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@aestheticprimal

How to tap into a 'state of flow' The flow state is characterized by being in a mental frame where you aren't focused or forcing yourself to do a task, you are basically 'flowing' through it, by being in a trance like state. there are graphs out there trying to explain that the flow state is achieved by being in a perfect equilibrium of difficulty, where the task isn't too hard that you lose 'hope' in succeeding, but it isn't easy enough that you lose your interest. I dislike this take strongly because it implies that tapping into this mental frame is purely dependent on the external environment, but it isn't. From neuroscience we know that when someone is in a 'flow state' their brain wave activity tends to decrease significantly, similar to when someone is in a 'state of play' a sign of GABAergic activity and inhibition and we know that GABAergic inhibition in the Limbic brain significantly reduces brain wave activity. What we also know is that GABAergic activity in the Limbic brain tends to rise with stronger activation of the mPFC, this part of the brain is responsible for goal-achieving behavior and its activity rises very potently when a goal is 'fixed' in someones mind. If the state of flow is accompanied by lower brain wave activity, its necessary to understand what causes this drop in brain wave activity and we know that it is the mPFC its activity that promotes GABAergic activity in the Limbic brain (brain responsible for stress reactions due to release of Acetylcholine, Serotonin and Adrenalin. When the difficulty of a task is too high it tends to get people out of flow, because it invites the belief into your brain that you are not competent enough to succeed, this doubt is what strongly down-regulates mPFC activity in a sort of learned helplessness type of way (i can't complete this task no matter what i try), thats when they mind starts doubting if the goal is really worth it. When the difficulty of a task is too low, the mind starts to doubt whether its really worth your energy to go all-in on it and to spend all your energy, and if completing it has any valuable returns on investment. Both essentially come from doubting your goal, the goal becomes less fixed in the mind. We know that the mPFC activity becomes higher, the more fixed the goal is in your mind. I think anyone can tap into a state of flow if they make an agreement with themselves beforehand that they are going to achieve their goal no matter what, and that doubting this in the middle of the process must be viewed as a sin, or even weakness. The stronger you attach yourself to achieving the goal, the less you will actually be kept from going into the 'flow state' due to external environmental factors. Look at it like this: the more fixed you are on your goal, and the less you doubt it --> the stronger the mPFC activity will be --> mPFC glutamergic transmission awakens GABAergic transmission in the Limbic brain --> Brain waves slow down --> creativity, tunnel-vision on goal, focus and productivity will rise --> external noise will be 'cut out' --> state of flow will be reached and the opposite would look like this: lack or excessive difficulty --> you 'doubt' if the goal is worth it --> mPFC strength significantly decreases --> mPFC loses inhibitory control over dorse raphe nucleus -->_ dorse raphe nucleus activates and releases serotonin, acetylcholine, adrenalin --> this activation creates a negative feedback loop which causes the mPFC its activity to --> sympathetic nervous system activates --> brainwave activity rises --> Train to eliminate doubt out of your mind, because this doubt weakens your affinity towards achieving the goal, the reason people tend to get out of the flow state when the difficulty increases is because it feeds doubt into your mind if you are capable enough to succeed, this is learned helplessness.

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