Flow or In the Zone

What do you love that you are naturally good at doing? What can wipe all perception of time from your mind? What is intrinsically rewarding to your brain? This state has been referred to as flow by some and by others as being in the zone. You can experience this state personally when you are in the moment and doing something you love; you can sometimes observe it in others, see them suddenly loosen up as if they’ve entered a different phase of performance. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote about flow in the 1986 book he coauthored with Reed Larsen, Being Adolescent: Conflict And Growth In The Teenage Years, expanding on the concept in his 1993 book (Flow and the Evolving Self) and in his 2008 book (Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience). When you are in this state you gain energy, even when you are tired. It has everything to do with your mental energy. These peak experiences have been associated with physiological changes in the body including release of endorphins and adrenalin, an increase in alpha wave activity, alteration in patterns of breathing and heart rates, even changes in metabolic rates. When do you experience flow?