"Flow State" and "True Play"

Recently, I came across an article on flow state, by Kendra Cherry:

If you have ever felt completely absorbed in something, you might have been experiencing a mental state that psychologists refer to as flow. Achieving this state can help people feel greater enjoyment, energy, and involvement... Positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi describes flow as a state of complete immersion in an activity.

Some of the factors Csíkszentmihályi has found associated with an experience of flow include:

• The activity is intrinsically rewarding.
• There is a complete focus on the activity itself.
• People experience feelings of personal control over the situation and the outcome.
• People have feelings of serenity and a loss of self-consciousness.
• People know that the task is doable and there is a balance between skill level and the challenge presented.
• There is strong concentration and focused attention.

These characteristics and benefits are strikingly similar to what we see in open-ended play, or what Cheng Xueqin of Anji Play calls ‘true play:’

• True Play is deep and uninterrupted engagement in the activity of one’s own choice.
• True Play is most frequently characterized by observable experiences of risk, joy and deep engagement. This is the deepest manifestation of learning, growth and development.
• True Play flourishes in places of love where the materials, environments and decision-making attend to the needs and differences of the individual and the group.

All of this got me thinking about Lisa Porter Kuh and Iris Chin Ponte's thoughts about scheduling time for children to ‘dig into their endeavors’ and ways we can support uninterrupted play and perhaps flow states for both children and adults. What are your ideas? Please share!

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