The Evolving Self Quotes

“One of the simplest ways to decrease the frequency of negative thoughts is by selectively moderating expectations.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium

“To what extent have I accepted other people’s definition of who I am and what I could be? How ignorant am I of the values held by people of different cultures? Or more prosaically: Do I actually like the highly advertised values of my car? Is the company I work for deserving of my loyalty? Is working seventy hours a week really the best investment of my life energy? Is a slim figure, a youthful look the highest peak of human accomplishment? It was for asking similar questions that Socrates had to drink hemlock, and Savonarola was burned at the stake.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“The normal condition of the mind is chaos. Only when involved in a goal-directed activity does it acquire order and positive moods.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium

“Perhaps the most urgent task facing us is to create a new educational curriculum that will make each child aware, from the first grade on, that life in the universe is interdependent. It should be an education that trains the mind to perceive the network of causes and effects in which our actions are embedded, and trains the emotions and the imagination to respond appropriately to the consequences of those actions.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“when attention is not focused on a goal, the mind typically begins to be filled with disjointed and depressing thoughts.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium

“Those who always worry about what can go wrong might be well prepared against dangers but will never know how enjoyable life can be.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium

“It is precisely because the unknowns are so great and dangerous that we require some manner of faith to choose our path and to give us courage.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“Huxley suggested rock climbing as an ideal basic training for citizenship. This sport teaches young people that survival depends on developing skills and on preparing oneself to face risks and unexpected contingencies. They discover that every move they make has real consequences involving life and death. In addition, a rock climber learns to take responsibility for another person’s life, and learns to trust his life in the hands of the companion who holds the other end of the rope to which he is attached. What could be a more concrete way of shaping a complex self? The”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“The mystique of climbing is climbing; you get to the top of a rock glad it’s over but really wish it could go on forever. The justification of climbing is climbing, like the justification of poetry is writing; you don’t conquer anything except things in yourself…. The act of writing justifies poetry. Climbing is the same: recognizing that you are a flow. The purpose of the flow is to keep on flowing, not looking for a peak or utopia but staying in the flow. It is not a moving up but a continuous flowing; you move up only to keep the flow going. There is no possible reason for climbing except the climbing itself; it is a self-communication. What”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“it seems clear that if you are an extrovert, have strong self-esteem, and look at the world with optimism, you will have a better chance of becoming successful and leading a satisfying life.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“Oppression is often made possible by a new technological advance—sometimes as dramatic as the introduction of farming, sometimes as apparently trivial as the stirrup.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“Poets make much of the majestic eagle soaring freely among the snowy peaks. But the eyes of the eagle are generally focused on the ground, searching for rodents lurking in the shadows. The lives of much of humanity could be summed up in similar terms. Let”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“Shaping one’s own reality, living in a world one has created, can be as enjoyable as writing a symphony. No”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“Of the many causes that shaped St. Francis’s actions, a primary one was the belief that his actions mattered, and that he had a responsibility to change the world around him. This belief, in itself, is a “cause.” The idea of free will is a self-fulfilling prophecy; those who abide by it are liberated from the absolute determinism of external forces. Chance”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“In discarding a literal religious explanation, it becomes easy to discredit the hard-won wisdom often bundled up with it.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self

“Often we feel a sense of transcendence, as if the boundaries of the self had been expanded. The sailor feels at one with the boat, the wind, and the sea;”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Evolving Self