Has it ever happened to you to practice some activity and to feel so absorbed by it that you lose track of time? In the photo on the side I played chess under a scorching sun for more than two hours, when I finished I was not tired, I was happy and I had no perception of fatigue despite asking me how I had managed to resist under the sun for so long. Just two hours earlier I was complaining about the heat and how much this took away my strength, then, almost by magic, I had forgotten the discomfort, the moans, the tiredness!
What happened? I had entered a state of ” flow “!
What is flow
The concept of flow (in Italian “flow”, “current” understood as “optimal experience”) was introduced by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi , a Croatian psychologist with a positivist matrix.
This state brings us closer to ecstasy , to a happiness where euphoria and excitement are not present (typical of true happiness), but there is a state of grace that takes us out of time, into the timeless universe of the soul. .
Happiness with the flow
Csikszentmihalyi tries to answer the question: “ how to be happy? ”, Starting from the assumption that man seeks happiness and any behavior is implemented to achieve this condition.
Today we have material goods and opportunities not even imaginable for our parents or grandparents, yet this does not make us happier. Happiness does not derive from luck or chance and is not determined by external events beyond our control but is closely linked to our will and how each of us interprets the events that happen and the experiences we have.
Everything changes or to put it in Zeno’s words “everything flows”! I often hear the phrase ” I am like this ” or “my life is like this”, but nothing is the same as the previous moment and every information, every event and experience create what we are now.
But what does Flow have to do with the pursuit of happiness?
People who listen to their emotions and experience even demanding challenges but without heavily going beyond their limits are those most able to determine the quality of their life . This is the best way to approach the condition of happiness.
What happens in the flow state
When we enter a state of flow:
- the objectivesbecome clear ;
- we are fully involved;
- we lose track of time;
- we perceive that the business will go well ;
- we are confident and lucid, every gesture is completed in a natural way.
