Every human being strives to reach and experience
happiness. People have the idea that if they have more money or a bigger house
or a stable high paying job or security they would be happier. But a study by Princeton University suggested
that income had significantly less impact on the general well-being and
happiness in the people of United States over the years. A graph of happiness v/s
income shows that over 1950s to 2000s the average income of people tripled but
the average happiness level stayed the same. This shows that it’s our
perspective or the contents of our consciousness that determines happiness
(Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi , 2006).
“A
person can make himself happy or miserable, regardless of what is actually
happening ‘outside’ just by changing the contents of consciousness”
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
Mihaly, a Hungarian psychologist who
proposed the concept, suggests that one of the ways to do this is to put
ourselves in the optimal level of experience called flow. Flow or the zone is a
state of consciousness where they are fully immersed in what they are doing (a
mental activity) with complete focus. They are so involved in that activity
that nothing else matters. The concentration is so prominent that anything in
the environment is too irrelevant to come to their attention. It is a state of
ecstasy and they feel like they are losing themselves. And this is a feeling
that is experienced by everyone including a rock climber or sales person or
musician or an artist. The person experiencing flow will not regret what he or
she has done yesterday or be anxious about tomorrow. Many call flow as an
effortless spontaneous feeling. It is commonly referred to as passion. The autotelic personality are people with several very specific personality traits
which are better able to achieve the “flow experience” than the average person.
These personality traits include curiosity, persistence,
low self-centeredness, and a desire of performing activities for intrinsic
reasons only.
Examples
can be seen in movies like Beautiful Mind, The Oval Portrait.
This description may sound like an exaggeration but
biologically speaking, studies show that our brain is incapable of processing
more than about 110 bits of information per second. To do a normal everyday action
like listening to a person, one needs to process 60 bits of information. Hence
we can only clearly listen to and understand two people at a time. The same
applies to the people in flow. As their complete focus and attention is
concentrated towards the task that they are undertaking (i.e composing music,
painting, cracking a deal etc.) they wouldn’t have enough attention left to
concentrate of external distractions and also bodily feelings of hunger or
tiredness and existence is temporarily suspended.
When
studying the feeling of flow experienced by people of various cultures, like
Dominican monks, to blind nuns to Himalayan Climbers, to Navajo shepherds, who
enjoy their work, there were several conditions seen similar among them
·
Completely involved in what they are
doing, focused, concentrated.
·
A sense of ecstasy- of being outside
everyday reality.
·
Great inner clarity- knowing what needs
to be done and how well we are doing.
·
Knowing that the activity is doable and
that they have the adequate skills for it.
·
A sense of serenity- no worries about
oneself, a feeling of growing beyond boundaries of ego
·
Timelessness- thoroughly focused on the
present, hours seem to pass by in minutes
·
Intrinsic motivation
Graphically speaking if we look at the flow diagram,
with skill v/s challenge, if you have a high level of challenge for the things
you are least skilled in, it will create anxiety. Similarly, if there is low or
no challenge for the task that you are highly skilled in, the person will be
too relaxed or bored. Only when these two are balanced is when the zone of flow
can be reached. It is the optimum phase where a person improves his or her
skills and challenge it accordingly and then develop some more and build on it
evolving in each step. The more a person works on this, the more he or she
experiences ecstasy or flow.
Some people argue that sitting in front of their
laptop or TV watching shows or scrolling through social media gives them a
sense of ecstasy but it is not true. Even though the person tends to lose the
sense of time, there is no skill required or challenged involved in these
activities making the person apathetic and not in the flow. Therefore moving
towards the optimal state of experience is crucial in everybody’s life.
Application
Examples
of Flow in Education: Csíkszentmihályi has suggested that overlearning a skill
or concept can help people experience flow. Another critical concept in his
theory is the idea of slightly extending oneself beyond one's current ability
level. This slight stretching of one's current skills can help the individual
experience flow. For
example, delinquent behavior was reduced in adolescents after two years of
enhancing flow through activities. Suggestions to increase engagement, such as focusing on
learning activities that support students' autonomy and provide an appropriate
level of challenge for students' skills.
Examples
of Flow in Sports: Just like in educational settings, engaging in a
challenging athletic activity that is doable but presents a slight stretching
of one's abilities is a good way to achieve flow. Sometimes described by being
"in the zone," reaching this state of flow allows an athlete to
experience a loss of self-consciousness and a sense of complete mastery of the
performance.
Examples
of Flow in the Workplace: Flow can also occur when workers are engaged in tasks
where they are able to focus entirely on the project at hand. For example, a
writer might experience this while working on a novel or a graphic designer
might achieve flow while working on a website illustration.
Spirituality: Csíkszentmihályi's flow concept relates to the idea of
being at one with things or as psychology expert, Kendra Cherry, describes it:
"complete immersion in an activity".
Zen Buddhism, Yogic
traditions like Raja Yoga and Samyama, meditation practices in Teravada
Buddhism.
References
Csikszentmihalyi,
M. & Rathunde, K. (1993). The measurement of flow in everyday life: Towards
a theory of emergent motivation. In Jacobs, J.E.. Developmental perspectives on
motivation. Nebraska symposium on motivation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press.
Csíkszentmihályi,
Mihály (1975), Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Csikszentmihalyi,
M. (1997) Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life. Basic
Books, New York.
Csikszentmihalyi,
M.; Abuhamdeh, S. & Nakamura, J. (2005), Flow, in Elliot, A., Handbook of
Competence and Motivation, New York: The Guilford Press, pp. 598–698
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