State of Flow in my Life - Christian Callaghan

 While this concept does appear within Dr. Redick’s American Camino I am not using this blog to talk about an in class reading but merely as a catalyst to how the concept of flow has altered the way I think about my journey. Flow: this is a state of connection with the world around you to a point where minimal outside noise affects the mind giving most of the brain power to the task at hand. Dr. Redick found this as “[a]nd as these thoughts coursed, I was actually aware of my muscles, heart, breath the feel of the trial beneath my feet” (chapter 6, p.239-240). In seeing this, I knew that I had to do more self reflection on how I have seen flow in my life because maybe I could control it and use it to my advantage. 

School: Flow state in academics is one of the most thought of comparisons when looking at what the state actually complements. This is the ability to it down and spend hours in full concentration at the task at hand. I have been able to achieve this many times in my life but it is hard to notice when it is actually happening. Walking into the library with a 10 page paper due and walking out 5 hours later with the paper done is just one fo those examples of flow state. Being able to harness it in school is how someone can achieve academic success and remember the content they are learning while it is happening. 

Nature: One other state of flow that is a bit rarer than experiencing a state of flow in school is being able to do so in nature. Stepping into the breeze and simply noticing the birds chirps or the swaying of the trees without any other outside noise is a state of flow. 

Sports: This is the final state of flow that I will be talking about, but it is very important for many athletes to experience this type. When in sports the state of flow looks like putting everything they have mentally to the game and performing very well to a high degree. I have seen this in my life when I am skiing. All I feel is the wind on my face and I can feel the curve in my turns without having to actually thing about performing the task. It is letting my mind take over a flow.

This is flow. Try it out sometime and you will achieve a mini state of nirvana and I can promise it will feel great.

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