Jillian Daniel Image and Pilgrimage 2 blog 13

In Turner's book "Image and Pilgramages," a sociologist named Csikszentmidlyi came up with the concept of flow. He defined it as the mental state where a person is fully immersed in what they're doing. It's a feeling of being having an "energized focus" and allows one to be in "full involvement." Other terms used to classify flow are "success in the proces of the action" and being "absorbed in activity." A time when I can think of being in a state of flow is when I got into a car accident during my senior year of highschool. When I felt my car collide with another, my attention was completly focused on my safety. There were other cars driving (i'd assume) and i'm sure there were people around because the accident occured in a highly populated area. However, because I was in a state of "flow" all I remeber was feeling intensly energized and aware of just what was affecting me at the second. Flow is also commonly seen in sports. For example, a track meet. I remember one specific track meet that I was so nervous to participate in. Not only was my school teams status on the line, but I also had to run in front of my family and friends which always intimidates me. I rember thinking about how nervous I was right up until the gun shot when it was time to race. At that exact moment all of my focus was on running as fast as I could. I didn't think about the pain or my nerves. The only thing I focused on was running; i was completely "absorbed in activity."