Ramblings on flow

Author: Brodie Boland
Published on Sep 24th, 2008
http://brodie.nomadlife.org/

Almost all of us have experienced the state of flow at one point in our lives. It's the feeling of being so immersed in a book that when you put it down and look at the clock, hours have passed in what seemed like minutes. It's being 'in the zone' in a basketball game, when it seems as if one is almost able to intuitively sense the position of other players on the court. It's that sense of ease, of effortlessness and energy in the last leg of a long run, when the pace, the hearbeat, the sounds are all in rhythym and one feels as if floating. Csikszentmihalyi, a rather famous psychologist, has studied this state and identified a number of effects, as well as preconditions of flow.

The most immediate effect is the feeling of enjoyment. Csikszentmihalyi found that many of the moments we enjoy most in our lives are those in which we experience flow. And not only are we enjoying ourselves, but we perform best, we feel most empowered afterwards, we leave the activity with a sense of energy, and we develop psychologically through repeated experiences of the flow state. It is, perhaps, one of the most precious of human states.

So what enables flow? There are a number of preconditions, including:
- Clear goals and ongoing feedback
- The ability to concentrate on the task at hand (continuous email checking is, I suspect, one of the greatest barriers to flow for many)
- The ability to immerse oneself in the task, such that one can lose self-consciousness (this is both a cause and effect of flow)
- A balance between one's ability and the challenge at hand, such that one is challenged but not frustrated
- A sense of control over the result
- The activity is intrinsically rewarding (again, both cause and effect)

Along with flow and positive emotions, a third pillar of postive psychology is that of meaning. I interpret meaning to indicate the feelings of importance one has as to their own narrative. In other words, can they tell a story about their life that gives it some significance. In my view, meaning can be seen as flow scaled up from the level of one activity to one's whole life. My sense of meaning in my life is dependent upon whether I am able to enter a more macro state of flow. Do I have clear goals that are in some way tied to a broader narrative I tell about life and the world? Can I immerse myself in my life, or do I feel as if I am never really making contact with the substance of my existence? Am I fit to meet the challenges that life throws my way?

And not only does flow matter at the levels of enjoyment and performance in a moment and of one's sense of meaning in life, but I think that flow also connects us with the most fundamental essence of our existence. As in the state of flow one becomes immersed in a task or experience and loses the sense of self, these flow moments are those in which we most directly participate in the flow of existence itself. We have, even for a moment, released our self-contraction and taken joy in this convergence of a creative process and our own satisfaction.

It is no surprise then, that in these deepest moments of flow a fortunate few members of humanity experience that falling away of self that characterises the mystical revelation. For what is the state of samadhi if not a much deeper form of flow? It is an absorption in the object of concentration such that there is oneness with that object, and, in Buddhism and Hinduism, it is often seen as the staging ground of enlightenment.

And so flow is not only what we enjoy most, when we perform best, and (in extended form), how we derive meaning from life, but it is also a first step on a much more profound journey.

Probably worth turning off the crackberry for ;-)

Feelings outside in

Last week I had the pleasure of taking a course about Brazilian music, Which I guess could be described as an engaging two hours of hearing stories about some of the classic names of Brazilian music + singing their songs, led by two great musicians.

In love with music, one of the teachers expressed his special appreciation for this particular type of art which invades the listener. There's no way a person can "watch" a song; music always interacts with us in a different level, bringing remembrances, fostering daydreams and influencing on how we feel.

Reflect about that made me wonder why we tend to think we need a reason to be who we are and feel how we feel, when there are uncountable examples of "external" stimuli which influence our mood and / or the way we behave.

In one of his recent book (I think it is Blink), Malcolm Gladwell described he would arrive home angry after a whole afternoon practicing angry / upset / sad faces. Without a reason, anger would appear from the simple fact angry faces were being tried.

Even more impressive have been my yoga classes. Frequent physical exercises of chest opening, spine twisting, turning upside down and projecting the body forward have brought unbelievable benefits to practitioners when it comes to being more open and affectionate, becoming more flexible to different points of view, believing in ourselves and happily planning the future.

That is probably why in meditation we first learn how to maintain our bodies still before we are truly able to calm down our minds.

Just back from Meditation Retreat

I just arrived back from a 2 days Meditation Retreat, north of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The program is run in the International Centre of the Buddhist University here and intends to spread the Buddhist theory and practice for both Thai people and foreigners.

The time there was really good! I learnt various medidation techniques, medidated for long hours and got to understand the Buddhist worldview a little better.

One thing that was particularly remarkable was the Master's strength and coherency. He just lost 100 monk friends in the conflicts in Burma, but kept the serenity and led us to continuosly wish happiness and wellbeing to all beings, including the aggressors. He said truly free and happy people are compassionate and loving to others, which meant the Burmese officials were suffering for not acting that way and therefore needed our wishes.

May all beings be safe and secure
May all beings be happy and peaceful

Hearing the Dalai Lama

I mentioned before that the Dalai Lama was coming to Australia and China didn't want the Australian Prime Minister to meet him, right? Well, Dalai Lama came, PM met him and world continues.

Besides the PM, I also had a chance to meet the Buddhist leader (well, not really meet, but listen to his speech on a rainy Saturday morning in a public park).

We talked about compassion and found ways of explaining it in a way that would fit any creed. He said we need to find contentment with limited material accumulation, otherwise we'll be unhappy pursuing a limitless goal that excludes the others. On the other hand, emotional accumulation and wisdom brings happiness exactly because it's limitless, with an upside of including others.

The highest moment for me came in the end.
Somebody asked: Dalai Lama, what's the meaning of life?
And he humbly responded: To be very direct, well, I don't know!

Sacred landscape

"After leaving Adelaide, seeing some white terrain with bushes, passing through some green bushes and stopping for lunch in Port Augusta - where Salma said G`day to the gas station attendant ;o) - something cool happened: I slept for almost 40 min and feel that I woke up in the desert. Landscape has turned redder, air drier and there's a big isolation feeling. Trip has just started!"
Gabi, trip journal, 1st of April



Throughout the whole trip, nature was absolutely breathtaking. And how much have I learnt!
We’ve seen that the desert can have an exuberant chain of life, in an absolute delicate balance, dynamically changing.

The area where the current desert is located used to be a big sea 200 million years ago (nowadays a good part of it continue being below the sea level) and, although it’s extremely dry at the surface, it hosts an underground water reserve that covers 22% of the Australian territory.

Therefore, we could find palm trees growing from rocks in an area called Palm Valley (!!!), which is still reminiscent of the times where the ocean was in that area (just to emphasize, we’re talking about hundreds of millions of years), as well as frogs who “hibernate” when the weather is too dry, maintaining the water in their bodies and coming back to live when it rains.

We’ve also seen live many sorts of gum trees and animals like kangaroos, camels, lizards, emus, many different kind of birds and dingos.

But I think what touched me the most is the landscape itself. The mixture between flat terrains and impressive rock formations, with gorges, canyons, cliffs and waterholes – result of millions of years of meteors falling, tectonic movements and erosion – transmits an energy that the same time fills us with a fantastic spirit and shows us how small and recent we are. No wonder the aboriginal people considered most of those places sacred.

Convergence

Talking about the book (Presence), it's not only fanstastic, but its magic involved me since I touched the book. Look at the story I wrote to AIESEC International recently, for the purpose of a case study.

"This last week I had the opportunity to witness a fantastic moment of convergence. Everything started when I discovered a new great library in Sydney and borrowed a book related to sustainability and learning organisations, subjects I've been studying deeply since a certain point of my AIESEC experience.

From the library, I went directly to the house of the Romanian intern, Salma, who was hosting a Russian night, organised by another intern, Marina.

Arriving there, I met some members of the sustainability learning group we created here in Sydney, who automatically got interested in the book, as well as Mel and Ausra from the national committee of AIESEC in Australia, who recently looked for theoretical references about organisational development, read the book and got absolutely excited about it.

On the next day, Cornelia, the AIESEC International leader of the virtual corporate responsibility team I'm part of, sent us a website as inspiration for our next steps in engaging AIESEC leaders in the initiative, which was based in the exact same concepts.

Breathless with the coincidence, I sent the book recommendation to my Brazilian AIESEC mates, as well as to the CSR Directors of ERM and Philips in Latin American, with whom I worked last year as External Relations Director and who were absolutely thrilled about receiving the indication. They responded right away, asking for a conceptual discussion and for more news from my side.

I guess this little story, happened in 2 days-time, represents a bit what AIESEC has been to me: a fantastic space to discover myself and the world, and especially a place where I can find extraordinary people, who are converging to build something beautiful!

PS: Just as I finish writing this story, I receive a post card from Henrique, alumnus currently in Denmark, inviting me to start a practical entrepreneurial initiative about learning organisations in Brazil. Apparently the building phase has already started!"

Buddhist Temple

Last weekend, a big crew of foreigners decided to explore a little bit the spirituality around the city and went to a Buddhist temple, 2 hours south of Sydney (http://www.nantien.org.au).

The temple is impressive. Apparently, it’s the biggest in the southern hemisphere. Its architecture is beautiful; there are monks, nuns and non-religious people working there; the vegetarian food available is great; you can stay there for some days if you want; there are drums, meditation and chant sessions every day; but definitely what called my attention the most was the philosophy.

Amongst the things I’ve learnt:

Buddhists search for enlightment and don’t need to have responses for all the world’s mysteries. So, for example, they believe life is a circle, but there’s no one right response to reincarnation;

Their symbol is the lotus flower, because it is a beautiful, clean and bright flower which flourishes every year and grows from swamps. This reinforces the circle of life and encourages people to search for enlightment without ignoring the problems, but using them as a source of learning and strength.