“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Here’s a fun trick to remember his name: “Me high? Cheeks send me high!”) Do you remember that moment when creativity and productivity sprung from your mind smoothly? According to positive psychology cofounder Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, this state is called flow, and it is an important contributor to creativity and well-being. Become a Science-Based Practitioner! The Positive Psychology toolkit is a science-based, online platform containing 135+ exercises, activities, interventions, questionnaires, assessments and scales.

The experience of flow is universal and it has been reported to occur across different classes, genders, ages, cultures and it can be experienced in many types of activities. If you’ve ever heard someone describe a time when their performance excelled and they used the term being “in the zone”, what they’re describing is an experience of flow. It occurs when your skill level and the challenge at hand are equal. Here’s a short video with a great explanation of Flow: Who is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi? From his own adverse experiences as a prisoner during World War II and from witnessing the pain and suffering from many people around him during this time, he developed a curiosity about happiness and being content with life.

He observed how many people were unable to live a life of contentment after their jobs, homes, security, etc, were taken from them during the war. After the war he read philosophy and took an interest in art and religion as a means to seek an answer to the question, what creates a life worth living? Eventually he stumbled upon psychology whilst at a ski resort in Switzerland. He attended a lecture by Carl Jung, who talked about the traumatized psyches of the European people after World War II.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,” describes flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and.

He was so intrigued that he started to read Jung’s work, and eventually took an interest in psychology. Which in turn led him to the United States to pursue psychology. What he really wanted was to study the roots of happiness. Finding Out What Happiness Really Is His studies led him to conclude that happiness is an internal state of being, not an external one. His popular book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience ( or the ) is based on the premise that happiness levels can be shifted through the introduction of more flow. Happiness is not a rigid state that can’t be changed. On the contrary, happiness takes a committed effort to be manifested.

After the baseline set point, there is a percentage of happiness that every individual has the responsibility to take control of. He believes that flow is crucial to creating genuine happiness.

“Happiness takes a committed effort to be manifested.” Through much research he began to understand that people were most creative, productive, and often, happiest when they are in this state of flow. He interviewed athletes, musicians, artists, etc. Because he wanted to know when they experienced the most optimal performance levels.

He was also interested in finding out how they felt during these experiences. He developed the term flow state because many of the people he interviewed described their optimal states of performance as instances when their work simply flowed out of them without much effort. He aimed to discover what piqued creativity, especially in the workplace, and how creativity lead to more productivity. He also determined that flow is not only essential to a productive employee but it is imperative for a contented one as well.

In his own words, flow is: “A state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” – Csikszentmihalyi, 1990 Here are some of the characteristics that comprise Csikszentmihalyi’s definition of optimal flow performance. The 8 Characteristics of Flow Csikszentmihalyi describes 8 characteristics of flow: • Complete concentration on the task • Clarity of goals and reward in mind and immediate feedback • Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down of time) • The experience is intrinsically rewarding, has an end itself • Effortlessness and ease • There is a balance between challenge and skills • Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination • There is a feeling of control over the task Who Experiences Flow? Interestingly, a capacity to experience flow can differ from person to person. Studies suggest that those with ‘’ autotelic personalities’’ tend to experience more flow. A person with an ‘’autotelic personality’’ tends to do things for their own sake rather than chasing some distant external goal. This type of personality is distinguished by certain meta-skills such as high interest in life, persistence, as well as low self-centeredness. Moreover, in a recent study investigating associations between flow and the 5-personality types, they found a negative correlation with neuroticism and a positive correlation between conscientiousness with the state of flow.

It can be speculated that neurotic individuals are more prone to anxiety and self-criticism, which are conditions that can disrupt this state. In contrast, conscientious individuals are more likely to spend time on mastering challenging tasks, which are characteristics important for flow experience. What Happens in the Brain During Flow? This marathon runner definitely has decreased prefrontal cortex activity The state of flow has been rarely investigated from a neuropsychological perspective but is a growing interest. According to Dietrich, it has been associated with decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex.

The prefrontal cortex is an area responsible for higher cognitive functions such as self-reflective consciousness, memory, temporal integration, and working memory. It’s an area that’s responsible for our conscious and explicit mind state.

However, in a state of flow, this area is believed to temporarily down-regulate; a process called transient hypofrontality. This temporary inactivation of the prefrontal area may trigger the feeling of distortion of time, loss of self-consciousness, and loss of inner-critic. Moreover, the inhibition of the prefrontal lobe may enable the implicit mind to take over, resulting in more brain areas to communicate freely and engage in a creative process.

In other research, it’s also hypothesized that the flow state is related to the brain’s dopamine reward circuitry since curiosity is highly amplified. How to Get Into The Flow? It’s important to note that one can’t experience flow if other distractions disrupt the experience (Nakamura et al., 2009). Thus, to experience this state, one has to stay away from the attention-robbers in our modern fast-paced life. A first step would be to dump your smartphone 😉 Also, the balance of perceived challenges and skills are important factors (Nakamura et al., 2009). On the one hand, when a challenge is bigger than one’s level of skills, one becomes anxious and stressed.

On the other hand, when the level of skill exceeds the size of the challenge, one becomes bored and distracted. Since the experience of this state is just in the middle, the balance is essential. “Inducing flow is about the balance between the level of skill and the size of the challenge at hand.” The experience of flow in everyday life is an important component of creativity and well-being.

Indeed, it can be prescribed as a key aspect of ‘’ ’’ or self-actualization in an individual, a contradictory term to “hedonia” or pleasure. Since it is also intrinsically rewarding, the more you practice it, the more you seek to replicate these experiences, which help lead to a fully engaged and happy life. Don’t Flow Alone Researchers from St. Bonaventure University asked students to participate in activities that would induce flow either in a team or by themselves. Students rated flow to be more enjoyable when in a team rather than when they were alone. Students also found it more joyful if the team members were able to talk to one another.

This finding was replicated even when skill level and challenge were equal. A final study found that being in an interdependent group whilst in flow is more enjoyable than one that is not.

So, if you want to get more enjoyment out of an experience of flow, try engaging in activities together. This beautifully echoes Christopher Peterson’s conclusion that positive psychology can be summed up in three words: ““. What is The Motivation Behind Your Flow State? Most of your conscious action requires motivation and there are two basic types: Intrinsic and Extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is where you do something because you love it.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2013) said the highest intrinsic motivation is “Flow” where self-consciousness is lost, one surrenders completely to the moment and time means nothing. Like when a competent musician plays without thinking, or a surfer catches a great wave and rides it with joy. Extrinsic motivation is where your motivation to succeed is controlled externally. Fear motivation is not getting into trouble or working hard to earn more money. That type of motivation is short-lived. Good extrinsic motivation is where you are practicing to get better but you still need a tutor or teacher to validate your efforts.

Using Images To Boost Confidence And Flow Psychologists Koehn et al. (2013) conducted research into different performance contexts and the production of the flow state, looking specifically at the way imagery and confidence levels interact to create flow. Participants completed imagery and confidence measures before undertaking a field test (Koehn et al., 2013). Measuring the performance of a tennis groundstroke, Koehn et al.

(2013) found a significant interaction between imagery and confidence. (2013) were able to demonstrate positive associations between imagery, confidence and the inducement of a flow state, which in turn predicts increased performance. In essence, the conduction of a flow state is seen to significantly increase peresrformance levels in a given external task (Koehn et al., 2013). TED Talk On Flow: The Secret To Happiness We leave you with the Ted Talk of this great scientist and we’d love to hear from you, how often do you experience flow and what type of activities lead to this experience.

Drop us a comment below. • References. Correct in every way, and even affective neuroscience confirms the importance of flow. Indeed, flow is very, very important, indeed it is more important than meditation or mindfulness. However, those in flow ARE in relaxed states, however, they are also in a dopamine induced state of high attentive arousal.

The resulting combination results in a state of bliss of flow. Here is my explanation of flow from affective neuroscience again from an earlier post rephrased a little. Individuals who engage in tasks in which they perceive a consistent and high degree of present and anticipated novel and positive outcomes or ‘meaning’ (e.g. Sporting events, creative activity, doing productive work) commonly report a feeling of high alertness and arousal that may be construed to be due to the activation of mid-brain dopamine systems. However, a significant subset of these individuals also report a feeling of pleasure that is characteristic of opioid release, but these reports occur only in non-stressed situations when the musculature is relaxed.

Since relaxation engages opioid systems in the brain, and because opioid and dopamine systems stimulate each other, the resulting blissful states require the simultaneous engagement of resting protocols and meaningful cognitive states, behaviors that are very easily achieved. In this way, which engages both resting protocols and an active sense of meaning, both dopamine and opioid release can be increased in the brain, and provide a level of deep rest, pleasure, or bliss that can effectively mitigate stress and anxiety.

This is what the ‘flow state’ is. P73-p77 of the following free little book presents this argument in much greater detail. Describes flow from a ‘top down’ perspective, or from metaphors of daily experience.

Below is a ‘bottoms up’ perspective that derives flow from affective neuroscience. It doesn’t invalidate what Dr. Says, but complements and informs it. To wit, highly meaningful or challenging behaviors elicit the activity of mid-brain dopamine systems, which cause a feeling of aroused alertness, but not pleasure. Because an individual performing highly meaningful or challenging activities is not engaged in perseverative thinking (rumination, worry, or distraction), relaxation also occurs, which in turn raises opioid levels in the brain. It is the combined interaction of both systems that elicits the state of euphoria that is flow, as opioid and dopamine systems mutually enhance or ‘bootstrap’ each other in the brain.

This ‘bottoms up’ perspective is ultimately much simpler than Dr. C’s often convoluted perspective, and suggests procedures for eliciting flow that are much simpler too. A much more detailed analysis of the flow experience is found on pages 71-74 of the following treatise on affective states and rest, which is of course free. Nice quick explanation of flow.

As an educator I love seeing students when they are engaged in their learning. You actually get to witness flow happening right in front of you 🙂 Last year we trialled teaching and explaining the notion of flow to a group of Year 10 boys, using surfing, music and gamification as examples. They got the idea very quickly. When then continued to discuss what contributes to flow and interstingly enough one student asked if we should be in flow at all times.

That lead to further discussions 🙂 Thanks for sharing Steph. Each human is divergent from the other.

So, of course, achieving flow is variable upon the persons interests. The key ingredient, I believe, is comfort-ability. Achieving flow is entirely dependent upon the variables of the situation itself. I do concur, participating in “flow” among individuals who enjoy taking part in an action as a collective “is better than going at it alone.” In continuation, I find it much more enjoyable to confabulate with friends who share that same ideology when debating on a team.

Equally important is our motivation that drives us to achieve “flow”. International Cricket 2010 Pc Game Torrent Download Free. I conclude that “flow” can be achieved regardless of motivation, whether it be intrinsic or extrinsic only determines the laboriousness of transition into “flow”. In conclusion, we are all different, when coupled with a collective that is partaking in an activity that we enjoy,achieving flow with be significantly more enjoyable.

Individuals will feel significantly more rewarded when “becoming lost” as a collective than if the individual were to practice the activity alone, regardless of the presiding motivations to achieve this state of mind.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s famous investigations of “optimal experience” have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness and greatly improve the quality of our lives. Nvidia Geforce Fx 5200 Driver Download Windows 7 64 Bit. You have heard about how a musician loses herself in her music, how a painter becomes one with the process of painting. In work, sport, conversation or hobby, you have experienced, yourself, the suspension of time, the freedom of complete absorption in activity. This is “flow,” an experience that is at once demanding and rewarding–an experience that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates is one of the most enjoyable and valuable experiences a person can have.

The exhaustive case studies, controlled experiments and innumerable references to historical figures, philosophers and scientists through the ages prove Csikszentmihalyi’s point that flow is a singularly productive and desirable state. But the implications for its application to society are what make the book revolutionary.