Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Masterminds Series) Paperback Author: Visit Amazon's Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0465024114 | Format: PDF, EPUB
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From Library Journal
While many self-help books purport to tell readers how to find happiness, few such titles can claim to be based on any scientifically valid, large-scale studies. One of the happy exceptions was University of Chicago psychologist Csikszentmihalyi's Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (LJ 3/15/90). There the author published the results of studies using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), in which he found that people were happiest when most absorbed in their actions, a state the author termed flow. The current book (part of Basic's series purporting to present "a crystallization of a lifetime's work and thought" by noted scholars) presents similar material, but with an emphasis slightly shifted toward practical applications of the ESM findings. Public librarians should check their shelves: if their copies of Flow are tattered or nonexistent, they should definitely buy this new title; if they have a decent copy of the older book, this is still a recommended purchase. Academic libraries need to have the author's more scholarly book but will find this popular with undergraduates.?Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, Wash.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Csikszentmihalyi eloquently argues that living fully in the here and now requires that one heed the lessons of the past and acknowledge that today's most seemingly trivial acts inevitably have an impact on the future. --
The New York Times Book Review, Jacqueline Boone See all Editorial Reviews
Books with free ebook downloads available Download Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life
- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Basic Books; Masterminds Series edition (April 6, 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0465024114
- ISBN-13: 978-0465024117
- Product Dimensions: 2.1 x 3.2 x 0.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
`What is a good life?', is basically the question addressed by this book. Well, isn't a good life just about being happy? Ok, but that is not the complete answer. For how do we become and stay happy? Not by watching TV, eating, or relaxing all day! In small doses these things are good and improve your daily life, but the effects are not additive. In other words: a point of diminishing returns is quickly reached. Also you don't become happy by having to do nothing. Csikszentmihalyi's research shows that both intrinsic motivation (wanting to do something) and extrinsic motivation (having to do something) are preferable to not having any kind of goal to focus your attention.
Csikszentmihalyi argues that a life filled with `flow activities' is more worth living than one spent consuming passive entertainment. He says, the point is to be happy while doing things that stretch your goals and skills that help you grow and fulfil your potential. In other words: the content of your experiences over a lifetime determines the quality of your life. Then what exactly ìs `flow'? Is it just some vague new New Age concept? Not at all! It is precisely defined and well-researched. The experience if flow is the sense of effortless action we feel in moments that we see as the best in our lives. In order to have flow experiences you need clear goals/demands, immediate and relevant feedback and a balance between your skills and the demands. Then your attention becomes ordered and fully invested. Because of the total demand on you psychic energy you become completely focused, your self-consciousness disappears, as does your sense of time, yet you feel strong and competent.
Several books have been written on the subject of happiness, good life, meaningful life etc. Typically, writers unravel their "philosophy of life" without backing up their theories with facts. Most of the self help books are full of clichés like "Have a positive attitude", "Never give up" etc. Mihaly takes a very different approach. Armed with a scientific approach to measure experiences (ESM - Experience Sampling Method) Mihaly goes on to show the correlation between the choices people make and the quality of their lives. Again, what is propounded by the author is not "coffee table philosophy" but inference drawn on the basis of statistical data collected in several experiments. ESM study clearly shows that people feel at their best when they indulge in high- challenge, high skill activities (like demanding work, playing a game, pursuing a hobby) and feel at their worst when they indulge in low challenge - low skill activities (like watching TV). As one of the reviewers has written, some argue that this can be deduced from "common sense". There is a huge difference between the conventional wisdom attributed to common sense and inferences drawn on the basis of research. As one of the experiments described by Mihaly indicates a myth (attributed to "common sense") that people "know" how to use leisure falls flat on its face. (More on this in next paragraph)
The book touches upon a variety of interesting and important topics. Of all the topics discussed in the book, the one I that I like best is the chapter on Risks and Rewards of Leisure. As Mihaly points out, we are some how supposed to possess skills required for the effective use of leisure. As the ESM based research indicates, people feel good when they do things they want to do or do things that they have to do.
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