The Ecstasy: The Automatic Nature Of Flow

The feeling of flow is incredibly enjoyable, making it highly sought after. Mind Gym says that “athletes in the zone see everything with clarity. They are relaxed, they perform with a quiet mind, with no indecision and no doubts...they are totally absorbed” (Mack and Casstevens 172). This description fits perfectly with Kotler’s three properties of flow: mental clarity, emotional detachment, and automatic nature. Another says, “it’s almost as if I’m floating from one place to another...purely through instinct more than anything else” (Csikszentmihalyi 9). While instinct describes the automatic nature of flow, it is also necessary to be “so focused on the task at hand that everything else falls away” (Kotler viii). This describes the combination
This means that people try to achieve flow for the feeling, not the results that it produces, making it an autotelic experience. Flow is endogenous in the sense that it “helps to integrate the self because in the state of deep concentration, consciousness is unusually well ordered. Thoughts, intentions, feelings and all the senses are focused on the same goal. Experience is in harmony” (Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi **). The deep state of concentration is one reason as to why the flow state is so elusive. However, since “it offers more than just a successful outcome”, but provides pleasure, it is worth trying to attain
To do this, “goals should be clearly set in advance, so that the athlete knows exactly what he is to do”, this is order that the goal may be something the athlete can focus on during the event in which they are trying to achieve flow (Csikszentmihalyi 21). Csikszentmihalyi describes the challenge skills balance as “the golden rule of flow”, also known as the CS balance (Csikszentmihalyi 6); “this optimal state of flow comes about when a person’s abilities match his or her opportunities for action - in other words, when the CS balance is operating” (Csikszentmihalyi 8). The CS balance comes into play because if something is too easy, it does not require the complete focus and attention that flow requires. Similarly, if it is too difficult, athletes are likely to become disheartened when they are not reaching their goal. This is why flow “involved developing skills and taking on increasingly greater challenges” (Csikszentmihalyi 13). Jiro Taylor, a flow-chaser, said, “the sweet spot for flow is on the outside edge of your comfort zone” (www.jirotaylor.com). Everyone’s comfort zone is different so something that might be able to get me in flow would be different than what could get my sister into flow. Following from this, theoretically, it is possible for anyone to achieve