Layla's review of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
177731
Layla's review
rating: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
bookshelves: self-improvement
status: Read in April, 2008

This book is filled with insight. The author explains the personality type possessed by those who experience flow often, the "autotelic" personality. He says that these individuals interpret their negative circumstances in a positive way, continually challenge and enrich themselves, and take ownership of their choices making them more dedicated to their goals. He discusses how to experience flow - that one must become immersed in the activity and perform it for its own sake, in a manner that is not self-conscious. He states that having so many options to pursue can lead to uncertainty of purpose and that we can master this challenge by having self-knowledge.

My favorite passage, "One of the basic differences between a person with an autotelic self and one without it is that the former knows that it is she who has chosen whatever goal she is pursuing. What she does is not random, nor is it the result of outside determining forces. This fact results in two se...more
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