Going With The Flow
Snow melt run off near Exit Glacier, Alaska
Does your life flow? Imagine being in the moment to create that moment.
Or is your life one long boulder filled road? Driven by the fool’s errand of multi-tasking, interruptions and distractions making each day longer than it was.
FLOW by Mihaly Csikszenthmihalyi
The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Merriam Webster 4.a: To proceed smoothly and readily.
Flow is “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”
“Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.” Zhuangzi, Chinese philosopher, 369-286 B.C.E.
Abebooks.com synopsis: The best selling introduction to flow – a groundbreaking psychological theory that shows readers how to improve the quality of life. The way to happiness is lies not in mindless hedonism, but in mindful change.” – New York Times Book Review
Flow comes primarily through talents which are applied strengths. Do you know what your strengths are? According to Strength Finders 2.0, my top five strengths are Learner, Deliberative, Connectedness, Intellection and Relator. I can expect flow to occur when the activities of the moment engages the practice of my strengths.
MC posits flow comes through these elements of games – rules, practice and scoring. Games should be fun and provide happiness.
I submit that FLOW can also be generated through deliberate focus on the task at hand. Preparation is also key. Case in point, I recently completed a trip that included planes, rental cars, trains, boats, ferries and a cruise ship. The preparation provided the necessary practice for smooth traveling. With the exception of one unexpected glitch, outside the boundaries of preparation, the traveling was anticlimactic thus allowing for a more relaxing vacation.
That glitch could have been a boulder in the smooth stream of traveling. Those boulders are always on, in or near our path causing disruptions, distractions and stumbles. If We Let Them. Unexpected problems can be resolved within a flow of their own.
For more information on FLOW, I suggest this Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) Flow also integrates another favorite topic – positive psychology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology where the intent is to research and discover what is right with ourselves, which finishes the cycle of Strength Finders.
The FLOW that I seek now will hopefully become revealed as I journey through the next 99 of this Best Business Books (B3) quest. I know it is not there yet, too much copy/paste content. Need more of mine for a more authentic context.
Stay tuned.
FMI Update: http://reflectionleadership.net/self-reflection/have-you-found-flow/
RMSJr said this on July 14, 2010 at 8:06 am