Thursday, March 24, 2011

"Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience"

I was first introduced to the ideas of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi last year while reading a magazine article on happiness. I finally read his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Flow "is the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter." The process itself provides enjoyment. Csikszentmihalyi developed a theory on the optimal experience based on the concept of flow. He argues that there are several requirements needed to create an optimal experience: it must be challenging and require skill, involve a great deal of focus, provide clear goals and feedback, initiate a loss of self-consciousness, and transform time.

Csikzsentmihalyi goes on to explain that since the optimal experience depends on the capacity to control what occurs in our consciousness we all have the ability to achieve flow and therefore create happiness at anytime. "Attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience" because it determines what appears in our consciousness. He labels attention psychic energy and explains that "we create ourselves by how we invest this energy." Any information that enters our consciousness will be interpreted and evaluated. If it conflicts with our intentions it will create psychic entropy or disorder in our consciousness - i.e: fear, anxiety, anger, or jealousy. If it reinforces our aims order is maintained and psychic energy is not wasted because there is "no threat for the self to defend against."

In his research on the conditions of flow, Csikszentmihalyi found that every flow experience "provided a sense of discovery...and pushed the person to higher levels of performance. It transformed the self by making it more complex." This growth of the self is the key to flow. The following diagram demonstrates this process. When you learn a new sport or activity you will engage in flow because the challenge matches your novice skill level (A1). If you keep practicing and introduce new challenges you will maintain flow (A4). However when we aren't challenged we become bored (A2) and when we don't practice to develop skills new challenges will create anxiety (A3). Notice that A1 and A4 are both flow, yet are quite different because A4 is a more complex experience as it involves greater challenges and skills.

We can create flow in any experience in any aspect of our lives. There are literally thousands of opportunities to expand ourselves physically, mentally, at work, with family or friends, and when we are alone. The formula for flow is constant. Any experience can be transformed at will because it is the result of our channeled attention. The irony is that despite the astounding number of opportunities within our reach, "most of us go on being bored and vaguely frustrated." New challenges are avoided and inner discipline suffers.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience is well written and researched by Csikszentmihalyi and his staff. The concept of flow is relatively simple but can be applied to every facet of our lives. I thoroughly enjoyed Flow. As a result, I highly recommended that you read this book. I look forward to reading more books by Csikszentmihalyi.

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