We've been learning about flow the last few weeks. Let's zoom out to a different vantage point and take a look at flow's impact on our daily life.
There have been studies on flow and what we understand so far is that flow causes us to be more productive, more creative and have a much easier time learning. In fact, productivity rises 500%, creativity is heightened 430%, and learning increases by 490%. Those numbers sound crazy, but flow, as an altered state of consciousness is a pretty wild ride.
One of the main goals of understanding flow science, as I see it, is to:
1. Lower Cognitive Load
2. Increase Opportunities for Flow
Cognitive load refers to the demands on your brain to juggle and to handle all of the many, many day-to-day responsibilities. Parents are not only striving to keep their own lives together, but are often juggling working in and outside of the home, along with childcare demands, educational demands, and the demand of planning the lives of other young human beings at the same time. We are stretched thin and often unsure which overwhelming day may cause us to snap, rather than bend.
Our environments add to cognitive load as we navigate wall to wall traffic, driving to appointments or getting a sound sleep with the street noises of horns blaring and sirens blasting. Maybe you live in a place where there are lots of people around or maybe one where inclement weather adds to the stress.
If you're a kid, you have your own cognitive load to process. Relationships with friends and family, mountains of schoolwork, changes in growing bodies and technology advances to name a few, all while learning how this world works.
It all adds up to a lot of cognitive load as our brain tries to rapidly sort and filter the most important things to pay attention to. Finding flow is about lowering cognitive load, making it easier for our brain to focus and achieve our personal goals. Yet our brains can really only focus on one thing at a time and our brains will only see and hear what we tell them to notice. Eliminating the noise, finding clarity and setting meaningful goals is essential to living a directional life, free from overwhelm and anxiety. In Boldschoolers, we clean up cognitive load, raise awareness and help our brain focus on the essentials.
Secondly, we want to increase opportunities to find flow. In flow, we pump six feel-good brain chemicals into our system. It's no wonder flow has been associated with happiness. If you aren't making room for your top flow activities, then you're missing a wonderful opportunity to de-stress and reset your system. Time to dance, to sing, to draw, to write, to paint, to puzzle, to move or whatever other activity brings you joy is a must. Put those activities on the calendar right now, at least a couple times a week.
Finding flow, will not only bring you joy, but it will domino other areas of your life into place, as well. Happy Boldschooling!
