Flow is one of my favourite verbs.
As with all words, there are various nuances, or aspects to it.
Maybe you see this word and think “Go with the flow” – as in, don’t resist, don’t fight, don’t challenge, just go along with everyone else. (but look what water can do, just by flowing over rock…..)
Of maybe you hear it as a call to relax, take it easy, tune in to the effortless.
But those aren’t what I think of when I think of flow – instead I think of Czikszentmihalyi, the positive psychology pioneer, who researched “flow experiences” and published them in his book of that name. He was referring to those times when it feels as if everything is flowing beautifully, everything is coherent….it’s a peak experience, and he found that it was most likely to occur when we are in the process of achieving some challenge we’ve set ourselves. So it often involves a lot of effort to develop the necessary skills, and then as we use those skills, in what can appear an almost effortless way, we have that feeling of complete harmony.
I also like the ideas of flow which emerge when you think about how water behaves. In fact, I like that so much I did a whole photographic project on it and turned it into a book and a website – come and see here.
Heroes Not Zombies 
Andrew Marr, in his book, A short book about drawing, also quotes Csikszentmihalyi, ‘the Hungarian happiness guru.’ Marr writes, “Flow is the proposition that we are happiest when concentrating as much as possible on something that’s both quite hard and for which we have an aptitude…it sounds a lot like meditation, a method of self mastery.” As a very amateur, yet persevering painter, I find your comments and Marr’s most helpful. To be absorbed in a painting is just being, and that’s happiness.
Ah ha …i have long been fascinated by the subject of water and have just logged into your book. Ever since reading Viktor Schauberger’s works on water and then Alick Bartholomew’s “Story of Water” I have felt that a missing chip has been provided!!
Then after reading your “flow” and looking at the photographs I was suddenly struck by an idea. Perhaps an answer to my stiff and painful ankles and hands has much to do with blocking the flow in areas that I really need to use and perhaps overuse? A whole new meaning to ‘go with the flow” and I obviously have not been.
[…] Flow is such an attractive and useful concept. If you’d like to read more about it start here. […]
[…] Flow is my verb for this week, from my A to Z of Becoming. […]