Be You: Find Your “Flow”

BE YOU Week 2: Find Your &ldquo;Flow&rdquo; &ldquo;If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.&rdquo; &ndash; Roald Dahl This week for our BE YOU theme, we&rsquo;re focusing on finding activities that get you into a state of &ldquo;flow.&rdquo; Flow is a term coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi (pronounced &ldquo;cheeks sent me high&rdquo;) that refers to a state of optimal experience and involvement in an activity during which we are performing at our best. Watch Dr. Csikszentmihalyi talk about flow in his TED Talk, &ldquo;Flow, the Secret to Happiness.&rdquo; &nbsp; When we&rsquo;re in &ldquo;flow,&rdquo; we are doing something we really, really enjoy. We can&rsquo;t wait to do the activity again, and we feel a lot of positive emotions while participating in the activity. We can stick with it for hours without even noticing the time going by. In fact, when we&rsquo;re in flow, it&rsquo;s hard to stop whatever we&rsquo;re doing. Flow is different from pleasure &ndash; simply doing things that are enjoyable like watching TV, scrolling on social media, or shopping. Instead, flow activities usually are demanding and take our full attention and concentration. People achieve flow in all different ways, including while playing a musical instrument, playing a sport, writing, painting, attending a concert, bird watching, riding a horse, or running, to name just a few. Often we cannot relate to the passion others have for their personal &ldquo;flow&rdquo; activity, since their enthusiasm and passion seem inordinately high. For the lucky ones among us, we find flow in our daily work. The younger you are, the more likely it is that you&rsquo;ve been in flow today. Young children excel at getting into a state of flow, usually during unstructured play time. As they create their pretend worlds, &ldquo;cook&rdquo; in the sand box, build a fort, or swing high on a swing, they are joyful and time flies by for them. Young children are experts at happily living in the moment. As we get older, however, we need to be more aware of getting ourselves into that engaged, amazing state that we enjoyed when we were younger. Here&rsquo;s an official definition of flow:Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. And here are some ideas of possible flow activities from Deann Ware, Ph.d: Physical activities such as sports, yoga, dance, and martial arts Outdoor challenges such as hiking Music&ndash;writing, playing, mixing Art&ndash;painting, sculpture, mixed media, pottery Photography Woodworking Do-It-Yourself projects, such as home improvement Working with animals Gardening Cooking and baking Software development/coding Scrapbooking Writing Needlework&ndash;sewing, knitting, cross stitch Horseback riding What you do for work (hopefully!) This week&rsquo;s #GACbeyou challenge What activities get you into flow? When have you been doing something that you are so engaged that you&rsquo;ve completely lost track of time? That&rsquo;s a fun thing to explore as we continue to delve into our &ldquo;BE YOU&rdquo; theme. Flow states are a great clue as we figure out who we are and what makes us our best self! What are new activities you want to try this summer? What makes your heart &ldquo;sing?&rdquo; Sometimes, we need to explore different activities before we figure out which activities get us into that awesome state of flow. Don&rsquo;t worry if you haven&rsquo;t found that awesome, engaged state yet. Sometimes, it takes awhile to explore, and many adults haven&rsquo;t even figured it out yet! So start now, while you have some free time, exploring different activities &ndash; creative, athletic, academic, etc. &ndash; and find your flow! GACspiration Want to be inspired? Print out this week&rsquo;s GACspiration and post it on your bathroom door or mirror (just like at GAC)! Activity Ideas Make a list of different possible flow activities that you want to explore. Consider different hobbies, sports, and music you have some interest in learning more about. Try one new activity from the list you made. More Flow activity ideas:positivepsychology.comdailyshoring.com From Designing Your Life: Energy Engagement WorksheetGood Time Journal Activity Log Resources Be You! Read more about flow in this post on Sunshine Parenting. Helping Kids Find Flow Ways to Teach Kids Flow Learn more about FLOW. <path fill="#ffffff" fill-rule="evenodd" class="icon" d="M8 14H3.667C2.733 13.9 2 13.167 2 12.233V3.667A1.65 1.65 0 0 1 3.667 2h8.666A1.65 1.65 0 0 1 14 3.667v8.566c0 .934-.733 1.667-1.667 1.767H10v-3.967h1.3l.7-2.066h-2V6.933c0-.466.167-.9.867-.9H12v-1.8c.033 0-.933-.266-1.533-.266-1.267 0-2.434.7-2.467 2.133v1.867H6v2.066h2V14z"> Share <path d="M4.9 0H0L5.782 7.7098L0.315 14H2.17L6.6416 8.8557L10.5 14H15.4L9.3744 5.9654L14.56 0H12.705L8.5148 4.8202L4.9 0ZM11.2 12.6L2.8 1.4H4.2L12.6 12.6H11.2Z" fill="#fff"/>Post <path d="M29.449,14.662 C29.449,22.722 22.868,29.256 14.75,29.256 C6.632,29.256 0.051,22.722 0.051,14.662 C0.051,6.601 6.632,0.067 14.75, 0.067 C22.868,0.067 29.449,6.601 29.449,14.662" fill="#fff" stroke="#fff" stroke-width="1"><path d="M14.733,1.686 C7.516,1.686 1.665,7.495 1.665,14.662 C1.665,20.159 5.109,24.854 9.97,26.744 C9.856,25.718 9.753,24.143 10.016, 23.022 C10.253,22.01 11.548,16.572 11.548,16.572 C11.548,16.572 11.157,15.795 11.157,14.646 C11.157,12.842 12.211,11.495 13.522,11.495 C14.637, 11.495 15.175,12.326 15.175,13.323 C15.175,14.436 14.462,16.1 14.093,17.643 C13.785,18.935 14.745,19.988 16.028,19.988 C18.351,19.988 20.136, 17.556 20.136,14.046 C20.136,10.939 17.888,8.767 14.678,8.767 C10.959,8.767 8.777,11.536 8.777,14.398 C8.777,15.513 9.21,16.709 9.749,17.359 C9.856, 17.488 9.872,17.6 9.84,17.731 C9.741,18.141 9.52,19.023 9.477,19.203 C9.42,19.44 9.288,19.491 9.04,19.376 C7.408,18.622 6.387,16.252 6.387,14.349 C6.387, 10.256 9.383,6.497 15.022,6.497 C19.555,6.497 23.078,9.705 23.078,13.991 C23.078,18.463 20.239,22.062 16.297,22.062 C14.973,22.062 13.728,21.379 13.302, 20.572 C13.302,20.572 12.647,23.05 12.488,23.657 C12.193,24.784 11.396,26.196 10.863,27.058 C12.086,27.434 13.386,27.637 14.733,27.637 C21.95,27.637 27.801, 21.828 27.801,14.662 C27.801,7.495 21.95,1.686 14.733,1.686" fill="#bd081c"> Pinterest <path d="M-296.2,401.6c0-3.2,0-6.3,0-9.5h0.1c1,0,2,0,2.9,0c0.1,0,0.1,0,0.1,0.1c0,0.4,0,0.8,0,1.2 c0.1-0.1,0.2-0.3,0.3-0.4c0.5-0.7, 1.2-1,2.1-1.1c0.8-0.1,1.5,0,2.2,0.3c0.7,0.4,1.2,0.8,1.5,1.4c0.4,0.8,0.6,1.7,0.6,2.5 c0,1.8,0,3.6,0,5.4v0.1c-1.1,0-2.1,0-3.2,0c0-0.1, 0-0.1,0-0.2c0-1.6,0-3.2,0-4.8c0-0.4,0-0.8-0.2-1.2c-0.2-0.7-0.8-1-1.6-1 c-0.8,0.1-1.3,0.5-1.6,1.2c-0.1,0.2-0.1,0.5-0.1,0.8c0,1.7,0,3.4, 0,5.1c0,0.2,0,0.2-0.2,0.2c-1,0-1.9,0-2.9,0 C-296.1,401.6-296.2,401.6-296.2,401.6z"/><path d="M-298,401.6L-298,401.6c-1.1,0-2.1,0-3,0c-0.1,0-0.1,0-0.1-0.1c0-3.1,0-6.1,0-9.2 c0-0.1,0-0.1,0.1-0.1c1,0,2,0,2.9, 0h0.1C-298,395.3-298,398.5-298,401.6z"/><path d="M-299.6,390.9c-0.7-0.1-1.2-0.3-1.6-0.8c-0.5-0.8-0.2-2.1,1-2.4c0.6-0.2,1.2-0.1,1.8,0.2 c0.5,0.4,0.7,0.9,0.6,1.5c-0.1,0.7-0.5,1.1-1.1, 1.3C-299.1,390.8-299.4,390.8-299.6,390.9L-299.6,390.9z"/>Share <path d="M-1214.1,1565.2v1l8,4l8-4v-1c0-0.7-0.6-1.3-1.3-1.3h-13.4C-1213.5,1563.9-1214.1,1564.4-1214.1, 1565.2z M-1214.1,1567.4v7.1c0,0.7,0.6,1.3,1.3,1.3h13.4c0.7,0,1.3-0.6,1.3-1.3v-7.1l-8,4L-1214.1,1567.4z"/> Email The post Be You: Find Your &#8220;Flow&#8221; appeared first on Gold Arrow Camp - California Summer Camp and Traditional Sleepaway Camps for Children.