You know that lovely feeling when you are so lost in an activity that time and space seem to stand still? I have been listening to a tape by a man with an unpronouncable name - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyl - on the subject of Flow. His explanation shows a clear connection between the feeling of enjoyment and the feeling of a state of flow. His views and mine have so much in common that I would love to meet and chat with him - once I can properly pronounce his name!
I often speak of the ripple effect of enjoyment flowing through into all aspects of life. Mihaly speaks of 8 characteristics of flow - a clear sense of achieving moment to moment goals, experiencing challenges that reasonably match your skills, being totally focused on the task at hand, having your mind relieved of all else around you for the time being, forgetting problems, experiencing a sense of spontaneous energy and experiencing a positive form of escape from reality. In my professional opinion, these sort of characteristics of flow are the characteristics of deep enjoyment experiences that trigger the ripple effect of enhancing all aspects of one's life. The outcomes are in the form of increased self esteem, self confidence, self belief and increased sense of self worth. They are feelings that don't go away the moment the enjoyable experience (state of flow) comes to an end. They flow on for an inestimable time, indeed for life.
When you think about it, the ripple effect that I speak of is, in fact, a process of heightened self esteem flowing through all aspects of life. I shall be adding this sort of thinking to my workshops, speaking and writings (with due acknowledgement to Mihaly).
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