The Flow State
A very nice thing happened in the studio recently.
I was painting a still life when a woman walked in and said:
❝I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you very much!
I've been sitting in my car for the past 10 minutes watching you paint and I feel so relaxed!
Thank you!
❞ I do hope she comes back and learns to paint because then she can get that feeling every time she picks up a brush!
This feeling is what Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi calls "Flow".
You can access it anytime you approach a task with focus and a strategy.
Here is Csikszentmihalyi's description of the process:
❝Even the simplest physical act becomes enjoyable when it is transformed so as to produce flow.
The essential steps in this process are:
- Set an overall goal" and as many subgoals as are feasible
- Find ways of measuring progress
- Keep concentrating on what one is doing" and making finer and finer distinctions in the challenges
- Develop the skills necessary to interact with the opportunities
- Keep raising the stakes if the activity becomes boring
❞ Painting coaching at Inglis Academy is designed to facilitate the flow state and to teach you how to cultivate and to work in this flow state.