work. In general, the more involved I am with words, the more likely I am to hit a "flow state" when writing. I also quite like to drive, do so for long periods of time, and derive similar value from it as I imagine others do from meditation. When I am drafting blog posts or chewing over thoughts/ideas, I go for a drive and think as I go. There is enough going on to keep me involved when I am driving, but I still have plenty of room and time to think.
Lifting. I was just lifting earlier tonight while listening to some music and I was definitely in flow. It wasn't the same kind of flow I would get if I'm designing something or writing something or invested in a really good conversation, but it's a great since of peace for my mind. It's also funny I can get into a flow with an activity that is very start-and-stop.
I don't know if there is a term for it but slip into a sort of hyper focus really easily. So easily that it's something of a problem. When someone can wave their hands in front of your face and you don't notice it's a little disconcerting. So I guess I hit flow anytime I attempt to focus.
I have adhd, and flow comes naturally for somethings but it's rare. Usually I will get it in intellectual or creative endeavors. It is great when I am learning a new bit of mathematics, or when I am programming. But the absolute worst thing about it is that the smallest piece of distraction will completely derail me. Medication helps a lot in this aspect, but it's unavailable where I live right now. I used to meditate to help but for some reason I stopped. One of the best parts about "flow" is recognizing when it's happening and then being able to keep it going.
Funny, I am ADD as well, and was medicated most of my life. I chose to get off medication because I didn't like the way it made me feel. Too intense at times. Daily meditation is what keeps me on track and focused. That and lots of coffee (stimulants obviously help).I used to meditate to help but for some reason I stopped.
The only time I can think of that I'm ever like that is in the darkroom. Something about the darkness, the silence aside from the constant sound of running water, being alone and undisturbed, and knowing what the hell I'm doing allows me to focus intently on my work for hours at a time. Normally my ability to focus kind of sucks.
Gaming is a big one, but since it's been mentioned, a much less fun flow was back when I worked at Subway - working a long line of people during a lunch rush, there's so many different things you have to do between handwork and communication that you'd fall behind if you weren't completely immersed in your motions. I'm really glad I'm not working there anymore.