Last week, we looked at four characteristics of flow, using STER: Selfless, Timeless, Effortless and Richness of information.
When you consider flow in your own life, you may or may not find full-blown peak experiences. Flow can show up on a micro level when looking at a beautiful sunset, when chatting with an old friend or reading a good novel. You might think of flow on more of a continuum with micro experiences on one end and peak experiences on the other. Some activities that we enjoy may be more flow-friendly than others.
I have a friend who is 75-years old and he's been getting into flow multiple times a week throughout his whole life because he's a surfer. He happened to choose a sport that's flow-friendly into the later years of life, making peak flow experiences accessible on a regular basis. We haven't all made those choices, but flow is still available to all of us.
1. What are one or two activities that you love to do?
2. Do you experience any of the STER qualities?
3. If so, where on the flow continuum do you find these experiences?
4. Is there an action sport or any other high-probable flow experience that you're curious to explore?
Next week, we'll look at why getting into flow matters and how you can use the state to lower overwhelm.
