When I signed up for Bonnie Christine's Immersion course a couple of months ago, I knew I would learn a skill to help me take another step toward becoming an artist. I didn't realize how much I would love this particular art form. During the 8-week course and the weeks since graduation, I often found myself so engrossed in designing digital repeating patterns that hours passed without me leaving my chair. Without noticing what was going on around me. Without concern about making art "right." I was just creating and learning and having fun. I found flow.
The term "flow" was first introduced by psychologist and researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934-2021) in the 1970s. According to him, flow is a state of optimal experience where we are fully immersed and engaged in an activity, experiencing a sense of energized focus, complete absorption, and intrinsic motivation. It's like being in "the zone" where everything else fades away, and only the present moment matters. That's right. "The zone" is not just for athletes. Us insecure, nerdy artists can be in the zone/ flow, too. Take that, Michael Jordan.
Science tells us that during flow, neurochemicals like dopamine, norepinephrine, and endorphins flood our system, creating a euphoric sense of well-being and amplifying our focus and creativity. The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for critical thinking and self-awareness, enters a state of temporary deactivation, allowing us to bypass self-doubt and self-consciousness. So it's in this state of flow where we find creative courage. We explore our creative potential without worrying about if our art is good or bad. The outcome isn't the point, the joy in doing the thing is the point.
The real kicker? Csikszentmihalyi's research suggests that flow is the key to living a happy life. Not money. Not success. Not stuff. Not Grease. Flow...flow is the word.
How do you know if you're in flow? Here are a few characteristics.
You give your complete focus and concentration to the task. Your outside environment doesn't pull you away from what you're doing. It's kinda like meditation.
Time loses meaning or deviates from real-time. It might slow down or speed up but either way, it doesn't matter.
The work (or play) you're doing is really satisfying to you in and of itself.
Judgment is absent. You don't criticize or say mean things to yourself about what you're creating.
There's a balance between challenge and skills. What you're doing is hard enough that you're not bored with it but easy enough that you feel a sense of accomplishment and joy.
That last bullet point really describes my experience with picking up surface pattern design. It was new and presented challenges (math, being one) but I was also able to make it work. There was joy in figuring out the math and the artistic components and winding up with a repeating pattern that I could upload to Spoonflower and see featured on wallpaper and kitchen towel mockups. (More on this to come.)
Flow can happen in almost any context—art, business, at home or with family, playing sports, whatever. But here's the thing. Flow is not a passive event. Experiencing a whole day pass by as you're binge-watching Walking Dead episodes is not flow. Flow requires activity. You have to do something...yoga, weed the garden, give a presentation, make your art. Be creative.
More good news about flow...it's not a magical, happenstance occurrence. You can create an environment for it. I'll get to flow hacks next week.
In the meantime, if you're interested, here are a couple of videos from the father of flow himself and some other guy who liked his book.
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