Flow
Two decades ago, the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi proposed the concept of “flow” to describe the internal state of energized focus that characterizes the mind at its most productive. It’s a lovely metaphor, precisely because it suggests the essential fluidity that good ideas so often need. Flow is not the singular intensity of focusing “lik
... See moreSteven Johnson • Where Good Ideas Come From
“Flow is not the singular intensity of focusing “like a laser,” as we often say. And it is not the miraculous illumination of a sudden brainstorm. Rather, it is more the feeling of drifting along a stream, being carried in a clear direction, but still tossed in surprising ways by the eddies and whirls of moving water.”
“In fact, it is correct to say that listening to the mind, in general, pulls us out of a flow state. Thought, while sometimes useful, is often a primary means of dissociating from the world of the five senses and of our emotions (which are a subset of sensations). If we don’t like what we’re feeling or experiencing we move away from our experience and into our thoughts.”
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