Entering the State of Optimal Experience (Flow)
Just wanted to share this with the community. Remember feeling super good whenever you're totally absorbed doing something challenging? I think this is a pretty good method to achieve a state of happiness, pretty much at will.
For more info, check out the Wikipedia entry on Flow.
I used to judge myself heavily and feel shame for being in the flow state (there was a time in my life when I would meditate for hours upon hours, sometimes even days at a time and this made it where I began to naturally meditate while doing other activities like playing basketball or socializing), because I feared that it came across to others as me being autistic (too absorbed in my own world to notice/ acknowledge others) and I could sense uneasiness in others when I was aware of being so intensely focused on my own agenda(s).
Now, for better or worse, I let the extreme feeling of peace and freedom reign free. I still wonder sometimes whether I come across as the most arrogant/ self-absorbed person of all time, but I know that my intentions are pure, so it doesn't bother me as much as it used to.
I definitely do benefit from focused energy at the "me - level", that much I can't deny, but I just wish I could somehow include people in my wonderful experience without feeling like I'm intimidating them with my intense energy (focus). I dunno, perhaps my problem is really just one of being autistic (just never diagnosed) or extremely introverted. In any case, I feel healthy and charged (downright wonderful).
Thanks for writing this! I get what you mean, sometimes I wish I can recorded my experience and have anyone replay it and get some of it themselves, at their whim lol. I wish that I'm not that easily distracted - so you have something awesome going on there!
Love your description of the experience here :)
You're welcome and thank you for your compliment:
What you quoted is my life's central conflict, in a nutshell.
On the one end, I feel wonderful and self-empowered. On the other, I feel isolated and disconnected from the world. I generally feel like I can't relate with people that I know, or that know me, and that's part of the fear I feel which causes me to lose flow state (gets me into my head).
I want to be able to help others to feel strong and to live freely, but I often resist being in flow (what I consider to be strength) in the presence of others for fear of intimidating them - I suppose it's actually more a fear of causing them to dislike me than it is a fear of breaking through their comfort zones. Hopefully that makes sense...?
Maybe make it known what you're thinking about the situation? Not sure how'll that pan out though!
Yeah, maybe. Face the fear, head on!
My experience certainly confirms this idea. I find myself "flowing" when I am creating things. It happens when I am woodcarving, when I am coding, when I am designing, when I am inventing.
It is very good to be reminded of this once in a while... Now I just need to figure out how to encourage my loved ones to "go for the flow," not with it. ;)
Thanks, Kevin! 😄😇😄
I didn't discover Flow, at least not conscious about the state, until I started learning to design / program Flash when I was 14/15. Skipped school for 3 months because of that haha.
Nice way to frame it, I usually just say go with the flow, but perhaps it could do better sounding less passive. Go for the flow :)
I'm a huge fan of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi even though I can never pronounce his name. I tend to think of Flow a lot when pondering Universal Basic Income or other more ideal setups. You'll always get people putting forth full effort when in this state.
The video you linked on it is phenomenal! Thanks for sharing it.
I've defaulted to the "flow guy" haha.
Because the base of Maslow's hierarchy has been taken care of?
Lol, I think "flow guy" works.
Exactly. When the physiological needs are met (which UBI in theory would take care of) then it changes the game from "what do I have to do" towards "what do I want to do."
While this really is a much tougher (and changing) question to answer, this tends to put people working towards things they are truly passionate about. Of course at the beginning there is a 'learning curve' that anyone would have to overcome, this would normalize into states of flow whether in action (music, games, etc.) or curiosity.
There would still be the difficulty of 'society' having all the bases covered (such as x amount of food still needs to be produced and available,) but at least people would be doing what they do with maximum effort.
Yes, like more figures before the decimal point in the bank balance but that does make one more happy.
I don't mind as well :), however I guess there's a certain threshold that once passed, doesn't really add to happiness anymore. I think I came across a research before (around 2010, survey done in the USA). Those that earn more than 38k usd/year did not exhibit happier lives. In fact, it diminishes after a certain point when there are too many options available when purchasing power enables such a scenario. Paralysis in making choices..
kind of like more money doesn't buy more happiness but no money sure means less happy.
watched it , thanks for the reminder
Np :)