‘If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.’ – Laurence J. Peter
Mindfulness requires focus: a clear and defined point of attention. It means managing your attention so that it is focused and occupied with immediate experience.
Often, the advice is to quiet your mind for ten minutes and focus on a breathing meditation to help you find inner peace, calm and balance.
But it's not easy to simply sit and meditate – to quiet your mind and focus on your breathing – without your mind wandering.
There is, though, a way to keep effortlessly focused for relatively long periods, to be ‘in the zone’. It's known as ‘flow’.
‘Flow’ refers to time spent doing something that keeps you focused and engaged.
If you have ever started a job or activity and become so absorbed in what you were doing that time passed without you noticing, you were in a flow state of mind. You thought of nothing else as you concentrated and focused, your awareness merged with the activity and you were ‘living in the moment’.
With flow activities, your mind is fully occupied with one activity. It's unlikely your mind will wander, as it is immersed in a feeling of positive focus and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Thoughts and emotions are not just contained and channelled: they are positive, energized and aligned with the task at hand.
The level of engagement absorbs you so deeply, keeping attention so focused, that nothing can distract you. It's as though a water current is effortlessly carrying you along.
