Going with the flow

How do I feel when I think, you ask?

Depends on the thinking.

The best thinking happens once I’ve settled into the work, and twitches that pull me out of my work–oh, let me check that email one more time–I’ve got to work here a bit–hey, what’s going on with the construction site?–have started to fade.  It’s almost like watching somebody fall asleep: at first a lot of shifting, and then only occasional twitches, and then finally the steady sleep sets in. That’s what happens to me when I settle into think.

In essence, when I say “best thinking,” I’m describing the idea of getting into the psychological state known as flow,

. . . in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, this positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.

According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate experience in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task . . .

It’s that joyousness and rapture that makes this kind of deep, focused thinking feel “the best,” as far as I’m concerned.

Sadly, to be sure, most of my thinking is not done that way.  It’s mostly much more surface-level than that, skipping from one task to another, getting interrupted (the librarian’s lot), discovering that plans for the day are getting changed by forces outside my control, attending meetings, and on and on.  The feelings engendered by such “thinking” are either more-or-less nonexistent, or might occasionally even tip into frustration–though I recognize that’s the gig I signed up for.

And when that shallow thinking becomes the norm, I miss flow.  I want to set aside time at least once a week where I can be guaranteed uninterrupted thinking time.  Once a day would be even better.  Not only would it increase productivity, I do believe, but it would be–as the definition says–energizing and enjoyable.

Feelings anybody should want to experience on a regular basis.

Looking forward to seeing other responses!

Image from flickr user Patrick Goossens.