Context

Paola Espinosa, Mexican Olympic medalist, is on the edge of the 10-meter platform, ready for the final dive that can give her the gold medal in the Olympics. It is a complicated dive, a great challenge, but she knows that she can do it, she has trained very hard in recent years. She concentrates, there is no space in her consciousness for conflicts or ruminations, she focuses all her attention on the dive, she knows that any thought or emotion that distracts her can make her fail. The tips of her feet on the edge of the platform, her body tenses with the impulse, two turns in the air, her face fixed in the water, without losing attention or concentration ends her dive with great skill. She exists the water with a broad smile...ready to get back on the platform.

What do you think she feels each time she goes on the platform? Why does she keep doing it? Do you think the challenges she faces motivate her to keep going?

In this topic, we will review the characteristics of the flow from the studies of Csikszentmihalyi and the importance of experiencing that mental state to have a full and happy life.

Explanation

6.1 Optimal experiences

Csikszentmihalyi (1998) describes the optimal experience or flow (also called "flow state") as the feeling that the skills themselves are adequate to face the challenges that arise when an activity is directed towards specific goals. It is regulated by standards and also offers us immediate feedback to know if we are doing well. The concentration is so intense that you cannot pay attention or think of something else apart from the activity that is being carried out: "The conscience of oneself disappears". In everyday life it is rare that all experiences are in reciprocal synchrony, carefully analyze the following example, can you identify yourself?

Click on each state to read the information.

"In my work I perform tasks in which I need to think intensely, my attention must be focused on it. Although I like what I do, I am still distracted by feelings of anxiety because my sister is sick and I have not visited her. Part of my mind is focused on the task, but I'm not totally immersed in it.

It's not that my mind is chaos, but the mind likes to wander, there's a lot of entropy in my consciousness: thoughts, emotions and intentions become the center of attention and scatter it in different directions. "

The Flow state occurs when the person faces a clear series of challenges that demand appropriate responses. It is easy to enter this state in games like climbing or putting together a puzzle, because they have clear objectives and rules of action that allow the player to act without asking what he has to do and how.

The activities that induce flow states can be called "flow activities", because they make the experience more likely to occur.

The characteristics of flow activities are that they have clear and compatible objectives, provide immediate feedback and have clear goals and intrinsic reinforcement.

Daily life is full of these scenarios, we seldom feel the serenity that occurs when emotions, will and mind are in harmony, most times desires, intentions and thoughts fight each other asking for attention of consciousness. However, there are moments in life where we can have a complete immersion in an activity that we like a lot like ... singing in a choir, cooking a special dish, reading a good book, developing a computer program or designing a dress or jewelry.

In those cases, the consciousness is filled with experience and is in harmony. We call these moments states of flow.

Flow, the secret to happiness

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi asks:

What makes a life worth living?


Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks at those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in the activities that give rise to a state of "flow". Review his perspectives below.

Do you think money contributes to your happiness?

Click on the icon to watch the video

TED (2008, 24 oct.) Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi-sobre la fluidez [Archivo de video].
Recuperado de https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXIeFJCqsPs


6.2 Characteristics of the optimal experience

The term flow expresses, in synthetic form, the feeling of fluidity and continuity in concentration and action.

The beginning of the optimal experience has been associated with a specific condition: a sufficiently challenging task that requires concentration and dedication, and promotes satisfaction through the use of personal abilities.

In the psychological structure of optimal experience, there is a stable cognitive axis represented by components such as high concentration and control of the situation (Delle Fave and Massimini, 2000).

The affective and motivational variables vary considerably according to the activity; therefore, the optimal experience is presented as a multi-faceted concept with stable cognitive elements, which fluctuate in intensity, according to the associated activities and the motivational and emotional components (Vázquez and Hervás, 2009).

Learn more information in the following magazine:

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Flow States

Flow states act as a magnet to learn and be able to face new levels of challenge (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997).

Click on each element to read its information.

The importance of having clear goals to experience the flow.

When the goals are clear and the feedback is relevant, the challenges and capacities are in balance, the attention is orderly. The person in flow is completely centered due to the demand of psychic energy, there is no space in the consciousness for distracting thoughts or for irrelevant feelings. In this harmonic center of physical and psychic energy, life finds its own meaning.

Mood and flow.

When we are in a state of flow it is not that we are happy, to experience happiness we must focus on our internal states and this would divert attention from the task we are doing. Only after the task is finished do we have time to look back, consider what happened; it is then (when we feel full in the intensity of the experience) that we can affirm that we are retrospectively happy (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997).

When is flow experienced?

The happiness that occurs after a state of flow only belongs to us and leads to a complex growth of consciousness.
People report having flow states when they are practicing their favorite activity, such as listening to music, doing a computer design, practicing some extreme sport, cooking a special dish, among others. Very rarely do you have these experiences in passive leisure activities such as watching television.

You can experience a state of flow with almost any type of activity, provided that the characteristics described in the previous section are presented.

The quality of daily life can be significantly improved if experiences include:

  • Clear objectives
  • Immediate feedback
  • Appropriate capacities for the level of challenge
  • And the other affective and motivational conditions

Closure

The flow state can be experienced in all kinds of activities: at work, at home, in sports or in various occupations. Very often, they are activities that people choose voluntarily, that is, they have an intrinsic motivation.

The flow phenomenon has attracted attention in the work context in many areas: design departments of the automotive industry, teachers of Montessori schools, architects' offices, soccer teams and many others.

In some of the cases, work environments have been modified to promote flow states; they are interested in workers being able to center their attention, focus on it, face challenges and apply or develop the skills they need to face them. The results so far have been very good.

How can we recognize and increase the frequency of our flow states to live a full life?

This question cannot be answered with a recipe, it is necessary to reflect on our experiences in everyday life. One of the main parameters of exploration is time: How do we use our daily time? What challenges have we set? What skills do we have to face these challenges? Do we have clear goals? And most important of all: what do we like to do the most?

Review the following Checkpoint:

Make sure you understand:

  • The characteristics of optimal or flow experiences.
  • The correlation between capacity and challenge to achieve a flow state.
  • The activities that induce flow states.

References