Great article, Variana. I’ve been interested in/studying flow states for many years. I like what you said — “Flow also requires a person to remain sensitive to feedback and responsive to changing circumstances.” As a PhD folklorist and trained oral storyteller, with a career in organizational and leadership storytelling, I can tell you that the easiest way for anyone to experience mini flow states is through storytelling. Because storytelling requires a person to remain sensitive to feedback and responsive to changing circumstances.
For example, we all tell stories in daily life. When we fully share an experience we’ve had with others, and it’s a story that we’ve told before, several things naturally happen — we tell the story slightly differently because we are paying attention to who’s listening and gauging their reaction. You’ll often tell a story one way to a group of people, and a bit differently to another group of people. Because you are paying attention to the audience, the environment, and a whole host of other clues. As a result, the story will shift.
Now these flow states are short in duration unless you are telling stories from the stage. But the same principle applies because performance storytellers remove the 4th wall from the stage, shifting the telling to fit the audience, time, place, and 100s of other cues they are picking up in real time. Caveat: not every performance storyteller does this, but most do.
I’ve personally regularly experience flow states from storytelling. I’ve also asked 100s of clients about their experiences telling their stories, and that feedback consistently maps to flow state experiences. But I’ve yet to convince a researcher to test this hypothesis. LOL — I am usually about 5 years ahead in my anecdotal studies to when researchers conduct scientific studies. For years with clients I tracked what was happening between the storyteller and listener. It felt like all different areas of the brain were activated simultaneously between the two people. FINALLY, Yuri Hassen at the Princeton Neurological Institute took simultaneous MRIs of both a teller and a listener. The results validated my tracking and more.
But I’m convinced that storytelling is one of the most accessible ways anyone can regularly experience flow states. Thanks for letting me chime in :)
Thank you for sharing this, Karen! Its a fascinating example I hadn’t thought about. And thank you for pointing me toward the research. I’m looking forward to reading more about it.
I got into flow many times during the Covid shutdown, when I had to work from home. I've concluded that, besides interest and appropriate level of challenge, safety was hugely important. Knowing that I would not be interrupted, as so often happened in the office, let me immerse myself in the problem at hand. In the office my time was/ is never safe. And during work hours I didn't have family or friend related demands or interruptions either. Just me and my work...
Coming as I am from non-dual background, perhaps the “flow” would be better understood if framed In different language.
As you say “there is still so much about our own minds left to discover”. Perhaps , in addition to scientific experiments, we would do well by analysing concepts like “mind” and “self”and finding out, like old Zuangzi did, that they stand for phantoms.
Great article, Variana. I’ve been interested in/studying flow states for many years. I like what you said — “Flow also requires a person to remain sensitive to feedback and responsive to changing circumstances.” As a PhD folklorist and trained oral storyteller, with a career in organizational and leadership storytelling, I can tell you that the easiest way for anyone to experience mini flow states is through storytelling. Because storytelling requires a person to remain sensitive to feedback and responsive to changing circumstances.
For example, we all tell stories in daily life. When we fully share an experience we’ve had with others, and it’s a story that we’ve told before, several things naturally happen — we tell the story slightly differently because we are paying attention to who’s listening and gauging their reaction. You’ll often tell a story one way to a group of people, and a bit differently to another group of people. Because you are paying attention to the audience, the environment, and a whole host of other clues. As a result, the story will shift.
Now these flow states are short in duration unless you are telling stories from the stage. But the same principle applies because performance storytellers remove the 4th wall from the stage, shifting the telling to fit the audience, time, place, and 100s of other cues they are picking up in real time. Caveat: not every performance storyteller does this, but most do.
I’ve personally regularly experience flow states from storytelling. I’ve also asked 100s of clients about their experiences telling their stories, and that feedback consistently maps to flow state experiences. But I’ve yet to convince a researcher to test this hypothesis. LOL — I am usually about 5 years ahead in my anecdotal studies to when researchers conduct scientific studies. For years with clients I tracked what was happening between the storyteller and listener. It felt like all different areas of the brain were activated simultaneously between the two people. FINALLY, Yuri Hassen at the Princeton Neurological Institute took simultaneous MRIs of both a teller and a listener. The results validated my tracking and more.
But I’m convinced that storytelling is one of the most accessible ways anyone can regularly experience flow states. Thanks for letting me chime in :)
Thank you for sharing this, Karen! Its a fascinating example I hadn’t thought about. And thank you for pointing me toward the research. I’m looking forward to reading more about it.
Let me know if you need any references :)
I got into flow many times during the Covid shutdown, when I had to work from home. I've concluded that, besides interest and appropriate level of challenge, safety was hugely important. Knowing that I would not be interrupted, as so often happened in the office, let me immerse myself in the problem at hand. In the office my time was/ is never safe. And during work hours I didn't have family or friend related demands or interruptions either. Just me and my work...
Such a thought provoking article!
Coming as I am from non-dual background, perhaps the “flow” would be better understood if framed In different language.
As you say “there is still so much about our own minds left to discover”. Perhaps , in addition to scientific experiments, we would do well by analysing concepts like “mind” and “self”and finding out, like old Zuangzi did, that they stand for phantoms.