The Top 10 Factors in Flow

Flow is maximal pleasure and has an extremely beneficial effect on our health.

1. The fun of finishing.

It's that sense of knowing that something has an ending, and that you'll get there; there's no anxiety about it. One of the worst feelings we can have is the sense that our work is never done and there's no end in sight. You get a clear sense of this when you're knitting, for instance. You work away, and you're reading a pattern, and while you work and enjoy it, a sweater, or a cap begins to take shape and then you see that you've come to the end and it's done!

2. The fun of focus.

This is when you can concentrate so fully on what you're doing, and being immersed in it, that you aren't thinking about what you have to do next, or that you have more important things to do, or about the argument you had with your spouse. When you're making a fish hook, be a fish hook maker. Later, when you're a fisherman, think about fishing.

3. The pleasure of purpose.

Artists are in flow a lot and they have a special way of talking about what they do. When Rodin was asked how he made his incredible sculptures, he said that he took a piece of marble and chipped away until enough was gone. A Hawaiian fish hook maker said that it was his job to help the fish hook come out of the bone, and that it would tell him when it was done enough. He worked to satisfy himself and to make the fish hook that he knew he could.

4. Joyful physical feedback.

It's especially pleasurable when you're doing a task and there's immediate sensory information. When you're knitting, you can feel the wool or cotton yarn running over your hand. If you're cooking a special meal, you pick up the steaks and toss them in the seasonings, or deliciously reach into the crisp cool lettuce and toss it with your hands. Kneading bread dough is another example where you really get to feel what you're doing. (In my house it's called +physical therapy+.)

5. Being in comfortable command.

Bliss will be blocked if there's a feeling of being out of control. When we're in FLOW, we feel in control but not controlling.

6. Recreational work.

Flow activities are never hard work; in fact they don't seem like work at all. It's the kind of thing where you lose yourself in the task and become one with it. For the time you're kneading the bread dough, that's all that's going on in the entire universe. They're often very intense. It's a matter of BEING the work, not DOING the work.

7. Timeless pleasure.

You lose all sense of time. No drinks of water, no trips to the kitchen for food, or trips to the bathroom. You sit down to work and look up and it's 5 hours later.

8. We get the most out of it when we are least aware of trying to get the most out of it.

If we concentrate on flow, or intentionally try and attain it, we ruin it because we've let our will and Self intrude between ourselves and the action. It's something we need to relax into, not force.

9. We get the most for ourselves by giving of ourselves.

When you give yourself over to the task at hand and become lost in it is when you are in flow and receive all the benefits that come from it.

10. We can let it happen, not make it happen.

About the Submitter
This piece was originally submitted by Susan Dunn, M.A., Clinical Psychology, Momentum Coaching, a full-service professional coaching practice, who can be reached at sdunn@susandunn.cc, or visited on the web. Susan Dunn wants you to know: I'm a coach; your success is my business. The original source is: Paul Pearsall, Ph.D. http://www.susandunn.cc/

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