Enter flow and activate your feel good hormones

Why we crave flow, and how we can spend more time in it.

There’s nothing more satisfying than becoming so engaged in something that our sense of time is diminished and we forget about the world. While the first things that might spring to mind as easy gateways for accessing this state include surfing, yoga, sex, and taking hallucinogens, it’s also possible to become fully absorbed in more menial activities like reading, drawing, giving a task at work your full attention, or even something as mundane as getting really stuck into scrubbing the bathroom tiles.

There’s a reason flow is so gratifying, both before and after the experience. Steven Kotler, founder of the flow research collective explains that this state blends all 6 of the following pleasure chemicals at once.

1. Dopamine – Enhances motivation, focus, and pattern recognition.

2. Norepinephrine – Increases arousal, alertness, and attention.

3. Endorphins – Act as natural painkillers and produce euphoria.

4. Anandamide – Boosts creativity, lateral thinking, and mood.

5. Serotonin – Creates a sense of well-being and afterglow post-flow.

6. Oxytocin – Often linked to social bonding and trust (more relevant in group flow).

   
   

Kotler emphasizes how this potent neurochemical cocktail enhances performance, creativity, and overall well-being, making flow one of the most addictive and beneficial states for high achievement. 

So what exactly is flow? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (who coined the term in the 70’s) describes flow as a state of complete immersion in an activity where a person experiences deep focus, enjoyment, and a sense of effortless involvement.

Scientifically what’s going on is that our brain experiences temporary reduction in activity of the prefrontal cortex, leading to decreased self-criticism, a distorted sense of time, and heightened creativity, intuition, and effortless performance. Kotler describes ‘losing our sense of self’ while in this state, while Dr Joe Dispenza explains that this shutting down of the prefrontal cortex allows us to become ‘nobody, nowhere, no thing’ - allowing us to access the quantum realm. It also draws parallels with what Eckhart Tolle refers to as ‘the power of now’ where we lose our association with our ego.

Whether we choose to focus on the scientific benefits of this state of mind, or see it as a connection to the spiritual world around us; a letting go of our ego to allow us to establish a connection to wider, universal source of energy, it’s undebatable that it just feels great, makes us feel connected and alive, and is hugely beneficial for us. Contrarily, those days where we feel we haven’t accessed it at all due to the constant distractions of our current world of hyper connectedness leave us feeling frazzled, incohesive and exhausted.

With these things in mind, it brings up the question, why are we not spending more time in flow? In today’s world, our attention spans are shorter than ever. Our minds are constantly pulled in a thousand directions by the tools designed to make life easier: social media, smartphones, and endless streams of content. We’re living in a state of constant stimulation. Notifications ping us, ads fight for our focus, and algorithms are fine-tuned to keep us scrolling. Each moment we spend jumping from one thing to another leaves less room for deep thinking, reflection and  presence. It’s true that in the current world it’s becoming more difficult than ever to become deeply focussed and present. 

Let’s look at what we can do to spend more time in flow despite this:

Block your notifications, play some instrumental music and focus fully on the task at hand

Whether you’re at home or at work, block out the external stimulus and allow yourself to get lost in what you’re doing. I find music without lyrics is less distracting and allows me to focus more clearly.

Start a meditation practice at a consistent time every day 

Meditation helps clear your mind of constant chatter, leaving you more receptive to become absorbed in the present moment. Keeping the timing roughly consistent helps to build a habit, because without that it’s easy to forget about.

Do something that feels slightly scary / challenging or forces you to think on your feet  While extreme sports might be the first thing that spring to mind here, this can also be something more accessible, like giving a presentation to a big room, tackling a task that you’re not sure you’re capable of at work, or going to beginners dance or improv classes. Forcing ourselves to think on our feet can often snap us into a state of flow as we become so focussed on our task that we don’t have time to entertain the negative chatter often holding us back.

Block some time aside each day to ‘get in your zone’

Whether this is first thing in the morning to write, journal or sketch, or lunch time walks to become completely absorbed in your new favourite podcast, or simply observe the beauty in nature. Our days can often be so chaotic,and out of our control that enforcing this time every day can be the only way to guarantee we actually get it.

Take a break Our brains aren’t designed to be constantly productive, and trying to force them to be will only mean we can never focus fully. Know when to get up, go for a walk, or just lie in the sun and do nothing at all.

Try it, see how you feel when you allow your attention span to become deeper and more absorbed. Let us know what you think in the comments ✨

Written by Delia Mennell