Think of a moment in your life when you were so involved in what you were doing that the rest of the world and also time seemed to have disappeared. Your mind wasn't full of thoughts and you were totally focused and concentrated on that activity. Only when you came out of the experience, you realise how much time had actually passed and you may be surprised the amount of it. This is the phenomenon of flow that Csikszentmihalyi was investigated. In this state of mind, the awareness of self is not present and there is almost total absence of emotions during the actual process.  

While I was making stained glass, this was exactly how I felt. I felt that everything goes smoothly in a flow. Time passed too fast. At the end of it, this heart figure made of glass was produced as you see in the picture. 

While flow is a definitely a part of mindfulness, it is important to note that mindfulness does not mean flow. Flow occurs when a person is aware of his or her actions but is not being aware of his or her awareness. On the other hand, mindfulness is viewed not as the achievement of any particular state, but as intentional awareness of what is, plus being aware of awareness. 

Csikszentmihaly says that: "Enjoyable activities that produce flow have a potentially negative effect: while they are capable of improving the quality of existence by creating order in the mind, they can become addictive, at which point the self becomes captive of a certain kind of order, and is then unwilling to cope with the ambiguities of life." Taking into account all of these, it is important to learn how we can manage the flow: using it to enhance life, yet being able to let go when necessary. There is no doubt that staying mindful is a good way to balance it. ✌🏻☺️ #mindfulness #mindfuliving #awareness #mindfullife #flowexperience #flowstate#flowstateofmind #stainedglass #stainedglassart #heartfigure #colourfulart#jadestainedglass