FLOW

Flow is a term coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Csikszentmihalyi is one of a growing number of important psychologists who have embraced a paradigm shift toward positive psychology, in which emphasis is placed on studying the pleasant side of human experience, rather than only on neurotic states such as depression and anxiety or psychotic states.

As such, he set out to document how people experience and describe their optimal states of being. He interviewed everyone from doctors to athletes and found a number of factors in common regarding when they felt they were at their best and how they explained the feeling. Above all, time and again, people mentioned that when they were in this state, it felt like this just "flowed".

I believe that this experience of flow is very tied in with moments when we tap into our most authentic selves and challenge ourselves in healthy ways that initiate continuing growth. I highly recommend this book for those that want to learn more about this crucial phenomenon and how they might obtain more of it in their own lives.

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