Addicted to Flow
Photo by Aro Ha
“Personality doesn’t scale. Biology scales.”
Last month, or "Sober January" as I have come to call it, I learned about the science of flow. While watching a football game, when I would normally be drinking, I listened to the executive director of the Flow Research Collective, Steven Kotler, speak about the neurobiology of flow — why we want it, and how to access it.
This Collective, a team of neuroscientists, doctors, and other PHds, pairs up with athletes, musicians, artists, and creative powerhouses who are considered peak performers. Together, they study the human neuroscience of the experiences related to flow.
Flow state, which most of us know as "being in the zone," is further defined by its psychologist-founder, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, as "an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best." Musicians know flow when they are playing in the pocket or groove of the song’s rhythm. Artists report flow after painting for hours, but feel as if only a few minutes have passed. Athletes speak about flow after a precise execution of a play or game. Monks tell us of enlightenment during meditation.
I started to think about the last time I experienced flow. When was I recently focused and engaged, completely present or lost in what I was doing?
Surfing – yes, kind of, as the moment of riding a wave is “no mind,” but often very brief and fleeting. Reading – yes, not long ago I was fully immersed in a story I was enjoying. And the other day, I was looking something up in a book, very curious to find the answer, and knew it was in there. I felt completely in tune with the process of trying to figure something out.
These moments jumped out at me, taking little time to recall. And they were all really great moments, positive experiences that felt pure. I realized I wanted more of them, and here’s why.
When we are in a flow state, I learned, our brain produces a cocktail of neurochemicals, one of which is dopamine, known widely for its association with positive emotions and pleasure. Turns out, flow is processed in the “pleasure center” of our brains (nucleus accumbens). This part of our brain processes rewards, the things we like and want more of, as well as positive sensory experiences. It is also the same place that gets flooded with many of the same chemicals when we shortcut the system with drugs or alcohol.
This neurochemical release stimulates our memories (hippocampus) and our ancient, conditioned response systems (amygdala) to work together to help us remember that we really like being in this state of mind. And, the research shows, the quicker we can get to this state, the more prone we are to becoming addicted to it.
So, our brain processes drugs, touchdowns, an enjoyable meal, winning a bet, getting a compliment, working out, and a sexual encounter all in the same way. And since we know pleasurable experiences can be addicting…I had to wonder, are some of us addicted to flow?
Is this why Tom Brady, Kelly Slater, and the millions of people who don’t “have” to work keep at their crafts, well into retirement age? We normally might think these folks are just competitive, or simply love what they do. But really, could they be addicted to the same grouping of chemicals that a drug addict or gambler or video game fanatic is?
Addiction commonly has a negative context, but learning about flow helped neutralize the word a bit for me. We all need these neurochemicals to survive; they are a function of our biological design. Perhaps the question we now ask ourselves, is if we are getting them in a way that works best for us and those affected by our choices.
As my annual cleanse came to an end, and I opened my first beer of the year on Feb 3rd, I wondered if it was exactly what my neurochemistry needed. And as I jogged out to the surf the morning after, in search of a few waves and a little flow, I wondered if I was neglecting something or someone, knowing this choice would make me an hour late for work.
In the end, I decided to just keep learning, knowing that this fascinating world of brain research and neuroscience is slowly unlocking the mysteries of our behavior. And for me, that is an addiction I can stand behind.