W - Where there is an

O - Opportunity for 

R - Rest as well as 

K - Kick 

WORK is associated with KICK, meaning a sudden forceful jolt, is believable. As it involves uncertainties, excitements, success, rewards, and failures. But how can work be associated with REST? How can two contradictory terms be understood as one? Mihaly Csikszent, a Hungarian - American Psychologist recognized for his work on happiness, creativity, and contributions in positive psychology has said:

“Contrary to what we usually believe, moments like these, the best moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times—although such experiences can also be enjoyable if we have worked hard to attain them. 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.” 

He has termed this optimal experience as FLOW, a state of self-forgetfulness where the doer and the action get merged, where there is utmost happiness, a state of rest arising from the work and challenges one faces during their work.. Flow is a state where an individual gets completely lost in the action, gets fully absorbed to an extent that the doer and doing are no more separate entities. The experience flow is universal across disciplines and fields and has existed for long with different names. Bruce Lee, pointing out to the state of flow has said:

“When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water, my friend”

The characteristics of flow state are:

• Intense and focused concentration on the present moment
• Merging of action and awareness
• A loss of reflective self-consciousness
• A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
• A distortion of temporal experience, one's subjective experience of time is altered
• Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding 

FLOW is associated with happiness, with deep rest which one gets during the process of working on something that is capable of making them enter the state of flow, hence that which is most meaningful work for an individual. Thus, the prerequisite for achieving a state of flow is to enquire about the intent behind what we do. In the case of teachers, to ask ourselves the motivations behind our work, finding meaning and purpose in our actions. Once we recognize the value in our work which is beyond monetary rewards, we can respect the work and be willing to be involved in it fully which will result in the happiness which one gets when they are working on something for hours and feel like a moment.   



References:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi