Flow

lobster

Flow or mindfulness?

Almost any activity can be done mindfully, too – no yoga or meditation necessary.

and ...

“We need to engage in activities that are meaningful to us, that we find challenging and for which we feel that we have the skills required to come out as winners.”
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20190204-how-to-find-your-flow-state-to-be-peak-creative

Flow is a samadhi, trance state, mindfulness a practice. Neither is impossible or that rare in Buddhism which goes beyond such temporary inducements.

Mindful flow or attentive awareness, in other words an unfolding stillness, equates more with Bodhi or awake mind.

Jeroen

When I was a programmer where the flow state is quite well known I found genuine flow (as opposed to just problem solving) to be a fairly rare state, and usually associated with executing a large chunk of vision in one go. It’s a fun state to be in, a long continuous chain of execution while the ideas just keep coming, it is very productive.

Whether it is mindful I kind of doubt, it’s more like your focus has moved to inside yourself, rather than your attention being wholly on the outside world. I’ve often wondered whether it is a kind of contact with a very creative superconscious. It’s hard to say.

lobster

Dear Friends of The Buddha,
@Kerome I would suggest the movement/flow between jhana, concentration, samadhi and superconscious and especially mundane awareness (tao) have many subtleties ...

RAINDROP: A complete approach

R Recognition - What is really happening?
A Acceptance - Can we accept that it's happening?
I Interest - Can we bring genuine interest to what's happening?
N Non-identification - Is this happening to "me," or is it simply happening?
D Distraction - The opposite of recognition. Are we aware of our experience?
R Resistance - The opposite of acceptance. Are we resisting reality?
O Obliviousness - The opposite of interest. Do you care about what's happening?
P Personification - The opposite of non-identification. Taking things personally.

https://learn.tricycle.org/courses/rain

... talking of super-consciousness, I would suggest that is a listening or attention to inner and outer. Creative acts may be more zone based ...
http://www.psychologyofjoy.com/superconscious/

adamcrossley

@lobster, thanks for posting that. I love RAINDROP—it’s very pleasing but also instructive.

Almost any activity can be done mindfully, too – no yoga or meditation necessary.

I’m not sure about the message of this. It seems true in one way, but I don’t think daily mindfulness would be very effective or easy to maintain without formal meditation practice. Meditation (sometimes) gives me a taste of what it would be like to live wholly mindfully, and without that taste, I don’t know what I’d aim for in my daily life.

lobster

@adamcrossley I too find formal practice informs or develops mindfulness.

However I came to Buddhist meditation from mindfulness. It depends where we are and what we are like.

Mindfulness is a form of concentrated awareness. This is why concentration practices are a good prelude to increased relaxation and awareness in the focus ... There is a huge difference between reading about and actual experience. It is why we can be more mindful in any activity but which are actually more conducive? ?