The first day I abstained from work after months of 7-day weeks and 18-hour days at the start of the pandemic, I spent the entire day doing a jigsaw puzzle. That activity accomplished several goals: it enabled me to get lost in a pastime that quieted the negative chatter in my mind, it offered something concrete over which I had control, and it provided a sense of accomplishment as I put order into more and more puzzle pieces. In short, the puzzle activity allowed me to reach a state of flow.

The term "flow" was coined by Hungarian psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, who wrote in his book Flow: The Psychology of Happiness that one's best moments occur when one's body or mind are focused on accomplishing something that is difficult and worthwhile.

In a recent article in The Guardian (The flow state: the science of the elusive creative mindset that can improve your life), journalist David Robson describes the core characteristics of flow, as defined by Csíkszentmihályi. These are a high level of concentration, a sense of control, a clear goal, immediate feedback, and decreased rumination or worry. This was my experience on that bleak day in March 2020.

I've turned to puzzles on other occasions to cope with a stressful situation. The night I spent in hospital after learning that my right breast implant was irrevocably infected, waiting for the explant surgery the following morning, I played Sudoku puzzles on my phone until I couldn't keep my eyes open. The hard-level Sudoku puzzles offered the perfect balance—not so easy that my mind would wander while doing them, not so hard that I became frustrated with them.

This balance is an essential element of achieving flow, as Robson notes in his article:

According to Csíkszentmihályi’s research, flow is most likely to occur when we find the perfect balance between our current abilities and the difficulty of the activity at hand. If a task is too easy, it fails to absorb our attention, so we become distracted, and our thoughts may wander to other preoccupations. If it is too hard, we start to feel stressed by the task itself. It is only when we meet the sweet spot in between that we find the optimum level of engagement—and all the pleasant feelings that come with it.

Robson references a number of benefits of striving for flow: decreased susceptibility to depression, a sense of growth and purpose in life, a counter to ruminative thinking, and greater mental peace.

I have found that the activities most likely to enable me to reach a state of flow are those that engage my brain as opposed to my body. In addition to puzzles and games, podcasts often help transport me to a calmer place, away from daily stressors and worries.

Perhaps puzzles and Sudoku wouldn't meet Csíkszentmihályi's definition of worthwhile, but they have been helpful pursuits when I needed to quiet my mind.