Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi

A person who cannot override genetic instructions when necessary is always vulnerable.

When people reflect on how it feels when their experience is most positive, they mention at least one, and often all, of the following. First, the experience usually occurs when we confront tasks we have a chance of completing. Second, we must be able to concentrate on what we are doing. Third and fourth, the concentration is usually possible because the task undertaken has clear goals and provides immediate feedback. Fifth, one acts with a deep but effortless involvement that removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life. Sixth, enjoyable experiences allow people to exercise a sense of control over their actions. Seventh, concern for the self disappears, yet paradoxically the sense of self emerges stronger after the flow experience is over. Finally, the sense of the duration of time is altered; hours pass by in minutes, and minutes can stretch out to seem like hours. The combination of all these elements causes a sense of deep enjoyment that is so rewarding people feel that expending a great deal

what comes to mind?

Narcissistic individuals, who are mainly concerned with protecting their self, fall apart when the external conditions turn threatening.

Unless a person knows how to give order to his or her thoughts, attention will be attracted to whatever is most problematic at the moment: it will focus on some real or imaginary pain, on recent grudges or long-term frustrations. Entropy is the normal state of consciousness—a condition that is neither useful nor enjoyable.

Baseline

The ultimate test for the ability to control the quality of experience is what a person does in solitude, with no external demands to give structure to attention.

But how we cope is both the most important factor in determining what effects stress will have and the most flexible resource, the one most under our personal control.

The meaning of life is meaning: whatever it is, wherever it comes from, a unified purpose is what gives meaning to life.