I read Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced mihai chick-sent-mi-hah-yee)'s book, Flow, when I was in my late 20s. I felt two emotions.
Happiness. At finding words that described a feeling I'd never put into words.
Surprise. That other people did not exist in this state!
A large chunk of the book was Mihaly giving practical (and good) tips for people to enter the state of flow. Which humoured me, like someone telling me how to take a bath.
Since then I've discovered, through observation, that I'm not unique. Indeed, being in flow states is a common characteristic of the people I enjoy working with.
And conversely, the people I don't enjoy being around have never experienced flow.
I lived in this binary subdivision until a conversation one day with my mother. She has directed many schools, some she's built up from scratch, some she's restored to their former glow. A common refrain is the teachers at her schools getting in touch with her again, decades later, to profusely thank her for "changing their lives".
Such conversations were common, casual. It was not pride but joy she shared with me when she told me of such encounters. I was happy to have more people join me in the rank of her admirers, but since I didn't really know details I never paid much thought to the mechanics of what she was trying to tell me.
Until that day, when it clicked. What all these people meant when they said she had "changed their lives" was that she had taught them how to exist in states of flow!
I don't know how to teach other people to enter such states, but now I know it can be taught. It is not something mystical. I feel everyone has the innate ability to enter states of flow. And while not everyone has a job that allows the tug of war between proficiency and inadequency that may be a prerequisite for flow, if you're reading this, it is likely that you have one such.
Push your boundaries. Energy doesn't come from rest, but energy. Pour your soul in what you're doing, and it might not make you rich (it might too), but you likely will experience the wonderful unity I'm calling flow.