Flow of life!!!

“Go with the flow. Force nothing. Let it happen, or not happen, trusting that whichever way it goes, it’s for the best.” -Mandy Hale

Have you ever been in a situation where you get so engrossed in doing what you love that you lose track of time? Like reading your favorite book or taking care of your balcony garden?

Have you ever wondered why?

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, has explained this process as the ‘flow’, which according to him is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”

In simpler terms, when we are in the flow, our mind is focusing on one specific task, without any distractions.

But what about the mundane tasks like doing the laundry or washing the dishes? Can we make these tasks enjoyable too? Wouldn’t it bore people to do these routine tasks, over and over again?

We are all aware of and have experienced activities like humming a tune while doing the laundry or listening to music while cleaning the house.

This, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is ‘microflow’.

When we have to do a task that is not challenging enough, we add a little bit of twist in it to get ourselves in the flow, like humming a song, listening to music or whistling a tune.

Though mundane, these tasks are unavoidable. And that is probably why we tend to get angry, disappointed or even tired with the mundanities of everyday life.

Hence, it’s important to know how to turn mundane tasks into moments of microflow.

Give it a touch of excitement! It’s as simple as putting spices in any bland dish to make it taste better.

In my case, it’s mostly music. You could try that too.

The point is, each of us has this ability within us, and that, is the key to us being happy.

Like Mr. Csikszentmihalyi rightly said, “A joyful life is an individual creation that cannot be copied from a recipe”