As you approach the end of this mission to make meditation a way of life, how do you see your awareness growing? Above all, are you going slow enough so you can enjoy the process, or do your rituals feel like a punishment?

Before we part our ways for this mission, it is important to discuss flow vs meditation, especially as both are proven to ways to bring peace to our lives.

On the surface, both flow and meditation look very different. While in flow you are actively engaged in an activity, meditation seems a passive way to just observe. But in core, not only do they have same neurochemical signatures, even philosophically they have the same mechanism.

If you remember, flow is an ecstatic state, where you step out of the reality and immerse in the task at hand, like reading a book, talking to a loved one, or exercising at the gym. Time, hunger and other thoughts cease to exist. On the other hand, in meditation, you are an observer aware of the thoughts and sensations as they come, but not associating with any of them. And this is the common link. Ecstasy!

In both flow and meditation, you step out of your mind. When not consumed in games of the mind, you are one with life. You walk in balance, see a flower, work on something, talk to others, eat, sleep, smile, and go about your day. But nothing in your mind has the power to hold you back from living, neither biased opinions about weather or people, nor thoughts of past and future. You are in this moment, one with life.

But in meditation, you were supposed to accept all the things, like the sounds of chirping bird or a barking dog. While in flow you are losing the perception of these things. Is this not becoming like Sir Peter we saw earlier?

This is where balance comes in. First of all, Peter’s focus was rooted in resistance, as he read even when he should have been eating or walking. In flow, you are not resisting your thoughts, or hunger. You just get so immersed in work that these things stop mattering. And meditation broadens this to non-doing moments as well, where even though you may not work, but you live in the moment.

So, before you ask if flow a subset of meditation, here is Kosma’s take: Seek meaning, not words. Words can confuse at times (the term “flow state” did not even exist a century earlier). We have already discussed the key points above for you to decide from your experience.

Since you have come this far, why not try spreading meditation to usual activities? For example, when you are eating, just eat. Chew, feel the taste, smell, and experience the food fully. Yes, you will miss watching a show, but it is worth at least a try. Teach your brain to feel fine with slowing down. There is no rush in life.

We close with the words of Alan Watts, “It is only when there is no goal and no rush that the human senses are fully open to receive the world.”