What is the difference between the mindful state and the flow state? Can you be mindful while being involved in intentional mental abstraction?
I would very much like to pursue a career as a freelance programmer - as a highly introverted person it would be a dream job.
My only concern is that I fear spending much time lost in mental abstraction will prove unwise when it comes to spiritual development. I fear the time spent in a fragmented mind will make progress a lot slower, as my work will break my practice, rather then supplement it. Mainly because I don't see how I can possibly code whilst being mindful.
That being said, I am curious as to where the flow state comes into this. If I can build attention/concentration by means of coding, then there will be some benefit to it. But I'm not sure if it really is a wholesome state - the sense of identity is lost in the activity, as the code writes itself. Now this happens rarely, but with time and practice it may be possible to recreate this often, at least apparently that is the case.
How does the flow state compare to mindfulness or meditation? Is it a wholesome state? And finally, is it really possible to avoid breaking the continuation of practice off the cushion when involved in mental abstraction? Are there any means by which I can not break the progression, or at least hinder it, when involved in a task requiring much mental abstraction?
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from Buddhism https://ift.tt/2Q9Aviy
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