An amazing life is about more than avoiding negative emotions. It’s about achieving happiness. While traditionally the goal of therapy is to help people overcome stress, anxiety, depression, and other disorders, the average individual is looking for more than relief – they are looking to live a happier and more fulfilling life.
There are many different concepts that can help people achieve happiness. One is this idea that an important part of happiness is to be fully engaged in the activities that you choose to pursue. In psychology, we often call this concept “Flow.”
What is “Flow?”
Have you ever seen someone so focused on a task, that others refer to them as “in the zone?” In many ways, that is the idea behind the concept of flow.
Flow is what happens when someone is so thoroughly mentally engaged in a project that they lose all sense of time and space. It is this idea that when a person is truly passionate about what they’re doing, they become consumed by it in a way that makes life feel productive, energized, and purposeful.
When a person has discovered something that has given them flow, they have found an activity that:
- Intensely engages their mind and body.
- Becomes the most important and only thing in their life.
- Feels completely rewarding, as though no time is truly wasted.
“Flow” has several formal components, measurements, and conditions that make it a very specific definition, but the idea is that flow is a complete mental, emotional, and physical engagement in an activity that provides fulfilment.
Have You Found Your Flow?
In psychology here on Long Island, it’s not often that I come across someone that has found their flow, but when I do, they often are living happier and more productive lives, and those that have not been able to find flow are often feeling as though they are trudging along, unable to experience that joy and passion.
Those that take the time to find an activity that gives them flow are going to find greater levels of happiness, better performance, and a greater quality of life. If you are struggling to find that flow in your life, call me today at 516-732-0273.
