Cooking a bouillabaisse, driving through a snow storm, pitching a client on a new idea – what do these have in common? Each of them presents an opportunity to experience flow.

Flow is a state of mind. You are in the flow when you are fully immersed in, focused on, and energized by what you do. It means that a person has significant abilities in a given area (e.g. cooking) and is engaged in using them fully to solve a task.  And when that happens, it is a joyous experience.

Flow can be attained in lots of places, and I just came across a particularly intuitive example of an English beatboxer covering The Pixies “Where Is My Mind”. Even if it’s not your kind of music, you’ll witness single-minded focus and an extraordinary result as the artist – Thepetebox – uses only his voice and guitar enhanced by some electronics (beatbox, loop station and reverb pad). Every sound you hear is recorded live while you are listening.

Incidentally, we love being in the flow, but we also get great joy from watching others in the flow…  So enjoy!