Time passes by unnoticed. Noises, objects, even people fall away and nothing exists but the keyboard and the screen above it.

A few years ago, back in that exceedingly luxurious period of my life when I had loads of free to myself,  not only did I read but also took extensive notes on Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Just because I felt like it.

Though I don’t remember much of the book’s several hundred pages, I do remember the most important part of the book and that is Csíkszentmihályi’s notion of flow, described as the state of deep concentration when intense focus and creativity come together to create magic (okay, I added that last part).

On those crazy days when a certain toddler refuses to have his nap, old friends that I keep meaning to get in touch with are suddenly all calling on the phone, and my text inbox is abuzz with urgent text messages from my mom about some sale at Winners and in the remaining five minutes I have to myself I just wind up staring empty minded at the screen and just want to cry, I think of that place called flow and feel a bit better. Knowing that it exists, and that I have been there before reminds me that this too will pass, and that one of these days I will be in flow again.

So thank you Flow, you inspire me.