Flow

Sometimes things just seem to click. Life, for a few moments or minutes, becomes effortless and the results are exceptional. It's almost as if we've found a hidden groove, that may have been there all along, and suddenly we are carried with the full force of the stream rather than paddling furiously against it. It's not just letting things happen, it's not forcing them to happen. I don't know what the heck it is, but I know what it feels like.

So I was curious when Csikszentmihalyi came out with a study of this phenomenon in the 90's in a book he titled "Flow." This was the first study, to my knowledge, that had ever tried to examine this curious phenomenon somewhat scientifically. And he had some thoughtful observations. It was a nice start, but didn't really capture it; he seemed more focused on a kindred, and much weaker sibling state, which was more related to becoming absorbed in a task. Which does make a task more pleasant, more focused and engenders a quality of "flow", but not at all the same as the magical click when one's actions and the universe are in total harmony with one another for an instant of time.

I'll give an example that explores part of the difference in my mind. Sometimes there is a type of recognition that this groove is "available" and with this recognition you can do pretty much anything and it will work. Once in high-school after basketball practice, I was leaning on the bars that separate the bleachers about mid-court talking to some friends up in the stands. As we were talking I felt this groove click; I knew I only had a few seconds to do something with it, so I asked if they wanted to see something cool. I was holding a basketball loosely in one arm, facing away from the court, and I just spun around and flung it wildly with one hand. From mid-court it sailed in a long arc and swished a perfect basket. To understand the significance of this, you'd really have to know what a bad shot I generally was in this game.

It's clicked on a number of other occasions, each with equally amazing results and with the curious force of knowing everything is aligned behind what you choose to do. So you'll probably guess that I've been very interested in how this state could be more readily accessed. Was it something natural that had been "unlearned"? Was what the Chinese refer to as the Tao and a signpost to recovering our original natures?

So I was happy to find this article, exploring the topic in more depth and reminding me of these "anomalies." Perhaps you will enjoy it as well, if you've had similar dealings with this ineffable mystery we call life.


There are ways but the Way is uncharted;
There are names but not nature in words:
Nameless indeed is the source of creation
But things have a mother and she has a name.

The secret waits for the insight
Of eyes unclouded by longing;
Those who are bound by desire
See only the outward container.

These two come paired but distinct
By their names.
Of all things profound,
Say that their pairing is deepest,
The gate to the root of the world.