If time seems to stand still and a contentment spreads inside, then the person is completely with himself and thus in flow.
What is flow?
The almost world-forgetting state of flow is found in a very natural way in children, who up to a certain age have no or hardly any sense of time. In psychology, through the well-known happiness researcher Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the term flow became a popular word that describes a very specific state deep inside a person. The English term flow can be translated into German in a simplified way as a streaming or flowing and, on closer examination, turns out to be nothing more than a deep mental state, which, however, goes far beyond conventional concentration. It is a state, however, that has not only been known since the publications of the happiness researcher, but has already achieved a certain degree of recognition since the 1950s in the context of the so-called game theory, founded by Hans Scheuerl. Thus the flow could be observed very well and emphatically with children, who were completely caught up in their play. Including without noticing how quickly time passes and the lasting feeling of simply feeling happy and “whole”. Experiences that can still be observed today in children, and increasingly in adults. Flow. Under this term there are numerous mental and emotional states whose common characteristic is a deep feeling of happiness. A characteristic of “being in flow” is that an activity is not seen as work or as something strenuous. On the contrary, people in flow are mentally up to the challenges of a game or activity, so that they do not have to exert themselves to an overwhelming degree, but they are not underchallenged either. People can thus pursue their actions in deep concentration. In the state of flow, life in and of itself takes place neither in the past nor in the future, but entirely in the here and now. The corresponding negative sense of time, such as occurs when a task is perceived as difficult or unpleasant, is absent in a person who is in “flow.” Time and space disappear almost unnoticed and thinking and acting merge into one big whole.
Function and task
The almost world-forgetting state of flow is found in a very natural way in children, who up to a certain age have no or hardly any sense of time. It is only with increasing age that the naturally present mental state of flow can fade into the background, as time takes on a steadily expanding scope in a person’s life. However, since the separate field of happiness research has existed in science, it has become apparent that more and more often adult women and men specifically want to achieve the state of flow and do achieve it. Examples of this are people who immerse themselves completely in a creative hobby and become absorbed in it. Or (extreme) athletes who can even specifically put themselves into flow in order to climb mountain massifs or run an ultra-marathon. Even though it is often assumed that flow is a technique that can be easily learned, the fact is that flow is a state on a mental level. However, people can learn to gradually put themselves into this time-forgetting state of happy doing. The benefits are manifold. Through creative, fear-free action, solutions to problems are found more quickly, self-confidence is strengthened and expanded, and the feeling of success and recognition is triggered from within oneself. Another consequence of flow: independence from help or praising confirmation from other people.
Diseases and ailments
Overall, the flow in a person is something very positive. Even from a health, or physical, perspective, a state in flow shows an increased release of serotonin (happiness hormone) as well as adrenaline. However, there are also negative effects if a person loses himself too much and too often in the flow. For example, existing relationships with a partner or family can suffer because time is completely blanked out again and again and more and more frequently. A condition that can lead to flow addiction, which in many cases can be detected neither by the person affected nor by the people around him.People in flow can also completely block out everything else due to the existing concentration on a certain thing, which can lead to danger in traffic, among other things. In addition, people can become so accustomed to the infinitely beautiful feeling of happiness that they search for their “dose of happiness” every day, constantly increasing the dosage, like an addict. If the daily dose fails to materialize, those affected often show downright withdrawal symptoms: Nervousness, listlessness, upsets up to depressions, headaches, an inner restlessness, heart complaints, sleep disturbances or also a leaden tiredness paired with the feeling of a deep longing, which apparently cannot be satisfied. If the former content and happy state of flow, and thus of the temporally unlimited inner flow, shows such effects, the affected person usually has only the way of therapy, in order to steer the search and living out of the timeless state of happiness back into healthy and non-stressful channels.
