Finding flow in everyday life

From Ask MetaFilter, there is an interesting question on how to find ‘flow’ in the more routine things and tasks. Why is it interesting? I never thought of one can optimize the experience of a routine task, such as commuting or household work:

… My question is to those who might be familiar with his work and have incorporated it into their everyday life: How do you find ‘Flow’ in the more mundane, routine things of daily existence? Like a boring commute or doing the dishes, or household work. Anything that doesn’t excite you but must be done again and again almost daily? How to structure them so that one can achieve ‘optimal experiences’ even from the most inane tasks?…

There are couple of good answers and discussions. I like this one, as it has quite a bit of thoughts to chew on:

… From my personal experience, mindfulness isn’t absolutely necessary for finding flow in the mundane everyday life stuff. In fact, mindfulness seems to detract from flow in these cases. Using sk381’s example of a boring commute, it’s only when I’m not focused on driving, not focused on the traffic, not focused on the road, only then that I can begin to approach flow. But then, as I say, perhaps I am actually approaching something else.

As I get older, the more I realize that one key in achieving these sorts of states, especially in daily life, is for me to have a less cluttered environment: less cluttered physically, less cluttered mentally, less cluttered emotionally. If the rest of my life is in order, my mind is less distracted, I am more focusued, and flow (or self-actualization, or Peak Experience, or whatever) is easier to achieve….

What is your take on this question?

Finding flow in everyday life – [Ask Metafilter]