Sublime

When a person is able to organize his or her consciousness so as to experience flow as often as possible, the quality of life is inevitably going to improve,

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.” Csikszentmihalyi calls this mental state flow

Happiness, or “flow,” occurs when we are: • intensely focused on an activity • of our own choosing, that is • neither underchallenging (boreout) nor overchallenging (burnout), that has • a clear objective, and that receives • immediate feedback.

la grande découverte de Csikszentmihalyi est qu’il existe un état que les gens apprécient davantage qu’un morceau de chocolat après un rapport sexuel. C’est l’état d’immersion totale dans un challenge difficile mais à leur portée, être plongé dans une situation dans laquelle ils peuvent se dépasser. Csikszentmihalyi nomma cet état «fluidité» car il

3 ENJOYMENT AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE

his 2003 book The Breakout Principle. In it, Benson mapped out the four stages of any flow experience. Stage 1, Benson discovered, is struggle. It could be physical or mental, like running a marathon or climbing a hill, playing chess, solving a complex problem, or creating a presentation. Stage 2 is release from that struggle. This happens at the

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

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Cal Newport for flow and deep work;

1 HAPPINESS REVISITED