Jennifer Heisz, PhD talks about her research on this subject in her upcoming book called Move the Body, Heal the Mind, the subject of my next post.Ĭsíkszentmihályi created the Flow Model after he narrowed down the abstract idea of flow to two more concrete and easily-identifiable metrics: challenge and skill which he placed on axes of a graph. I have known for a long time that hiking is great medicine for me. Maybe Scott was feeling a sense of ecstasy, serenity and clarity, some of the feelings reported by people experiencing flow who are in an optimal psychophysical state.īesides the research on flow, studies in the past 10 years show increasing evidence that exercise is equally effective as medications in treating anxiety and depression. Getting up to these spectacular places with your friends and overcoming physical and mental obstacles together isgood for your soul. In my last post, Pahrump Point Hike and Tecopa Hot Springs, I mentioned that our friend Scott proclaimed from the summit, "This is good for my soul!" after a challenging climb with amazing views of Death Valley. A website with a great name, " Happiness Lessons,"indicates that if we can find this activity, we will be able to move society and humanity forward. An activity in which you can achieve flow is one that is worth doing for its own sake. He found that regardless of culture, education, vocation, etc., seven conditions appear when a person is in flow.įlow happens when we complete an activity and feel self-assurance, satisfaction, and joy. Mountain climbers are among the 8,000 people around the world who have been interviewed for flow research, as well as blind nuns, Navajo shepherds and Dominican monks. Others achieve flow with yoga, snowboarding, playing chess, and writing. Many used the metaphor of feeling like they were carried by a current - like the flow of water. He interviewed athletes, artists, composers, surgeons and CEOs of large companies to ascertain what made their lives meaningful and describe how they felt during happy, intense experiences. After that, his life was devoted to answering the question, "how can we achieve a state of optimal experience?" and studying positive psychology. He decided to find out what makes life worthwhile after he attended Carl Jung's presentation about Hindu mandalas as a technique to gain a sense of order. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, in the 1970's, asked the question "what is enjoyment?" when he saw that many Europeans were traumatized by World War II. Is this happiness caused by flow or the release of serotonin, the body's natural mood stabilizer, or both? Is it simply the rhythm of walking? Or is it because nature is inherently relaxing? Did hiking help me through the COVID-19 pandemic? It has led to a cascade of great articles and books to peruse. It helped me question more specifically why hiking makes me happy and turns on my creativity. He knew that I would be interested in the article he sent me, "Why does Experiencing 'Flow' feel so good? A Communication Scientist Explains", because it relates to my passion for hiking and nature. If it wasn't for a friend who reads my hiking posts, I probably would have never heard of "flow", the feeling of immense joy felt during an intrinsically rewarding task whereby the focus is not on the self, but on the activity. Feeling "Flow" - The Theory of Optimal Experience
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