I’ve just returned from a long weekend break, and I’m smiling and reflecting – refreshed and eager to get back to work.
Let me give you a little context. Often, when delivering group workshops, as part of an icebreaker, I would ask people to introduce themselves to the group and tell us one personal fact that may surprise us. So, let me start by sharing my dark secret – I have a passion for bluegrass music, and I play the 5-string banjo. (Doesn’t every qualified marketer?)
So my choice of weekend away was the Purbeck Valley Folk Festival (yes, I took my banjo). The reason I mention this is related to the work I do in understanding happiness and its role in mental relaxation, creativity and helping the brain run ‘off-line’.
Back at home, I reflected that my weekend had not all been spent passively, but engaged in a good deal of active time with other musicians – in short, it was ‘flow’.
‘Flow,’ as described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is a state of optimal experience characterised by intense focus and enjoyment in an activity, where one becomes fully immersed and time seems to slip away. The method Csikszentmihalyi used for his research was to give many people pagers (this was in the 70s). He’d then call them at random times and ask if they were happy. If so, he’d ask what they were doing. The ‘happy’ respondents were often engaged in challenging but absorbing activities such as fishing, sewing, painting, repairing cars, or writing.
Flow is crucial for creativity because it enables deep focus and engagement, allowing individuals to lose themselves in the creative process and experience a sense of effortless action. At the same time, the act of creation makes us happy.
Five days away from the day job (which I love) allowed me to flush out a great many pointless concerns and anxieties. I was so absorbed that there was little space for negativity.