Flow States of Coherence
In this article, we share our vision of Flow States of Coherence: a direct experience of accessing our strengths and taking action with an underlying sense of freedom and joy. We invite you to join us on a Wonder Trek to bring these experiences to life.
The heart of our work, inspired by the Constructal Law, is based on the notion that humans are not separate from nature, we are a manifestation of it (Bejan & Zane, 2012). The Constructal Law shows us that all living systems evolve to find greater access to what flows through them, which is nature’s way of building or constructing. In our context, what flows are natural strengths that instinctively desire freedom within our experience and hold distinct power to create. Kindred to many species of life on this planet, distinct strength and power are naturally embedded within our existence.
Nature gifts humanity an abundance of strategies to support our growth and evolution. All living systems hold an inherent function, “an activity or purpose natural to or intended for a person or thing” (Oxford Languages, 2025). While human goals vary greatly, we will assume that most of us desire contentment, defined as a state of happiness and satisfaction with life (Oxford Languages, 2025). The challenge is that all living systems naturally meet resistance (stress) on the landscape of their movement. Our wellbeing depends on our freedom and ability to adapt life’s structures to facilitate access to continued flow of strength. In our lived experience, these structures exist through our various roles and activities, where we may experience freedom to access and engage our strengths or not.
The Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi became curious about the conditions that create a state of happiness following great personal tragedy, suffering, and direct experience of World War II. Csikszentmihalyi shared that his work was “filtered through [his] own unique place in the cosmos” in trying to “make sense” of the destruction of life and beauty that surrounded him (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). His inquiry led to the discovery of an optimal experience also known as a flow state. In these experiences, an individual is able to “make sense” or create order out of incoming information. Because the human nervous system has a finite capacity to process incoming information (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014), retrieving the relevant bits is important to creating coherence (order).
“Out of the million bits of potential information present in the environment, attention selects an infinitesimal subset and assimilates it into consciousness, thus creating a distinct experience, such as fear, awe, love, understanding, doubt, or jealousy.” - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
When attention is unable to make sense of incoming information, resistance (stress) can become “stacked” or disordered in our experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). To absorb nature’s wisdom, individuals must first heighten attention to how unique strengths are flowing and how they are meeting unique resistance (stress). With this clarity, highly personal strategies can be developed to manage stress (mitigating disorder) and thereby optimize our experience. Without these strategies, a stressed system can hold onto disorder — resulting in instability felt as depression, anxiety, and/or burnout — diminishing the creative flow of our strength and spirit.
It is helpful to understand that resistance itself is a very natural phenomenon and a key indicator that the system is in fact alive. As a stressed system reaches critical choice points (bifurcation points) on what to do with incoming information there is often no clear indication of success [7]. In other words, the living system, as expressed through our individual human experience, is meeting the very edge of its previously known order. A stressed system is supported through pockets of order or “islands of coherence” that exist within a larger “sea of chaos” [7]. From a human perspective, we understand that moments of harmony and order within our potentially disordered experience greatly matter to support our growth and evolution – especially if we have tools to build upon them.
“When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.” - Ilya Prigogine
Built upon one another, we believe Flow States of Coherence heighten our conscious capacity to create order amidst growing complexity and therefore support our growth and evolution. As observers, we witness the living system of a plant probe its environment for fuel — instinctively shaping its structure toward nutrients (light, water, carbon) needed to enact its flow and function. With greater knowledge of what fuels our highly unique subset of strengths, we are able to design structures (roles, activities, experiences) that enact our flow, function, and purpose – bringing power to the flow of life within our lived experience [6]. Through personal experimentation, we can actively create dialogue between the nature “in here” and “out there” to build upon existing coherence. As Ilya Prigogine says, “Being and Becoming are not to be opposed one to the other: they express two related aspects of reality.” Lived experience built upon lived experience, we are empowered to discover greater freedom and access to our strength.
Flow State of Coherence: a direct experience of accessing our strengths and taking action with an underlying sense of freedom and joy.
To support personal innovation, it is important to cultivate a deep understanding of the feeling of freedom in our bodies and lived experience. “We need a quality of knowing that allows us to connect with and appreciate more deeply the dignity and interiority of the worlds that surround us and that we co-shape and co-enact moment to moment” [4]. Humans have the capacity to cultivate confident access to self-transcending knowledge, or “tacit knowledge prior to its embodiment in day-to-day practices” which emphasizes “the ability to sense and presence the emerging opportunities, to see the coming-into-being of the new” [8]. We posit that self-transcending knowledge can be more readily accessed through Strength Grounding — examining and understanding historical patterns of perceived successes and failures through the lens of our personal strength’s experience and tacit knowledge.
Claiming this one-of-a-kind embodied knowledge, individuals are empowered to bring forth creations and innovations that could only manifest through their perspective. “The more the capacity for deep sensing and presencing is developed and cultivated, the more easily skilled change makers, leaders, and other developmental professionals will be able to tune into latent developmental possibilities that are neither empirically evident (yet) nor merely a subjective fiction in the eye of the beholder” [4]. With conscious knowledge of the strengths within, individuals can design greater access to their tacit or embodied knowledge and liberate the flow of their spirit [2] — fueling innovation and bolstering confidence in choices made today that lead into a personally desired future.
Through wholly seeing and honoring our strength, we build our capacity to greet the unknown. We invite you to become the scientist of your own life and embrace your distinct power to create. We all have a great opportunity to meet the future and its unknown challenges with confidence, courage, and creativity — maintaining mindful flexibility as we find edges of our own experience and seek interdependence with the life that surrounds us. Through empowered strength and cultivated presence, we are empowered as innovators and designers of life, coherence, and harmony.
“Of all the virtues we can learn no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.”
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Wonder Treks
Wonder Treks are experimental excursions designed to explore our distinct power to create. All participants will first complete a Grounding Journey before venturing into the wilderness for deep listening, deep play, and deep trust with the intention to strengthen our relationship with the nature within and around us.
