“Flow” Experiences Help To Order Consciousness, and Bring Happiness

I would like to humbly propose that for most of us, our lives and work does not get us into “flow” states, where “flow” is defined as a deep state of concentration, where the world and time seem to disappear, as we are locked in on doing a task or activity.

This definition of flow is often given, but from Csikszentmihalyi’s work, perhaps a better definition is:

experiences that help order our consciousness.

I will give you some examples of when I do reach the elusive state of “flow”:

• writing words down, for example on Medium. This is an elusive and rare state, however. The inner critic takes over, and starts critiquing words, and literally stopping them from flowing on to the blank page.
• playing the guitar (sometimes). I am not good enough to get in a deep, hour-long flow. My fingers and too clumsy, my knowledge too minimal. I have to think and search for notes and chords. My time is off. I am no metronome.
• cooking. The act of creating a dish from ingredients is an incredible feeling.
• reading. The reading brain gets in a deep flow.
• listening to music. When it…