Getting in the 'Flow'

By Gardening

Chanticleer in Wayne, PA - a place to flow!

"How do adults recapture that feeling of joy that children get from play?"

This is what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wanted to know. He was a Croation-born professor of American psychology at the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA and spent years studying the state of being that he called "flow."

Kids love to play with water…maybe it is because it flows.

Flow is what we feel when we are totally absorbed in an activity for its own sake. This does not refer to a game where you win or lose or to watching a game. 

"You don't get much out of the passive consumption of pleasure," Csikszentmihalyi says, "compared to enjoyment which is much more active and creative and self-directive."

 Csikszentmihalyi is the author of 'Flow' (Harper Collins 1990) and 'Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention' (Harper Collins 1996), and 'Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet' (Basic Books 2001).

Gardening is a great example of an activity that is creative, self directed and gets you into the flow.

 You lose yourself when outdoors, turning over the soil, planting, deadheading, weeding, edging, watering or even raking the gravel (!?)   Well, maybe you don't actually rake gravel but you get the idea.

I used to work for Garden Way Cart in Vermont so this photo I took is a personal one. Its a great cart - inspired by those the founder saw in Ireland.

Flow is what I call 'stop time'...sometimes time stops when you are absorbed in an activity or in experiencing a special place. Intuitive thought and insight come to you when you are in such a state. I love ‘stop time’.

‘Stop time’ is especially sweet when you experience it outdoors. Staring at a flower or tomato, marveling at a pine tree or palm, you don’t care about the ticking of a clock. It is not important. Nature rules instead.

So get in the flow and spend some time outdoors today.... rain or shine.

A chrysanthemum flower bejeweled with raindrops.