What’s clear is that we need to actively seek out experiences that induce flow, and try to remove the interface of our “thinking” minds. Looking at the other states in Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory diagram, the fine line between flow and worry or boredom becomes more apparent. Strike a balance between our skill and the challenge in hand, so that it's neither too easy nor too hard.
Learn to enjoy the immediate experience.Pay attention to what is happening in the moment.Immerse ourselves in a particular activity.Set goals that have clear and immediate feedback.His define flow as a mental state “in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”Īccording to Csikszentmihalyi there are 5 essential steps to reaching a flow state: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Hungarian psychologist who dedicated his career to studying the concept of flow. Thinking back, I wasn’t even too bothered about the end result… the act of creating itself was more important. Often I’d be up until 3 or 4am without meaning to. In my twenties I used to spend long nights coding websites or programming electronic music. When’s the last time you were so engrossed by something that hours passed by without you realising it? ⬆ Click to tweet this So it doesn’t seem far-fetched that rollerblading or cycling can have an equally dynamic impact on our brain activity as dancing. But it’s been shown that music can affect this system, hence perhaps, the primal urge to dance to a beat. The vestibular system, tucked away inside our ears, is what controls balance and spatial awareness in humans and most other mammals. If all this sounds a bit wishy-washy, consider the neuroscience which Kitchen incorporates into his practice. It’s clear from the smile on his face, and the reaction of San Diego residents who christened him “Slomo” and high-five him as he skates past, that something radical is happening inside his brain.Īnd as someone who rides a bike as much as possible, I share his belief that self-powered movement can transform your mental state.
Kitchen sees his unique style of rollerblading as a spiritual experience which connects him not only with the Earth, but with the playful mind of a child. What drives a man to do nothing but rollerblade all day for years and years? What they don’t realise is that John is a former neurologist who underwent a radical transformation in search of a different way of living.Īfter realising that he had become a “typical, institutionalised, educated Western man” he quit his job to spend endless hours rollerblading along San Diego’s beachfront. When people see John Kitchen gliding along Pacific Beach, they usually think he’s some random homeless guy who has stolen an expensive pair of rollerblades.
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