Flow Experience
A Flow Experience is an experience of being "totally involved" [1] in an activity. In this experience, Bodily Ego is set aside and Spiritual Ego takes control of the Physical Unit.
List of Flow Experience Types
List of Connection Experience Types
Connection Experience > Activation Experience, Aesthetic Experience, Birth Experience, Clearing Experience, Completion Experience, Death Experience, Deep Flow, Diminutive Experience, Dream Experience, Flow Experience, Forced Connection, Healing Experience, Nadir Experience, Peak Experience, Plateau Experience, Push Experience, Rebirth Experience, Restorative Experience, Union Experience, Unity Experience, Zenith Experience
Notes
Flow experiences are generally weak Connection Experiences with a focus on personal content (see Connection Axes). The individual may or may not be aware of the "flow" of their Spiritual Ego.
Flow experiences are identified by Csikszentmihalyi.[2]
Flow experiences are typically associated with activities (games, mountain climbing, music [3], etc.) one is competent in. In a flow experience, one's attention becomes highly focussed on the activity, one merges with the action itself, one's becomes certain of one's actions.
There appear to be cross cultural variances in one's experience of flow. A Philippine musician emphasize connection to the other. "Another aspect that also differed markedly from the literature was the strik- ing importance of the other or one’s kapwa, as evident in Noel’s emphasis in connecting with the audience and getting them involved in his performance. He spoke of a oneness with the music and one’s self or with one’s instrument and how it extended to that union with each member of the audi- ence, which then served to transform and move each one into a different state of being."[4]
Flow experiences are autotelic, meaning the motivation and joy is in the activity itself, and not in any end goal (like winning, or for money).
Csikszentmihalyi speculates about conditions that would encourage flow experiences. The gist is that the activity should neither be too simple as to induce boredom or too complex as to induce anxiety and self-doubt.
Patsy Neal from Sport and Identity: "There are moments of glory that go beyond the human expectation, beyond the physical and emotional ability of the individual. Something unexplainable takes over and breathes life into the known life...Call it a state of grace, or an act of faith...or an act of God. It is there, and the impossible becomes possible...The athlete goes beyond herself; she transcends the natural. She touches a piece of heaven and becomes the recipient of power from an unknown source."[5]
The CBC podcast IDEAS has a podcast episode discussing flow experiences in athletes. [6]
Footnotes
- ↑ Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. “Play and Intrinsic Rewards.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 15, no. 3 (1975): 43.
- ↑ Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. “Play and Intrinsic Rewards.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 15, no. 3 (1975): 41-63.
- ↑ Garces-Bacsal, Rhoda Myra. “Extending Flow Further: Narrative of a Filipino Musician.” International Journal of Music Education 34, no. 4 (November 2016): 433–44.
- ↑ Garces-Bacsal, Rhoda Myra. “Extending Flow Further: Narrative of a Filipino Musician.” International Journal of Music Education 34, no. 4 (November 2016): 433–44.p. 441.
- ↑ Quoted in Grof, Christina, and Stanislav Grof. The Stormy Search for the Self: A Guide to Personal Growth Through Transformational Crises. Penguin, 1990. https://amzn.to/2UtkgP1. o. 65
- ↑ Zelazo, Suzanne. “Flow: Making the Impossible... Possible.” Accessed July 8, 2021. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/flow-making-the-impossible-possible-1.6077468.
