Make space to embrace stillness in an increasingly hectic world
reality follows. Dwelling on past tragedies causes suffering, while training our focus leads to liberation from misery. In his seminal work, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, author Mihaly Csikszentmihaly describes the concept of flow, a mental state where a person is fully absorbed in an activity, performing at their best, and feeling great satisfaction.
This involves pursuing activities that are genuinely rewarding and fulfilling, rather than focusing solely on external validation or material gains. There are certain practices which can help us get back to our centre. While meditation is often talked about and is quite effective for some people, a lot of people are not very comfortable with this practice.
The idea is to discover your own unique activity that lets you stay focused for a sustained stretch of time, instead of blindly following another person. It could be journal-keeping or walking for you. Everything cannot be seen from the lenses of productivity.
Therefore, one does not need to be too serious and grim while adopting any of these mind-stilling practices. Ideally, it should be accompanied by an element of playfulness and spontaneity. If you expect instant results, it would only cause more misery.
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