Mountain Dulcimer Player Stephen Seifert

You might have heard the phrase "playing in the zone" many times regarding musicians or athletes, but what does it mean? Wikipedia says before people were talking about the zone, there was the flow:

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields. Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in the groove. (Flow (Psychology). (2008, April 6). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedoa. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology))

Csíkszentmihályi gave at least nine characteristics that go along with being in the flow. I'll touch on some of them here as I try to describe what it's like for me to be in the zone. I'll start by telling you what it's like when I'm not in the zone.

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields. Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in the groove. (Flow (Psychology). (2008, April 6). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedoa. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology))

Csíkszentmihályi gave at least nine characteristics that go along with being in the flow. I'll touch on some of them here as I try to describe what it's like for me to be in the zone. In part II, I'll tell you what it's like when I'm not in the zone.