The flow state offers rare clarity. We asked athletes, chefs and musicians how they find it again and again — and how you can, too. Plus: Season three of The White Lotus has officially come to a close, but there's still one way to get your fix.

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Can the “Flow State” Save Us From Distraction?

BY TANNER GARRITY

I learned a new phrase the other day: “digital dementia.” It’s not an actual health condition — not yet, at least — but a term to describe a creeping, recognizable phenomenon. We are becoming a scatterbrained people. All of us. Even our kids. We’re reading emails while people we love are trying to tell us stories. We’re online shopping while our supposed favorite shows are on. We’re opening an app and closing it and opening the exact same one a millisecond later.

Never mind that the phones are addictive. Never mind you didn’t ask for this. Those facts are now as concrete, as immutable, as the reality that your life is singular — and each day is inching closer to its end. So accept it, and ask yourself: What am I going to do about it?

Two words: find flow.

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What It’s Really Like to Stay at All Three of the “White Lotus” Resorts

As the scandalous third season comes to a close, The White Lotus has cemented its status as a cultural phenomenon. Sure, it’s one of the top-viewed shows on television, but as a meme-generating monster, its presence is felt even by those who don’t watch. And while it stirs up plenty of intrigue by mining taboo subject matter, world travelers seem more compelled by its association with a certain real-life hotel brand.

The Four Seasons has served as scenic backdrop for the series since its debut in 2021; first at its Maui resort, then in Taormina and most recently with a property on the plush Thai island of Koh Samui. Because The White Lotus focuses on — and takes its name from — a fictionalized chain of luxury resorts, these real-life hotels often feel like stars of the show.

So, despite the abhorrent activities depicted onscreen across these various settings (a list which now includes staff-led room break-ins and robberies, shootings and even murder), set-jetters can’t stay away. All this is to say, if you’re looking to recreate that same sort of thrill, we're in a unique position to help.

Is the Middle-Class Cocktail Dead?

BY KIRK MILLER

“The $15 cocktail is back, thank God.”

One of my favorite drinks writers, Robert Simonson (The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World’s First Classic Cocktail with Recipes and Lore was possibly the first cocktail book I read cover-to-cover), recently penned a piece for Grub Street extolling the return of the $15 cocktail.

Which is good! The article provides a wonderful overview of new bars by seasoned cocktail vets who are ditching the $22 drink for more accessible pricing. After reading the article, I was pleased. But before I took a deep dive and actually read it, the headline threw me off and caused a bit of commentary in the office — also from people who, admittedly, probably hadn’t read the whole piece yet. The consternation was all from the same place: When did $15 become the new $12? Which, even a little while back, was $10?