flow
“Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person’s capacity to act.”
from Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
flow
Clearly, Flow has touched a nerve in the collective psyche. For too long psychology had been focused almost exclusively on the shadows of human existence. The behavior of men and women was seen as determined by biological inheritance and by outside forces, twisted by frustrated desire. Scant attention was paid to what makes life bearable,
... See moreMihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
In a sense, the flow state translates to the complete alignment of our conscious and subconscious minds in service of our intention. In flow, we have a special kind of access to the deeper resources of our subconscious and can draw upon them more directly. We can also seek this kind of VIP access to the subconscious via the techniques of hypnosis,
... See moreJames Doty • Mind Magic
Define for yourself one outcome that you focus on intently without distractions at any given time.
That’s all there is to it
That’s all there is to it
Kurtis Pykes • This Is How to Be In a Flow State 24/7 (Even if You’re a Busy Person)
The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
Given these observations, instead of worrying about how to make a million dollars or how to win friends and influence people, it seems more beneficial to find out how everyday life can be made more harmonious and more satisfying, and thus achieve by a direct route what cannot be reached through the pursuit of symbolic goals.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
Unless a person takes charge of them, both work and free time are likely to be disappointing. Most jobs and many leisure activities—especially those involving the passive consumption of mass media—are not designed to make us happy and strong. Their purpose is to make money for someone else.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
Cicero once wrote that to be completely free one must become a slave to a set of laws. In other words, accepting limitations is liberating.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
People who experience flow describe it as “a state of effortless concentration so deep that they lose their sense of time, of themselves, of their problems,” and their descriptions of the joy of that state are so compelling that Csikszentmihalyi has called it an “optimal experience.” Many activities can induce a sense of flow, from painting to
... See moreDaniel Kahneman • Thinking, Fast and Slow
When we are in flow, we often experience a state of self-transcendence: the inner critic’s needling voice dies away, our habitual worries and self-consciousness fade, and we feel at one with the moment, with ourselves, and with our environment.