Creating a state of human flow – enjoying an activity so much that you lose track of time – has been one of the many substantive fields of work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He wrote, “Flow is a source of psychic energy in that it focuses attention and motivates action.” (p. 140, Finding Flow). ‘Flow’ is a morally neutral psychological state. That is why it is important that individuals are clear about their moral compass, what guides them and how they allow themselves to be guided.
Knowing how you are guided is a lifetime commitment that needs to be nurtured each day. Engaging in different ways to find your guidance is part of the fun of this lifetime commitment. Recently I was reminded how I came to be introduced to Meditation. I was at Mass one Sunday and a special speaker invited the congregation to a local meditation center. The center was The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation and the founder was an Indian-born, UC Berkley educated devotee of Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘practical idealism’, Eknath Easwaran.
Easwaran developed an Eight-Point Program of meditation and wrote a book that is one of the most humorous, unpretentious how-to mediate books I have every encountered. I have tied Finding Flow and Eight-Point Mediation for a reason. Both, in different ways, encourage you to reserve time each day to concentrated reflection to center your mind, clear your thoughts, and potentially be inspired and guided.
Different sources. Same message. How many times do you need to hear the same thing to believe it could help and to take action? Reminds me of an old saying, “There is no time like the present.”
p.s. ‘practical idealism’ was Gandhi’s challenge to stop waiting to get the courage to engage in major acts of heroism. Instead change yourself and your world by continually transforming every ill feeling into good feelings, and every self-interest into compassion. To paraphrase Gandhi, ‘Be the positive change you want to see in the world.’
Thank you,
Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success™
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
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