Flow the psychology of optimal experience

Want to increase your wellbeing, creativity, and productivity? If so, you might want to cultivate flow, a concept describing those moments when you’re completely absorbed in a challenging but doable task. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, considered one of the co-founders of “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). The experience of flow is universal and has been reported to occur across all classes, genders, ages, and cultures, and it can be experienced during many types of activities. If you’ve ever heard someone describe a time when their performance excelled and they were “in the zone,” they were likely describing an experience of flow. Flow occurs when your skill level and the challenge at hand are equal. Read on to learn more about Before you read on, we thought you might like to This Article Contains: • • • • • • • • • • Who was Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi? Csikszentmihalyi became a happiness researcher because of the adversity he faced growing up. He was a prisoner during World War II, and he witnessed the pain and suffering of the people around him during this time. As a result, he developed a curiosity about happiness and contentment. Csikszentmihalyi observed that many people were unable to live a life of contentment after their jobs, homes, and securi...

“Csikszentmihalyi arrives at an insight that many of us can intuitively grasp, despite our insistent (and culturally supported) denial of this truth. That is, it is not what happens to us that determines our happiness, but the manner in which we make sense of that reality. . . . The manner in which Csikszentmihalyi integrates research on consciousness, personal psychology and spirituality is illuminating.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review The bestselling classic that holds the key to unlocking meaning, creativity, peak performance, and true happiness. Legendary psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's famous investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi ("the leading researcher into ‘flow states’" —Newsweek) demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness, unlock our potential, and greatly improve the quality of our lives.

“Csikszentmihalyi arrives at an insight that many of us can intuitively grasp, despite our insistent (and culturally supported) denial of this truth. That is, it is not what happens to us that determines our happiness, but the manner in which we make sense of that reality. . . . T he manner in which Csikszentmihalyi integrates research on consciousness, personal psychology and spirituality is i lluminating.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review The bestselling classic that holds the key to unlocking meaning, creativity, peak performance, and true happiness. Legendary psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's famous investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi ("the leading researcher into ‘flow states’" —Newsweek) demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness, unlock our potential, and greatly improve the quality of our lives. Please note that: • For all ebook purchases, you will be prompted to create an account or login with your existing HarperCollins username and password. This ensures accurate delivery of your items. • To a...

While researching creative individuals, the author found in his research that they are happy due to the fact that in the process of insight they experience a state of flow. But the flow is not the exclusive property of some special people. The author builds a detailed, coherent and experimentally confirmed theory, in the center of which is the idea of a flow. This is a state of complete merging with your work, absorption by it, when you do not feel time, yourself, when instead of fatigue there is a constant surge of energy.

“Csikszentmihalyi arrives at an insight that many of us can intuitively grasp, despite our insistent (and culturally supported) denial of this truth. That is, it is not what happens to us that determines our happiness, but the manner in which we make sense of that reality. . . . The manner in which Csikszentmihalyi integrates research on consciousness, personal psychology and spirituality is illuminating.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review The bestselling classic that holds the key to unlocking meaning, creativity, peak performance, and true happiness. Legendary psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's famous investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi ("the leading researcher into ‘flow states’" —Newsweek) demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness,unlock our potential,and greatly improve the quality of our lives. Editorial Reviews "Documents a set of scientific discoveries about human nature that actually illuminates the life experiences of all persons." — Howard Gardner, author of Frames of Mind “Flow is important......

• العربية • Català • Čeština • Dansk • Deutsch • Eesti • Español • Esperanto • فارسی • Français • 한국어 • Hrvatski • Italiano • עברית • Magyar • Nederlands • 日本語 • Norsk bokmål • Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча • Polski • Português • Русский • Simple English • Slovenščina • Српски / srpski • Suomi • Svenska • Türkçe • Українська • Tiếng Việt • 粵語 • 中文 In flow state, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the Named by the [ need quotation to verify] The flow state shares many characteristics with Components [ ] Jeanne Nakamura and Csíkszentmihályi identify the following six factors as encompassing an experience of flow: • Intense and focused • Merging of • A loss of • A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity • A distortion of temporal experience, as one's • Experience of the activity as intrinsically Those aspects can appear independently of each other, but only in combination do they constitute a so-called flow experience. Additionally, psychology writer Kendra Cherry has mentioned three other components that Csíkszentmihályi lists as being a part of the flow experience: • Immediate feedback • Feeling the potential to succeed • Feeling so engrossed in the experience, that other needs become negligible Just as with the conditions listed above, these conditions can be independent of one another. Etymology [ ] Flow is so named because, during Csíkszentmihályi's 1975 interviews, several people described their "flow" experiences using the metaphor of a w...