So are you in flow ?

So Are you feeling happy, excited, energized today?

Or are you feeling bored, dissatisfied, anxious or worried ?

If the second is true, then most likely you are not ‘flowing’.

I came to know about this ‘flow’ just some days back. It was at a time when I was in minimal contact with people, because I was deeply involved in a scientific project which threatened to take up every moment of my days and even nights. I expected to feel tired, but I was surprised to find myself feeling energized all the time. I expected to feel irritable because of being overworked, however, I was in the happiest mood.

I remember feeling exactly the same when I was in the process of co-studying with my daughter just before her exams. We were like a team, cohesive and concurrent, completely synchronized, pursuing a common goal, cheering at every success, celebrating every accomplished task together.

Flow – simply a state of being completely focused in one task, living only in the present moment, the whole being fixed in pursuing only the success of that particular task. It could be studies, a football game, cooking a challenging dish, building a project.

According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, you are flowing if :

* goals are clear

*feedback is immediate

*a balance between opportunity and capacity

* concentration deepens

* the present is what matters

* control is no problem

* the sense of time is altered

* the loss of ego

Time flies… Oh how wonderful it is to have Father Time, that grumpy old gentleman who usually sits in our living room smoking a pipe of discontent, flying away merrily, with his robes in the wind ?

Ego falls away… Imagine that awkward, prickly crown of ego that you keep wearing on your head in that uncomfortable way, suddenly slipping away, while you forget you are and who you are supposed to be !

Isnt it sad that in this new age of gizmos, facilities, delegations, we have made life so simple for ourselves, that we no longer ‘’flow’’.

So fire those household helps, your junior colleagues, all the people who are supposed to make life easy for you, but who actually rob you of your flow. OK, don’t fire them yet, but give them a much deserved holiday for a few days.

And you roll up your sleeves, and get to work. Don’t stare in space anymore. There is a lot to be done, and done well too. Start with your garden, or rustle up something in the kitchen, maybe make a holiday project with a child, clean up that clutter at home and at your work desk. Scan all the old, frayed photographs and make a flipbook for your parents. Organize all the loose papers into labelled folders. Or sit down at work and discover something that was waiting for just YOU to get discovered. Put all the old data together, and come up with a winner. Join a dance class today or learn horse riding.

Don’t be a spectator, a consumer, an onlooker, an audience. These are all passive roles. Do something that makes you feel as if YOU are in control.

Happiness is just a flow away. If only you would loosen up, and just… flow.