Flowing Along At The Oregon Coast

I think I'm a few behind on my sibling assignments, but I thought I would try to at least get the latest one done, which is Sibling Assignment #103, given to us by Raymond Pert.

Our family trip to Rockaway Beach has come to an end. Reflect upon what you enjoyed about being together as a family this past week.

Raymond Pert's post is here, and IEG's post is here.


What I enjoyed most about being at the coast, was being in FLOW.

People enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high-ee) is chiefly renowned as the architect of the notion of flow in creativity.

Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."

At the coast, we didn't have many schedules.

We could just get fully absorbed in daily activities and lose our sense of time and did indeed have great satisfaction.

Such as the morning walks with the dogs. We could get up, feed the dogs, then put on their leashes and head down the beach, not having to be back at any certain time.


Life just flowed along.

Playing games around the table.

Visiting tide pools at Hug Point State Park.

This picture cracks me up. It looks like the starfish
is in a somewhat seductive pose!!

Cooking and eating meals around the table.


Taking photographs of family, dogs, sunsets, tide pools, rock formations, seagulls, clouds.


Reading "The Gift of the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindberg.

What a luxury it is, to not have every minute of your day scheduled. To just relax, and be in the moment...to flow in the moment.

And to have this experience surrounded by my mother, brother, sister, brother-in-law, husband, and three daughters made it even more special.