Flow, Purpose and Order

Ayurveda, Flow and the Seasons
give us a very strong framework to work and live within,
helping us to maintain order and wellness.

This lesson deals with some of the larger issues of our life, like our life's purpose. How to set up a lifestyle that facilitates flow instead of congestion. How we sometimes need to go through chaos to find a new order. In the lesson I have listed four books for your further study.

After this lesson you will be able to:

define the eight elements of flow and apply them to some of your own life projects.
explain why crisis may be necessary for change.
begin exploring your life purpose.

THE FLOW PARADIGM

The Flow Paradigm, helps us define which activities affirm life and which are depleting. If any activity does not flow, chances are, your life force will be depleted by it. In our goal of well being, it is important for us to be aware of the effect that the life we are creating has on our well being. I use this system regularly to monitor my activities to the betterment of my short and long term wellness.

The following is a condensation of the basic elements of the flow paradigm as laid out in the book "Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

THE EIGHT ELEMENTS OF FLOW:

Challenge: Is the challenge difficult enough to make us grow but reasonable enough to complete? Do we possess the right skills and proper tools to complete it?
	• Boring	•• Duty
	••• Exciting	•••• Very exciting

Herbal Healing Journey Playful Workbook • 186

One can alter challenges by: changing ones attitude, adding or deleting certain aspects. This may be necessary when one temporarily sticks to a boring situation.

	Time and space: Do we have the time and freedom to concentrate on the task?
	Clear goals: Is the goal clear? " No favourable winds blow for a ship that has no port."
	Feedback: Is there fairly immediate and desirable feedback (a compliment, some encouragement, a good feeling, excitement)?
	Depth: Is this activity compelling enough to remove us from the worries and frustrations of everyday life?
	Control: Does this activity give you a sense of control over your actions?
	Self: Does your sense of self get lost while engaged in the activity and emerges stronger after the experience?
	Time Sense: Does the activity alter your sense of time?

Do This!

Exercise 87 • Exploring the Flow Paradigm

Run a few of your personal projects through this paradigm to see how they flow according to this model. Are they challenging enough? Do you have enough time and space to work on them? Is your goal clear? What kind of feedback are you receiving? Is it stimulating enough to keep you going? When working on it do you feel removed from your everyday world? Are you growing from it?

Herbal Healing Journey Playful Workbook • 187

Course Index
Conclusion Index
Flow