So much of our mental capacity is preoccupied with dealing with (or suppressing) the past and worrying about the future that we very often forget to be present in the time being. Have you ever done something, like driving the car, only to realize afterward that you have no recollection of doing it? That you were “completely someplace else” at the time? To be consciously aware of our thoughts and current actions requires a level of stillness and calm that can be difficult to find in today’s world, which competes at all times and at every level for our attention, time, effort and money. At the same time, we have a great deal we would like to accomplish in life. We can't just spend all day meditating and watching ourselves from the outside in. Where's the balance? 

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Flow is that happy place where we function with full concentration and power. It is a term psychologists use to refer to a state of total absorption, of being fully engrossed in a task to the point of losing all track of time and everything else around you, of great contentment and personal satisfaction. We are getting stuff done and feeling fantastic, having fully activated a region neuroscientists refer to as the task-positive network (TPN). Then we look up and realize the dishes and laundry are completely heaped up, we are an hour late for the rest of the day’s commitments and have entirely forgotten to drink or eat. 

And mindfulness? Mindfulness is a heightened, non-judgmental awareness of your thoughts and emotions. It is living in the moment in a state of active, open, intentional attention to the present. Harvard and just about everyone else will tell you how important mindfulness is for mental and physical health, having scientifically been found to be a key element in stress reduction and overall happiness. Neuroscientists have discovered something Eastern traditions have known for some time: there is a place in our brain, located between our eyebrows, that is constantly at work and referred to as the default mode network (DMN). Our experiences, perceptions of ourselves and memories run back there amongst a lot of other things. In this hyper-busy world, this state is running unmonitored and at full speed, resulting in stress, poor health and all the other typical negative symptoms we want to avoid.  When left unchecked, our mind tends to wander which results 80% of the time in worrying and ruminating on negative experiences. So, self-awareness is really calming and great, but just as the state of flow can run the danger of becoming a tunnel, we must be careful not to let mindfulness keep us stuck on the sidelines as inactive spectators of our own lives.