In their book, Victor and Edith Turner discuss the idea of "flow." Flow is experienced when a person is completely involved in what they are doing, and is "the merging of action and awareness." As Turner explains, when someone is experiencing flow, their movements and actions are not dependent on a person's conscious decisions, and occur more naturally. A person can be aware that they are experiencing flow, but if they become aware that they are aware, then the flow will be broken. In other words, someone who is experiencing flow must not over-think what they are doing.
Flow is best exemplified by sports. Anybody who has played a sport for a long time can recognize the idea of flow and has probably experienced it at some point. After years of practice and repetition in any sport, many of the movements and actions become a sort of second nature to the participants. When someone is performing at their best, they are experiencing flow. If they begin to over-think and question their ability or how they are doing something, this can through them out of flow, which can cause them to make simple mistakes and seemingly lose talent.
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