Flowing Through Life

If the chap on the right looks eminent, well he should be. The name is Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, and no, I will not be pronouncing that name for you anytime soon, although Paul Scheele did tell me the "correct" pronounciation, learnt directly from the horse's mouth.

Anyway, Mihaly here is a prominent psychology professor, responsible for the notion of flow. Flow is an almost sublime experience, where one's attention is completely absorbed by the task at hand, and creates incredible efficiency. It is almost too good to be true - to be enjoying something so totally and intensely and being great at it!







So how does one get into this state of flow? It is a matter of balance between challenge and ease. If a task is too easy, we become lazy and bored. The mind begins to wander. Thus, we need to up the challenge until our attention is focussed completely on the task at hand. At the same time we become stressed if the task is too challenging or difficult. This creates resistance in consciousness, and leads to disengagement.



Although I had read about flow for awhile, I really only began to work with it after I came to PhotoReading. Part of the reason why the PhotoReading Whole Mind System is so efficient is that the layering encourages peak experience. By giving yourself the freedom to pick and choose and probe in activation layers, one can adjust the "difficulty level". If one is bored, then it is too easy. If complete struggle is setting in, then the bar has probably been set too high. Adjust accordingly.

Of course, flow is just as applicable in other areas of life, but we will open that can of worms another day.


Photo courtesy of freefoto.com