2022: Creating a Lexicon of Future

F is for Flow State

People often say flow is like “being in the zone”. Psychologists Jeanne Nakamura and Csíkszentmihályi describe it as something more. When people feel flow, they are in a state of intense concentration. Their thoughts are focused on an experience rather than on themselves.

They lose a sense of time and feel as if there is a merging of their actions and their awareness. That they have control over the situation. That the experience is not physically or mentally taxing.

Most importantly, flow is what researchers call an autotelic experience. Autotelic derives from two Greek words: autos (self) and telos (end or goal). Autotelic experiences are things that are worth doing in and of themselves. Researchers sometimes call these intrinsically rewarding experiences. Flow experiences are intrinsically rewarding. ~ The Science of ‘Flow States’, Explained by a Cognitive Science Researcher

Flow “is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter” (Csikszentmihalyi 2008). When we are in this trance-like altered state of total absorption and effortless concentration, we are aware of our surroundings, but none of that matters. We will be completely immersed in the moment — the task at hand. When we are in this state, a sense of tranquillity settles…