Blog post by the guest blogger and agency consultant, AZASSISTENTEVIRTUALE. Anna, back in March 2020, was the first ChasingLifeMoments’ guest blogger. After her previous blog post Bucket Lists: One Lifetime & Many Dreams, she joins us again. Together let’s ‘Just Go with the Flow’!
“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times – although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
MY FLOW
This Sunday I went to do some work in the garden. I like being outdoors and I love being in contact with nature. At the moment the seedlings are growing and need a lot of care. I immersed so much in the things I was doing that I didn’t realize it was already time for lunch. I have been in the garden all morning but time has flown.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian-American psychologist, calls this type of experience the flow state. It is a state where you are fully focused on what you are doing. In our today’s society in which multitasking reigns this state represents one of the few moments in which we can experience the present, the moment.
I noticed that in the state of flow also our thoughts, that are often negative and that condition us, cease. When I enter the state of flow it seems to me that I am inside a bubble, away from any distraction and I completely immerse in what I am doing. I lose track of time, I don’t feel tired and sometimes even my appetite passes.
We can apply this state in sport, work and private life to achieve high performance results. Have you ever experienced the state of flow?
It is by being fully involved with every detail of our lives, whether good or bad, that we find happiness, not by trying to look for it directly.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
JUST GO WITH THE FLOW – IN PRACTICE
How to trigger the state of the flow?
- Focus on the tasks you are interested in / passionate about.
- Define a specific, clear and achievable goal.
- Develop your ability to concentrate through meditation or other techniques.
- Eliminate distractions.
- Practice focusing on the task longer and longer.
- If necessary, add additional skills in order to reach the goals.
- Try to push yourself beyond your comfort zone by experimenting with new or higher tasks.
- Focus on the execution of the process and not on the final result.
Most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make. But once the interaction starts to provide feedback to the person’s skills, it usually begins to be intrinsically rewarding.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
reading AND PODCAST RECOMMENDATION
MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI: FLOW THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS / TED Talk
Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks “What makes life worth living?”. After noticing that money does not make us happy, he began to observe those who find lasting pleasure and satisfaction in activities that create a state of flow or optimal experience.
FLOW: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE, MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI / BOOK
Legendary psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s famous investigations of “optimal experience” reveals that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow.
POSITIVE CHANGE AND FLOW IN SPORT, BARBARA DIANA – LUCA ARGENTON – MARISA MUZIO / ONLINE BOOK
Within this context, the volume’s objective is threefold: to present the reader with the characteristics and determinants of optimal experiences in sport psychology; introduce and present some of the main tools for flow assessment; describe and analyze the possible applications of optimal experiences and different measurement tools in a specific application area such as sport, individual and team, relating it to the business and corporate world.
THE CHAMPION’S MIND: MENTAL PREPARATION FOR THE SEARCH OF THE STATE OF FLUX: SILVI MICHELE / BOOK
In a world that is constantly changing, constantly bombarded by information, where society wants us to be efficient and productive every day according to standardized models, we lose our true being and the awareness of ourselves, to fall into the classic routine and live on automatisms. It is therefore difficult to realize our dreams and express our potential to the fullest. Each of us has a dream and if this is strong then every morning we wake up thinking about that dream.
FLOW FOR EXCELLENCE, MARISA MUZIO / WEBSITE
‘After a life as a high level swimmer, also called in the National Team, Marisa Muzio, interprets her profession in terms of innovation, internationality and multi disciplinarity. As a psychologist, she has integrated teaching and university research with both sport and organizational psychology. She has been working on the topic of flow for many years. Flow for excellence: created to talk about change management, work related stress, health promotion, wellness and engagement. To achieve results.’
LITTLE STEPS
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Moments that matter, no matter the flow.
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