Driving on the BQE with my family yesterday, I heard the end of a TED Radio hour on NPR and some quotes from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, which I found very intriguing. He is a psychologist who has written extensively on a concept he refers to as “Flow“; describing it as losing oneself in an activity through complete focus and intrinsic motivation. I found it fascinating because I know exactly what he means and I feel it regularly when I compose music. Whenever I am able to fully concentrate on creating music, I have no other cares or desires; it is everything in that moment. It is, itself, the reason I play and enjoy my time in that endeavor so immensely. I have always been aware of this ecstatic state and have always made every effort to cultivate it whenever possible. I realize that I feel it in other situations, too; sports and skiing, in particular, affords me fleeting moments of transcendence, teaching classes or lessons sometimes offers the challenge and effortless command of attention and skill that produce flow. I have felt it while traveling in exotic places and at many other points in my life, when a task or activity stimulates and motivates me to a sense of timeless joy. Being in Love, with my wife and children, when time is simply devoted to being in their presence, is probably the most profound and uplifting rapture I ever experience, and although it may not fit in the flow schema of high challenge/high skill, I am certain that it is related. All of these aspects of my life bring me great joy and are purely and intrinsically rewarding.
It was so wonderful to stumble upon this branch of psychology, and I subsequently watched the entire TED Talk and researched the concepts broadly; it has given me a context for how, what and why I devote so much of my time and energy to these passions. I discovered a great new word, “autotelic“, to describe these vitally important aspects of my life. I have a greater appreciation for these moments of joyful immersion, and I recognize how lucky I am to have these opportunities to experience Flow.