Flow Week 2

“The mystique of rock climbing is climbing; you get to the top of a rock glad it’s over but really wish it would go on forever. The justification of climbing is climbing, like the justification of poetry is writing; you don’t conquer anything except things in yourself…. The act of writing justifies poetry. Climbing is the same: recognizing that you are a flow. The purpose of the flow is to keep on flowing, not looking for a peak or utopia but staying in the flow. It is not a moving up but a continuous flowing; you move up to keep the flow going. There is no possible reason for climbing except the climbing itself; it is a self-communication.”

― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Now that we have examined what we want in this one life we have, the next step is to recognize when we are in the “flow”. Csikszentmihalyi, proposes that we consider the climbing of the mountain as the goal, the end all, not the actual arrival at the summit. During the entire climb, we can be in that state of flow where time stops, maybe the mind is quiet, we are immersed in the actual act of climbing. This may not be a physical state for you, it may be when you are doing needlepoint, writing, drawing, gardening, playing an instrument or cooking. A retired obstetrician, that was a student in my meditation class, realized it was when she delivered babies. A child may be in flow as they create a model with Legos. We all have a flow state and when we recognize it, and feel it, we can appreciate the beauty, wonder and freedom of the flow.

This week try to pay attention to your daily routines. What is your flow state?