Flow with Me

I’ve got flow states on my mind. I’m just back from a sabbatical, and the whole six months felt like one big flow state. I was working on revising a novel and it was such a gift to be fully focused on the story I was writing, to have fewer daily interruptions so I could see the currents of certain themes working throughout the plot as well as the granular detail (wow I was terrible at keeping straight the names of minor characters!). It is, of course, an exaggeration to say I was in flow the whole time. Meditating hasn’t rewired my brain to that level yet, and of course there were interruptions, days where I couldn’t find my zone. But by and large, I found that the background of my life was about total dedication to this one art project. I was immersed in it.

Often times, in the Experience Design Certificate Program, I like to probe what people mean by the term “immersive.” It’s used sloppily, often without much thought given to what that actually means. I like to use our course to ultimately make the argument that immersive experiences, immersive design, immersive theater, immersive anything are all really just about understanding states of attention. Deep attention. Shallow attention. Relaxed attention. Distraction. What funnels and impedes how we focus?

I find immersion in books and swimming in the river and sex and hours-long conversations with friends over a decadent meal I’ve cooked. For you, it might be playing tennis or watching birds or traveling to Japan or volunteering at a local food pantry or listening to others at an AA meeting.

A few summers ago, at the annual Family Reunion book swap, I was lucky enough to walk away with the classic by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Finding Flow. At this point, the language of flow has been so coopted (much like immersion has) by tech bros and corporate mandates for productivity so much that I have developed a slight allergy to it. Our students are amidst their Lived Research periods right now, and flow has come up in many of my meetings with them in the last few weeks. One asked, What differentiates how we enter solo, partnered, and collective flow states? And what can we learn about flow when we’re not attached to it being in service of productivity?

For me, it’s always been hard to disentangle flow from the narrative of its USEFULNESS. In the popular imagination, it seems it’s less about a relational quality with self or others and more about a relationship with what we are doing. While reading Finding Flow I learned the term “autotelic.” Csikszentmihalyi writes, “An autotelic activity is one we do for its own sake because to experience it is the main goal.” In this state, we experience things without seeking external rewards as motivation. It speaks to a state of flow that is rooted in autonomy and presence with what is.

Crucial to flow being rewarding and satisfying, an activity must call upon our skills with an appropriate level of challenge. In many ways, we hope that the Experience Design Certificate Program offers that challenge to catalyze new modes of working in your creative or design practice, that is a relational kind of attention with others. We can’t always promise flow, but the frame around your focus invites new possibilities as you in turn design for new states of attention for others in your work, whether you aim for wonder or catharsis or transcendence or play. People have reiterated year after year, that having the structure to harness their attention amidst all of life’s demands, has helped them carve out the time to devote to their practice.

What do you seek through your own flow? I’d love to hear more next week or via email.