Accessing Your Flow State for Health and Well-Being
“Flow is an optimal state in which you feel totally engaged in an activity...In a state of flow, you’re neither bored nor anxious, and you don’t question your own adequacy. Hours pass without your noticing.”
-Susan Cain
Between adjusting to pandemic stress that's included a range of lifestyle changes - social isolation to lockdown anxiety, remote work adaptation or unemployment stress, spending more time with loved ones or coping with separation, managing home-schooling stress for your kids, experiencing pregnancy anxiety or having babies with reduced support networks or perhaps putting your life plans on hold, dealing with isolation anxiety or social disconnection, financial stress management, the list goes on…we have had quite the mental health journey.
I've heard some therapy clients, mental health colleagues, friends, and family speak of this time as one of psychological awakening - an opportunity to reassess our emotional wellbeing and prioritize what's truly important. While others experience it as collective trauma in all senses of the word. And yet through the stress and anxiety, people and society is shifting, and not all in negative ways. I've heard clients and friends speak to things like: self-care practices, spiritual wellness, family reconnection, compassion development, social justice awareness, meaningful work engagement, and emotional stability to name a few core values newly incorporated during this healing journey. This doesn't take away from the pandemic anxiety, stress symptoms, and shared trauma we have all faced.
To integrate this emotional change more fully, it can be helpful to go beyond traditional therapy. By tapping into therapeutic flow state, we enter into a mindful state that is free of self-judgment, inner critique, or anxiety-driven perfectionism and we are able to make something that often, and surprisingly so, more accurately encapsulates our healing experience. Coined "flow therapy" in 1975 by Hungarian-American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, after his experience of trauma healing as a child in Europe amidst World War II, described "therapeutic flow" as:
“being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved...” (for more on flow states, watch his Ted Talk here).
Getting into a flow state can not only help us access deeper parts of ourselves, but can greatly help us in relief from suffering from anxiety and depression, fear, grief, trauma, change, transitions, and more. If you are struggling more intensely with these issues, it may be wise to seek further support from your community or a professional who can guide you further toward relief. Read more about the work I do around anxiety, trauma, and relationships.
Optimal Conditions for Entering Flow State:
Challenge-Skills Balance: the task at hand is not too demanding nor too easy. There is a sense of competence, enthusiasm, and enjoyment in the task.
Clear Goals and Clear Feedback: the goal is defined as finishing the task and the feedback comes from the activity itself, not from another external source.
Loss of Self-Consciousness: we are so involved in the activity at hand, critiquing is non-existent.
Transformation of Time: in becoming so absorbed in the moment, we lose concepts of time.
Autotelic Experience: the endeavor is carried out for it’s own sake, with no expectation of a future benefit.
“Surrender is a state of living in the flow, trusting what is, and being open to serendipity and surprises.”
-Judith Orloff
Prompts for Accessing Flow State:
In reflecting back on the healing journey, I've considered a few therapeutic prompts to help guide me and my mindfulness clients into fuller emotional integration through accessing flow state therapy, whether that be through expressive journaling, verbal processing, art therapy collaging, creative expression drawing, therapeutic painting, music therapy, mindful hiking, or some other form of movement therapy, choose the healing medium that you're naturally drawn to most, that will propel you into your unique flow state experience. Don't self-judge or edit, just engage in creative healing. Sometimes the deeper meaning of it all comes later. Here are some therapeutic prompts to get you started before jumping into whatever healing activity feels most alive for you.
What did you learn over this past season? This includes what you learned about yourself, what you learned about others, and what you learned about humanity as a whole. Apply it where you see fit.
What did you lose over this past season? What did you gain?
When you reflect on this time, what sensations do you notice in your body? What emotions arise?
What imagery shows up for you when you look back and when you look forward? Is there a song or sound that arises for you?
What changes do you notice? Changes within yourself, in your home, in your schedule, in society, in a loved one. Apply it anywhere.
What are you grateful for from this past season? What are you not grateful for or what do you want to throw away? This could be an experience shared, a letter received, something new, something old, etc.
What interaction(s) sticks out to you most from this past season?
How is your relationship with yourself different than it was before? How is your relationship with others different than it was before? Others can include partners, family, friends, animals, objects, places, etc.
How have your values changed? Which ones still remain important?
What do you hope or dream for still?
References:
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.
Houston, Elaine. (2020). 11 Activities and Exercises to Induce a Flow State. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/flow-activities/
Nakamura, J. & Csikszentmihályi, M. (2001). “Flow Theory and Research”. In Snyder, C. R. & Lopez, S. J. Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press. 195–206.
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If you are needing support, feel free to reach out. Dana Andrews with True Nature Psychotherapy offers anxiety therapy, PTSD and trauma therapy, and couples therapy online anywhere in California. Reach out today with any questions or to schedule a free and confidential phone consultation.