Flow And Savoring

What is the Concept and Meaning of Flow? ?

Flow is one of life’s highly enjoyable states of being, wrapping us entirely in the present, and helping
us be more creative, productive, and happy. Psychological Flow captures the positive mental state of
being completely absorbed, focused, and involved in your activities at a certain point in time, as well
as deriving enjoyment from being engaged in that activity. Perhaps the Flow state, colloquially
termed being ‘in the zone’, is best described by one of the participants interviewed in the earliest
stages of ‘Flow research’ (Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi, 1988: 195).

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the positive psychologist credited with having popularized the concept of
Flow, offered another definition for the mental state of being ‘in Flow’

"being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every
action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your
whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”Flow is a state of mind in which
a person becomes fully immersed in an activity and lose yourself in the moment. Typical state of
mind that we will call our “8-5 mind” constructs the experience flow. Our 8-5 mind is the one that
goes to work, balances the checkbook, and analyze what, when, and how we are going to solve
problems. And tackle various daily tasks.

In flow, we are “out of our mind” in the same sense of breaking through the dominance of normal
consciousness. When normal mind intrudes, we lose the flow.

To the 8-5 mind, by the end of the week at school or work, most of us feel at least a bit stressed,
Worn down and ready for the weekend. Because flow associates with enjoyment and an ending
feeling of “whew, that was great!”. It would seem to follow that reduced stress would be one of the
benefits of flow.

The Theory and Psychology of Flow

Flow theory became of interest to positive psychology researchers Jacob Getzels and Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi when they were studying the creative process during the ‘60s (Getzels &
Csikszentmihalyi, 1976). Watching an artist at work, Csikszentmihalyi became intrigued by their
single-minded, unique focus, and persistence to continue with the painting, despite any discomfort,
tiredness, or hunger. On finishing the painting, however, the artist entirely ceased showing any
interest in the completed work.

Csikszentmihalyi (1975) then took his research into other fields, looking at the circumstances and
subjective nature of this enjoyment-related phenomenon in dancers and chess players, to name a few.
It became apparent that the Flow state was brought about by at least two key things: goals and
feedback.

First, an optimal Flow state was created when people tackled challenges that they perceived to be at
just the right level of ‘stretch’ for their skill sets. In other words, neither too tough nor too easy as to
be boring. Second, they had unambiguous short-term goals and received instant feedback on their
progress. This latter condition made them aware of their progress and let them change their goal-
oriented actions accordingly.

Throughout it all, people described being ‘in Flow’ as a highly pleasurable experience. They enjoyed
being in control of the task-related largely to the ongoing feedback they received. Ultimately, they
found whatever they were doing to be highly self-rewarding (Stavrou et al., 2015).

Flow and Positive Psychology

Naturally, the next point of interest for positive psychologists became how Flow could be created,
controlled, and understood in relation to other aspects of the self that allow us to flourish.

Flow became fascinating to positive psychologists already looking at performance, goal orientation,
creativity, attention, and of course, emotions. Only a little after that, the concept grew more popular
with researchers such as Deci and Ryan (1985), who were interested in flow within intrinsic
motivation.

Most importantly, it’s been considered a huge part of improving our human experience for its role in
living a meaningful life (Seligman, 2002: 249). A meaningful life in which we use our virtues and
strengths for ‘something much larger’ than we are, where we spend less time worrying about the
inauthentic and the mundane. Where we are less annoyed by the boredom of the too-easy, or
overwhelmed by the frustration of the too-challenging.

Understanding how to enter the flow state, and maintain it, therefore, is seen as a great way to enjoy
the activities we get engaged in.

The Work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:

Csikszentmihalyi often described Flow as an autotelic experience. An autotelic experience quite

simply describes an activity that’s pleasant, enjoyable, and intrinsically motivating.

It’s perhaps a little easier to understand how Csikszentmihalyi’s seminal work had impacted the field
of positive psychology if we consider the nine different dimensions that comprise the concept. The
universal factors of flow, per Csikszentmihalyi’s studies (1990; Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi,
2002), include:

 Challenge-skill balance;
 Action-awareness merging;
 Clear goals;
 Unambiguous feedback;
 Concentration on the task at hand;
 A sense of control;
 Loss of self-consciousness;
 Transformation of time; and
 Autotelic experience.

What Does Savoring Mean in Psychology?

Bryant and Veroff (2007) define savoring as attending, appreciating, and enhancing positive
experiences that occur in one’s life. In searching for a term that could accurately depict the process
of attending to the experience of enjoyment, Bryant and Veroff (2007) decided to use the word
savoring. The term denotes a process and represents the counterpart of coping.

entails an active behavior and acknowledges the interaction between the person and their
environment, with a focus on the experience of delight in its broadest sense (Bryant & Veroff, 2007).

This means that savoring can be associated with an internal or external event, which might not
necessarily be tangible (Smith & Bryant, 2017).

Although intimately related to pleasure, savoring is more about becoming aware of the experience of
pleasure and appreciating the positive emotions derived from that experience. To savor an
experience, one must possess and apply a certain degree of mindfulness and meta-awareness (Bryant
& Veroff, 2007).

3 Types of savoring:

Savoring the past, also known as reminiscence. For example, remembering funny moments from
school with a friend.

Savoring the present or savoring the moment. For instance, enjoying a new meal by drawing your
attention to the flavors and smells.

Savoring the future, also referred to as anticipation. For example, visualizing the trip you have
planned with your partner for this upcoming weekend.

Levels of savoring:

1. Savoring experiences

It refers to the overall experience while intentionally focusing your attention on appreciating positive
events. It includes sensations, emotions, perceptions, thoughts, and behaviors that are linked to the
particular environment in which you are immersed (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). An example of this
level is sitting at the beach feeling the ocean breeze while watching the sunset.

2. Savoring processes

These processes connect a positive event to positive emotions by modulating different positive states.
For example, the process of appreciating a kind action from a stranger regarded as beneficial
regulates gratitude as a positive emotional state (Bryant & Veroff, 2007).

3. Savoring responses

These are the specific behaviors or thoughts emerging as a response to a positive event. These
responses regulate the influence of such positive events on positive affect by either amplifying or
dampening the intensity and duration of positive emotions (Bryant & Veroff, 2007).

Preconditions to savoring:
According to Smith and Bryant (2017), the following elements should be present in order to develop
and experience your savoring ability:

 Being able to connect to the present moment

 Freedom from urgent social responsibilities
 Basic physical and psychological needs are covered
 Presence of mindfulness and meta-awareness regarding positive experiences.

Differences between savoring and other concepts

According to Bryant and Veroff (2007), savoring may overlap with other terms but has distinctive
features.

Mindfulness

Although savoring involves mindfulness, it is a much narrower process. Savoring involves

intentionally attending to the present experience, specifically focusing on internal or external stimuli
exclusively related to positive feelings.

Daydreaming

Savoring differs from daydreaming since the latter implies detachment from the immediate
environment; savoring implies drawing experiences from that environment.

Flow

Although flow involves enjoyment of the activity in which people engage in, it entails much less
conscious attention to the experience than savoring. Additionally, savoring does not necessarily
involve challenge. Flow is mainly differentiated from savoring by the level of immersion. For
example, flow could be being lost in the experience of enjoying nature. There is little awareness
because you have become absorbed in the experience. In a sense, flow happens to you, while
savoring happens because you allow for it happen to you.