Educators are well versed in knowing when and how to go with the flow. We roll with the unexpected change; we seize the teachable moment. But are we as likely to FIND the flow? Several years ago when the 2008 edition of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience had just been released, a colleague recounted to me how his middle school-age daughter embodied "flow" in a candy-making project. At home the night before, she had made Halloween lollipops in chocolate molds. As my teacher friend described, his daughter spent hours completely engrossed in dabbing tiny bits of melted colored chocolate into the molds to create detail on pumpkins, ghosts, and witches.

According to psychologist Csikszentmihalyi (who has a TED Talk on the subject in addition to several other books), "flow" is "the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter" (2008). In lollipop making, this child found her flow: contented, productive focus, and accomplishment.

I know I've found my flow in a task when time passes without me realizing it. This story about the Halloween lollipops has become my litmus test of sorts for noticing what makes me happy. According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow and the notion of "optimal experience" are related to happiness, which he explains we can shape for ourselves—to a point. "The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen" (2008, 3).

Making happiness happen isn't the same as setting out to find it, Csikszentmihalyi cautions. It's not something to be sought for the sake of it, lest we get so caught up in getting "happy" that we drain the pleasure during the pursuit. As I understand it, we can reach optimal experience by attending to, and then following, those "lollipop moments" that immerse us in personally balanced measures of concentration and joy.

Despite the likely contradiction in using "logical" to describe something creative, "flow" does seem like a logical interpretation of our Summer Escape theme for this issue of SLC! Summer is a perfect opportunity to notice where you find your flow. Maybe your flow is within the realm of a creative outlet that can be shared with your students. Teacher librarian Naomi Bates' May/June article on upcycling weeded books into wreaths or folded art might provide some inspiration. Or perhaps librarian Brooke Davis's use of coloring books in teaching mindfulness in this issue may encourage you to try this calming yet deliberate activity on your own and in your library.

Whether or not your optimal experience is something that pertains to your teaching (and it very well may not be), it's nevertheless professionally relevant to observe the feelings that flow invokes, and the surroundings that made it possible. Why? If you can call upon those sensations—cognitive, emotional, sensory, tactile—when facilitating creative opportunities for students and teachers, you may be able to enrich and scaffold their experiences more effectively. Optimal experience may not necessarily be found in the library or makerspace—but who knows? Delving deep into challenging and rewarding endeavors like coding, building, creating, and designing seems prime for finding flow.

So observe, or ask, what supports your users' focus and enjoyment. As practical parameters permit, offer a quiet space or hum of activity, a cozy chair or big table to spread out, a hand to help or an uninterrupted stretch of time, or other reasonable provisions and conditions. And of course, as you watch and guide your learners, remember to go with the flow.

I am excited to welcome a guest columnist to this Summer issue of School Library Connection. Allison Burrell is the K-12 librarian at Southern Columbia Area School District in Catawissa, Pennsylvania, and the 2016-2017 president of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA). As a Pennsylvanian and PSLA member, I regularly follow Allison's email updates about school library news, advocacy, and events. I was happy and curious to learn more about a message she sent in mid-April about a state resolution passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives declaring April 2017 as School Library Month in Pennsylvania. What a great occasion for school librarians—and students! Read more about the work behind this resolution and Allison's tips for speaking for your library program in her column.

Works Cited

Bates, Naomi. "Informal Learning, Creative Archiving, and the Library." School Library Connection (May/June 2017).

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. "Flow, the Secret to Happiness" TED Talk, February 2004. https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tedspread