Creating Flow and Harmony

For 20 years, University of Chicago author and researcher, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, studied the psychology of optimal life experience. He wanted to know what contributes to people feeling deep enjoyment for extended periods of time. His investigations revealed that what makes life genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow.

We have the opportunity to experience this altered state of consciousness called flow just by altering our thinking, adjusting our perception, and being absorbed in whatever enjoyable activity we are participating in. But, we also have the unfortunate ability to analyze things and worry about matters far beyond what is healthy or necessary.

Life is complex and most of us have lots of things to do. To experience flow we must fully enter into and engage the things we are doing in the moment: reading, walking, talking, playing, hiking, cooking, eating, working, listening to music….these simple things that we participate in everyday can lead us to deeply satisfying levels of pleasure and harmony.

Csikszentmihalyi writes, “A person can make himself or herself happy, or miserable, regardless of what is actually happening outside just by changing the contents of consciousness. We all know individuals who can transform hopeless situations into challenges to be overcome, just through the force of their personalities. This ability to persevere despite obstacles and setbacks is the quality people most admire in others, and justly so; it is creating meaning by bringing order to the contents of the mind by integrating one's actions into a unified flow experience which leads to harmony.”

If you look up the meaning of harmony in the dictionary or thesaurus.com, you will find it described as consistency, cooperation, good will, peace, rapport, understanding, accord, congruence, and balance.  If there is any time in history that requires more cooperation, more good will, greater understanding, and more tenacity in working towards making peace of mind our single goal it is now!

Author Gary Zukav writes, “Survival is no longer sufficient. Our evolution now requires us to develop spiritually - to become emotionally aware and make responsible choices. It requires us to align ourselves with the values of the soul - harmony, cooperation, sharing, and reverence for life.”

When we experience personal challenges, difficulties, and frustrations with life, we can more easily transcend these feelings by quieting the mind by meditating, walking, hiking, writing or reading. The key thing is that we fully engage what we are doing, to make it a part of us, to give our full attention to it and feelings of flow and harmony will naturally and be ours again.

Not only do we create harmony and flow by being fully absorbed in whatever we are doing, but we also create these wondrous states of consciousness by stepping out of ourselves and moving beyond the ‘I’ consciousness.  What I need, what I want, and what I desire can be brought into an essential balance by also having a ‘we,’ ‘he,’ she,’ and ‘they’ awareness.  In other words, paying attention to the needs of others and helping humanity in some important way are paramount to creating harmony, purpose, and optimal experience.