I had a blissful day today making art. In the morning, I did some figure drawing at my husband's university, and in the afternoon I worked on two paintings for my "Decrepit Buildings of the Heights" series. Everytime I looked at my watch another hour or two had zipped by. I was in a state of flow--totally immersed, at one, and in love with what I was doing.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has written extensively on the subject of "flow," most notably in the book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. In a nutshell, he says that everyone would be much happier if they spent at least part of their lives experiencing flow. "Flow" usually happens not only when we are doing something we enjoy but when we are living mindfully and are totally engaged in the present moment. We spend much of our lives fretting about the past and thinking about the future, much to our detriment. As my wonderful yoga teacher Nancy Sorenson says, yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is a gift, that's why they call it the present. Great words to live by!
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