Our assignment in Ceramics yesterday was to throw 10 bowls by next class session... I threw 20...
the same day. Today, after working in the Print studio all morning, I thought I'd head on over to the Ceramics studio to do some underglazing of mugs I was working on, & get to work on trimming my bowls. After I was finished & getting ready to leave, I glanced at the clock & was shocked to see it was 7:00~ I thought it was maybe 5:00, at the latest. I lost track of time!
Then I smiled. What popped into my head was Mihaly Csikszentmihaly.
What? I heard of him years ago in a recreation class at SDSU (
Challenges of Leisure... what a great class!) He pretty much coined the term "flow," or "peak experience." I'm sure you've all experienced this feeling of flow when you are engaged in doing something you love~
“The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state, where the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfillment, and skill—and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored.”
We all have our "things" in life in which we experience that "flow..." and it's different for everyone... but I bet we can all agree that we need more moments in life in which we feel this way!
3 comments:
I handbuild my ceramics, but I always lose track of time and I never want to stop and eat.
Clay and painting are like that for me.
Glad you had fun. xoxo
I'm glad you're enjoying ceramics so much you forgot time. I have experienced Flow, and if you find it doing work you love, you're very lucky!
One of my friends connects this place of being "in the moment" with the zen koan "what is the sound of one hand clapping". I'm glad you heard that sound - it's great to get there, so much good stuff happens there.
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