So how would you describe the German meaning of “flow”?
I’ve been seeing people wishing each other more joy and flow this year. Just like the word “handy”, “flow” seems to have taken on a life of its own in the German language. It seems “flow” is no longer reserved for mountain bikers.
Flow was reserved for mountain bikers? I hadn't heard that one, yet.
For the German, here's an extract the wiki about Flow
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(Psychologie )
So formulierte etwa der Spieltheoretiker Hans Scheuerl[3] in den 1950er Jahren seine berühmten Kriterien für das Wesen des Spiels, bei denen er u. a. das „Entrücktsein vom aktuellen Tagesgeschehen“, „das völlige Aufgehen in der momentanen Tätigkeit“ oder „das Verweilen in einem Zustand des glücklichen Unendlichkeitsgefühls“ hervorhebt, in dem man für immer oder immer wieder verharren möchte. In the 1950s, for example, the game theorist Hans Scheuerl[3] formulated his famous criteria for the essence of play, in which he emphasised, among other things, "being removed from the current events of the day", "being completely absorbed in the momentary activity" or "remaining in a state of happy infinity", in which one would like to remain forever or again. I'd always known it in that sense, and it seems like quite a nice thing to wish someone. I'd be interested to know whether the word has shifted in meaning (as words tend to do) more recently.
The only thing I think of when I hear flow in German is the cadence of a rapper. I have the gut feeling that you didn’t participate in any rap battles lately, so: I think it’s a Yoga thing as well which is probably what the ladies you quote are talking about...
Nice, coherent description. I never asked myself about it, but after reading what you wrote; I thought: "oh, that is it, that describes what makes me happy, in my work or with my hobbies, and what I miss sometimes"