Flow, in search of the optimal experience

We live in a world where it seems that if you don't make the most of your time and be super productive, you're going to be left behind and someone else will do your job better and in less time.

We live in a competitive world and stressful that demands more and more of us at work and also personally and socially.

However, we can get out of that wheel, break automatisms and inertia and decide what for us is an adequate level of work and activity and so on. being able to enjoy what we do from calm and conscience. It all starts with listening and getting to know each other, to make decisions that allow us to lead the life we ​​want.

• Related article: "Work stress: causes, and how to combat it"

The importance of flow status

Directly related to the activity and the occupation of time, a very relevant and useful topic appears, also linked to consciousness, attention and well-being: the flow or the optimal experience. You know what I'm talking about? Does the so-called flow channel ring a bell?

The flow is one of those things that we have all experienced, but to which perhaps we have not named them nor do we know how important it is for our happiness and

personal growth.

The flow theory was elaborated in the 90s by the psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, one of the fathers of positive psychology and a pioneer in the scientific study of happiness together with Martin Seligman.

Mihalyi discovered that people find authentic satisfaction during a state of consciousness that he called flow or flow. It is a state in which people are completely engrossed in an activity and lose track of time and self-awareness while being super focused and motivated. An experience in which the person's body and mind reach their limit through effort volunteer that we invest in a project or task that we find meaningful and that "connects" with our motivations.

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The psychological characteristics of the state of flow

As we see, in contrast to mind-wandering, the flow speaks of stimulating moments, of occupation and concentration; of challenges and challenges that satisfy us in themselves, since according to what has been found in the investigations, in this way we feel better and more fulfilled.

It is not about doing more in less time, but about doing things more consciously and with a constructive mentality, finding a way to motivate ourselves, enjoy and learn from what we do. During this "optimal experience" people feel "strong, alert, in control, and at the peak of their abilities."

The author insists that happiness does not just happen. It must be prepared and cultivated by each person in a proactive way, establishing challenges that are neither too demanding nor too easy for their abilities. This is a fundamental aspect of flow and one of its most outstanding characteristics: the adjustment between the capacities or abilities of a person and the demands of the environment. We can see this very well reflected in the graphical representation of the so-called flow channel:

In the graph it can be seen that when there are very high challenges and low abilities to solve them, we will feel anxiety, nerves, frustration... On the contrary, if our level of ability is high, but the level of challenge or challenge of the situation is low, we get bored and unmotivated. In other words, the important thing in this regard is that there are challenges at an appropriate level and proportional to our abilities, and that, if we do not have challenges or skills, the key is to look for the former and to learn and train the latter.

According to this theory, the ideal situation for flow to occur is when the level of challenge is a little above the skill level, as that is where the challenge and opportunity for improvement and growth arises optimal. Other characteristics of the flow state are:

• Clear objectives in the activity.
• Feedback of own actions.
• Action and consciousness merge.
• There are no distractions.
• There is no worry about failure.
• Self-awareness disappears.
• The sense of time is distorted.
• The activity becomes an end in itself.

Sports and creative activities are the ones that most easily produce this state of flow or optimal experience. Nevertheless, it also appears at work or in other apparently less satisfying moments of our day to day, and we can contribute to the increase of its frequency.

This theory and its practical application demonstrate how conscious, goal-oriented attention and action leads to personal growth and increased well-being. It is a clear example of why it is important to stop and do things voluntarily and consciously, deepening and dedicating quality time, instead of interacting from the superficiality and the immediacy.

The more moments of flow we have in our lives, the happier we will be and the more we will evolve and advance on our path of happiness. To achieve moments of optimal experience, we must live a conscious life connected with our essence and with what we do. In this way we will be able to discover the activities that make us enter the flow and encourage them, as well as the skills that we already have or those that we need to develop or improve.