In the Sims 2: FreeTime, if a Sim reaches maximum enthusiasm in a hobby, they get a special ability to "Be In The Zone" when doing that hobby. Has a few nice effects (needs drop slower, skills increase faster). Also it causes them to glow white and make a weird noise (which is actually kind of annoying for certain activities because it keeps cutting out, so of course someone made a mod to remove it). I once had a Sim glitch out while in the zone and get stuck with this weird radioactive glow.
 
Does anybody else often get better flow when they're very tired? That is something I noticed from when I used to get it more often.
 
Does anybody else often get better flow when they're very tired? That is something I noticed from when I used to get it more often.
No I've never noticed that but it makes sense to me because if you're super tired your brain has less energy to spend on being distracted.
 
If understood with sufficient depth and sophistication, I think the flow can be used as a direction for literally everything. In Daoism, the flow is, among other things, defined as being at the very center where the black - chaos - and the white - order - meet. Just at touching point.
Incidentally, that is reflected in neuroscience. The left hemisphere of the brain is your center of order, repetition, rules, routine, plans. The right hemisphere of the brain is your center of chaos, uncharted territory, creativity, birth, also emotionality. So Daoism describes physically integrating your both cranial hemispheres in a harmonic fashion. And then you are, automatically, on the right path, in a way.
Though I would add to that the cross to keep you really centered. Because this covers horizontal harmony. But what about vertical? For that, integrate the symbol of the cross. Its center stands for taking all the world's suffering upon yourself. It stands for taking responsibility, for taking it all in. For standing in the fire of suffering. And be reborn. And be centered. Calm. In the eye of the storm. Focused straight ahead. Not just metaphorically. But physically, in your brain.

The circle, and within it the cross. The globe, and within it the star. Holy. Wholesome. And at the same time centered. All dimensions are integrated, in balance and harmony. Perfection. Goodness, Truth, Beauty. The holy trias. And your brain activity can reflect that - or not. And because your brain reflects your environment, this will mean you will also be in tune with you environment. So in a way this is a tautology. But this is what philosophy and religion comes down to, IMO. And it is a real physical phenomena. The golden way.
The medicine man told me so in my dreams.

But neuroscience supports this image.

The only question is: How to get there.
Well, by integrating all there is to you. And I mean all of it. Everything. Including the shadow. And whatever lurks within it. It means opening your mind. It is, in its most perfect form, the Ubermensch. Still, though... how? Many ways lead to Rome, as they say.
One can be religion. Or meditation. Philosophy, though it can be rocky to get access that way, but it is there. Or having really great psychedelic experiences (though which likely will have to be earned beforehand in some manner or the other, so to be ready).
But weird, then, that something as "irrational" as religion would turn out to be so central to the human experience, then. Like, literally central. On a physical level. At least so my working hypothesis goes.
 
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Incidentally, that is reflected in neuroscience. The left hemisphere of the brain is your center of order, repetition, rules, routine, plans. The right hemisphere of the brain is your center of chaos, uncharted territory, creativity, birth, also emotionality.

The left/right brain thing is usually considered a bit of a myth.

But, the evidence discounting the left/right brain concept is accumulating. According to a 2013 study from the University of Utah, brain scans demonstrate that activity is similar on both sides of the brain regardless of one’s personality.

They looked at the brain scans of more than 1,000 young people between the ages of 7 and 29 and divided different areas of the brain into 7,000 regions to determine whether one side of the brain was more active or connected than the other side. No evidence of “sidedness” was found. The authors concluded that the notion of some people being more left-brained or right-brained is more a figure of speech than an anatomically accurate description.
 
I think it is about a more subtle order than that. Not activity ass such but pattern-wise. As in your thinking is more dominated by right-sided or left-sided patterns but both sides are equally partaking. It is a hierarchy of patterns. And that hierarchy may be not that easily detectable. But I mean, there must be some difference in the order of things between people. So where is it? Well, where I said, it is. It is IMO the logical conclusion. And leaves my hypothesis well and fed :)
But good point. Made me think. In general, I think there is a ton of stuff going for the left-right hypothesis. Like literally a world of patterns matching that pattern. So I would be very careful to discard it that easily.

edit: But as far as I know does neuroscience support the idea that wholesome activity produces wholesome experiences.
 
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There's actually some interesting effects when the two hemispheres of the brain get severed. For example if they see something in their left eye, they can't name it because only the right part of their brain can see it and the speech parts (Broca/Wernicke areas) is in the left part of their brain.
 
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To answer the OP: My ride in the past two months feels like immense spans of flows interrupted with a many pits of chaos, and little order. But those were special luxuries I effort myself to get closer to my center. It will probably go on like this for another month, and then a lot of foreign order will invade my great period of flow and an entirely new dance must be learned. Not sure what flows to find there. I am sure they are there, waiting to be discovered.
 
It happens very occasionally for me when I am stuck into a somewhat repetitive task, but where it requires a bit of attention to pick out details.

Many years ago when I was a young go getter in Milan I was working away at something while listening to music or radio in my headset - I looked up and realised that I had been singing outloud for a couple of minutes without realising it and my boss and colleague was watching.
 
I achieve it when .... eating a tasty dinner. I don't like to talk and eat at the same time , it brakes my "flow" :) Also this is a curious name . I'd call it concentration but I realize it's something more than that. Requirement I think is that You need to like what You do in order to achieve the true Flow ;)
 
I tend to flow when I have a large block of time to dedicate to something, I'm free from distractions, and I'm genuinely interested in the thing I'm focusing on. Being well rested helps too. Unfortunately fulfilling it rarely happens
 
Flow is how I get most of my work done. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a genius and everyone should probably read him.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei

Describing a state of unconflicting personal harmony, free-flowing spontaneity and savoir-faire, it generally also more properly denotes a state of spirit or mind, and in Confucianism accords with conventional morality.


I love how old this concept is, I often get into it at work which is in itself interesting considering how different the patients are from one hour to the next. I do this as well with a guitar in my hands and often wished I had a recording device going for when it happens. Sometimes I get into it when doing woodworking stuff but not bear as much as the other two.

I am unsure these are the same states being described.

Flow, as described by Mihaly, is mostly a result of the human reward system working in such a way as to provide optimal neuro-chemical conditions for whatever activity one is engaged in. In that sense it is a highly ephemeral scenario tied to a certain activity and state of being.

Wu Wei on the other hand sounds much more like a general attitude towards life, or even existence in general, and if anything reminds me most of Daoism or the Greek concept of Ataraxia, more than our concept of flow. This idea is strengthened by the fact that Wu Wei is also associated with having a certain set of morals, which is much more of an attitude/personality than it is a spontaneous occurance.
 
Flow, as described by Mihaly, is mostly a result of the human reward system working in such a way as to provide optimal neuro-chemical conditions for whatever activity one is engaged in.
It can almost become addicting when you are able to achieve it for extended periods across many days.
 
It can almost become addicting when you are able to achieve it for extended periods across many days.

that's one of the "points" (not that evolution really has one) of the reward system, to condition your body into a state where you do more of the things your body/mind perceives as "rewarding". the result could be called addiction, but it could also simply be called habit. habits are formed, in no small part due to our reward system. this goes for destructive habits (like the hormone/bloog sugar rush for binge-eating) as well as for "healthy" habits (like the serotonin release after a good jog). of course in my case, it's mostly the former :D

addiction is usually a word we use for activities who have meaningful (physical) withdrawal symptoms when they are stopped or interrupted, or for activities where one finds him/herself not being able to stop. I have never felt this with flow, personally, but I could imagine it.
 
I able to enter it if I disciplined enough to stop when it's on its peak before its go down. After couple of days the routine is hard to break, once it break, it's very hard to start. It's like you are on a wave, and you shouldn't get off or else you would be struggle to hop on again.

In exercise I can easily enter that realm if I determined enough, but mostly I will stop because either injury or extreme body aches.
 
addiction is usually a word we use for activities who have meaningful (physical) withdrawal symptoms when they are stopped or interrupted, or for activities where one finds him/herself not being able to stop. I have never felt this with flow, personally, but I could imagine it.
I have experienced it. I gave myself tinnitus in my left ear because one day I was fully enraptured in my work and jamming to loud tunes far to loud and for far too long. I could not pull myself away from it, and this was on a Saturday afternoon, well above and beyond my normal working hours.
 
I have done that, too, actually, blasted music way too loud over headphones and then just forgot about it for hours. not recommended at all.
 
Firas Zahabi talk about flow quite long time ago, I think he explained it quite well you might check it if you like @yung.carl.jung


My body is broken, no matter how small I did exercise I can easily get injured.
 
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