Living in Flow

He carefully tied his shoelaces, stretched his calves and downed 32 ounces of his favorite energy drink. It was moments before the start of the 2014 Boston Marathon, and he expected to beat his qualifying time.

Only five years ago, his doctor told him, “Bill, you have lung disease, and unless you stop smoking, you’ll never heal.” Those words changed his life. He’d tried to quit smoking before, and he expected giving up nicotine to be hard, but he was motivated. However, he didn’t anticipate the challenge of having more time on his hands. To fill the hours, he took up running — well, more like a walk/run. Bill built up his stamina, but he didn’t actually run more than a mile before he slowed to a walk. One day Bill’s neighbor asked him, “How far do you run?”

“After all those years of smoking, I run about a mile. Then I walk.”

“You know the runner’s high everyone talks about? You’ll never experience it unless you keep running after you’re tired. When you hit that mile mark, kick it up a notch,” said Bill’s neighbor.

It seemed crazy, but that day Bill kept running, and he found his second wind. He was pleased with himself. Soon he discovered that by focusing his attention on the movements of his body, the power of his muscles, the force of air in his lungs and the feel of the street beneath his feet, time seemed to fall away. He barely noticed when he was tired. When Bill ran, he experienced what positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls “flow.” Others call it “being in the zone.” This is the runner’s high, and it brought him to the Boston Marathon.

This state of flow unleashes human potential not only for athletes, but also for artists, writers, parents and people immersed in their work. The list is long. Csikszentmihalyi writes, “You experience the mental state of flow when you’re completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."

This highly desired state is elusive. Ten components are likely to be present, but two seem to be essential: happiness now and an inspiring vision of the future. Three other states of mind are more common:

Negative Spiral. Not happy and no vision of where you want to be, the tendency is to focus on what’s not working. Life is hard.

Current reality trap. Happy now, but with no vision of the future, in time, life will shift to boring mediocrity with unmet spiritual needs: the need to contribute and the need to grow.

Stress and Anxiety: Not happy now, but living with a terrific vision creates stress and anxiety, rather than maximum impact.

State of flow: Happy now AND with an amazing vision of the future.

I delight in unleashing human potential, so I’d love to support you in living in the state of flow. A consistent practice of appreciation tends to generate more joy and happiness. Consistency is key, so I’m issuing a 30-Day Appreciation Challenge.

There are two ways to do anything: the hard way or the easy way. The hard way is on your own. Why not make it easy?

You’re invited to inspire and be inspired by joining the “Appreciation Station” on FaceBook at http://on.fb.me/1eqWIS5. The starting date is when you arrive. You’ll find a couple simple rules of engagement, otherwise, there are no strings attached. Let’s have FUN with this, start a happiness epidemic and take one step closer to living in the flow.

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