The ‘flow state’: Where creative work thrives (2019)
Humans have a larger neocortex compared to other mammals, which gives them more storage, working memory, and computational potential than other animals.<p>The curses of the human condition are anxiety and regret, the conditions that render people unable to engage in the present moment.  The former is characterised as being stuck in the future psychologically, and the latter is being stuck in the past.  Since neither the future or the past can be changed by obsessive thoughts in the present, these psychological conditions are a recipe for unhappiness, because happiness can only ever happen in the present moment, which is lost.<p>What characterises flow state and mindfulness is total absorption in the present moment.<p>What if animals that are not burdened by human quantities of neocortex, such as insects and canines, which exist in the present moment, are actually experiencing flow and mindfulness?<p>The spider weaves its web in perfect concentration, not stopping to contemplate, plan, or exercise executive judgement.  Might not that be akin to flow?<p>The dog and the cat and the cow and the horse, given physical comfort, do not seem to worry about the future or regret the past.  Might they not be blessed with a form of mindfulness that humans in the rat race rarely manage to experience?