Flow: el estado mental de inmersion total en una actividad

Todos hemos experimentado el maravilloso estado de Flow, completamente absortos en la realización de una actividad que nos apasiona. El tiempo pasa volando, y nada de lo que suceda afuera o dentro nuestro (cansancio, obligaciones) es capaz de sacarnos de ese estado en el que somos plenos en la acción. Al ingresar en Flow, todo es mágico, cobra sentido, emerge una energía inagotable que nos invade y, si se lo permitimos, nos conduce fluyendo con un ímpetu tal que nada puede detenernos ni desalentarnos. Nos sentimos realizados, conectados con nuestra verdadera esencia, nuestro ser. El Ser. De ahí su relación con el Karma Yoga , y el cumplimiento del darma.
Poder encontrar y activar ese estado es una de las claves para lograr nuestros objetivos,  por mas imposibles que parezcan, sin que nos preocupen los pensamientos sobre el resultado final de nuestra acción. Simplemente nos regocija el mero hecho de sentir la manifestación plena de nuestro ser en el curso de la acción.
Como muestra el grafico adjunto, el estado Flow sucede cuando la acción implica un alto nivel de desafío (sin que ello nos genere excesiva ansiedad) pero nos demanda un esfuerzo equilibrado debido a que tenemos un alto nivel de habilidad para realizarla.
Hacer aquello que nos apasiona es la forma más sencilla de propiciar el estado de Flow. Y es un buen indicador de cuáles son nuestros talentos y ayudarnos a definir nuestra misión.  

In positive psychology, Flow, also known as Zone, 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. Named by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields, though has existed for thousands of years in other guises, notably in some eastern religions.^[1]

According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is asingle-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate experience in harnessing the emotionsin the service of performing andlearning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task^[2]although flow is also described (below) as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions.

Six factors encompasses an experience of flow. ^[3]

1. intense and focused concentration on the present moment
2. merging of action and awareness
3. a loss of reflective self-consciousness
4. a sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
5. a distortion of temporal experience, one's subjective experience of time is altered
6. experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred to as autotelic experience

Those aspects can appear independently of each other, but only in combination do they constitute a so-called flow experience.

Conditions for flow

Mental state in terms of challenge level and skill level, according to Csikszentmihalyi's flow model.^[7] (in Wikipedia article Click on a fragment of the image to go to the appropriate article)

A flow state can be entered while performing any activity, although it is most likely to occur when one is wholeheartedly performing a task or activity for intrinsic purposes.^[6][8]Passive activities like taking a bath or even watching TV usually don’t elicit flow experiences as individuals have to actively do something to enter a flow state.^[9][10]

Flow theory postulates three conditions that have to be met to achieve a flow state:

1. One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals and progress. This adds direction and structure to the task.^[11]
2. The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows them to adjust their performance to maintain the flow state.^[11]
3. One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and their own perceivedskills. One must have confidence in one's ability to complete the task at hand.^[11]

However, it was argued that the antecedent factors of flow are interrelated, as a perceived balance between challenges and skills requires that one knows what he or she has to do (clear goals) and how successful he or she is in doing it (immediate feedback). Thus, a perceived fit of skills and task demands can be identified as the central precondition of flow experiences.^[12]

• Source: Wikipedia > Flow (psychology)