According to positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, what I described with this skiing experience is known as flow state, defined as an “optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.” Csíkszentmihályi, who popularized the term in his 1990 book, notes the mental state of flow involves “Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies.