Ref#15: The flow state
The holistic sensation that people feel when they act
with total involvement has been called the flow state.
Csikszentmihalyi describes it as follows:
'In the flow state, action follows upon action according to an
internal logic that seems to need no conscious intervention by
the actor. He experiences it as a unified flowing from one
moment to the next, in which he is in control of his actions, and
in which there is little distinction between self and environment,
between stimulus and response, or between past, present, and
future. . . . . one may experience flow on the battlefront, on a
factory assembly line, or in a concentration camp. The
experience is one of complete involvement of the actor with his
activity. The activity presents constant challenges. There is no
time to get bored or to worry about what may or may not happen.
A person in such a situation can make full use of whatever skills
are required and receives clear feedback to his actions; hence he
belongs to rational cause and effect system in which what he
does has realistic and predictable consequences.'
M. Csikszentmihalyi, Beyond Boredom and Anxiety (Jossey-Bass
Pub., San Francisco, 1975), 36.
Return to narrative.