Gardeners sometimes get so absorbed in their gardens that they lose track of time and, at least for a while, are able to forget about things that might otherwise preoccupy them. It’s a state that psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls ‘flow’. Csikszentmihalyi noticed how gardeners (as well as athletes, artists, craftspeople and musicians) enjoy total engagement in an activity where ‘the ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one.’ As a teacher for many years it was something I tried hard to enable for the children I worked with, so that learning was fuelled by this deep sense of absorption.
Critical to the state of ‘flow’ is a balance between skill and challenge. If being in the garden presents too much challenge we might feel anxious or overwhelmed; if the activity doesn’t interest us, we’ll be bored. In either scenario we’ll probably give up and maybe decide that gardening isn’t for us. Where the balance is right we are likely to find the energy and motivation to persevere as we build skill, confidence and enjoyment.
Unlike the school system, there is no fixed curriculum for learning to garden. We can choose to focus on what’s relevant to our individual horticultural interests and needs. No one is judging what standard we achieve or when we achieve it, and there are plenty of friendly and experienced gardeners to call on for expert tuition. You’ll know you’ve achieved the sublime state of flow when you nip out in your pyjamas to close the greenhouse door only to return 2 hours later having relocated 3 plants and dead-headed 10.
