Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.
According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task although flow is also described (below) as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one’s emotions.
Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the moment,present, in the zone, wired in, in the groove, or keeping your head in the game.”
(as found in Wikipedia)
This can be a singular simple activity like a walk on a beautiful fall day, or a difficult task which both involve complete focus on where you are and what you are doing.
This seems like a good time to remind all of us that multi tasking is the enemy of flow. I am working hard at this.