I recently read the book below and thought I'd share a review I wrote for it for another site:
Finding Flow, The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Finding Flow is a great read for those of you looking to better understand how to accept
and enjoy your life and learn how to create the perception needed to do so.
Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced "chick-SENT-me-high") combines his years of psychological
study with his ability to teach others what he's found into an easy to understand
self-help book. He shows the correlation between the choices we make and the quality of
our lives.
Csikszentmihalyi paints the background by briefly explaining the history around a given
subject, then gives you solid, concrete knowledge of past studies and statistics (with
tables and diagrams embedded within the pages.) He then explains how to apply his
knowledge and findings to your life with simple examples one can relate to.
The book starts out by giving us a context for how we perceive and feel things. What
does it mean to
live your life and how does this depend on your social status,
sex, age, etc.? Then what is it that we do with our free time? How we spend our free
time and who we spend it with largely defines our everyday life. There are three main
functions - production, maintenance, and leisure - that absorb our psychic energy. These
functions are what provides the information that goes through our minds day after day,
and within these parameters our life unfolds - determining the sum of our days.
Basically, Csikszentmihalyi shows us that
how we experience these functions is the
most important part of what our 'happiness' level is. Two people could have the same
job, same monotinous factory position and depending how each perceives and experiences
what they do, will determine the level of happiness in their lives.
Csikszentmihalyi does, however, steer clear of the word happiness. His word is flow. He
defines flow as being "in the zone", it's the effortless action one feels in the moments
that stand out as the best in their lives. He says flow tends to occur when a person
faces a clear set of goals that require appropriate responses,the activites involved
provide immediate feedback, and a person's skills are matched to the challenges faced.
Therefore the full involvement of flow, rather than happiness, is what makes for
excellence in life.
One of my favorite chapters was The Paradox of Work. Csikszentmihalyi talks about the
ambiguity we feel; we know work is one of the most important elements of our lives, yet
while we do it, we'd rather not be doing it. The history of work and various living
conditions related to work are gone into in detail, showing how modern age technology
influences our work, attitudes toward it, and hours we spend doing it. There is also
some interesting information regarding the differences between men and women and work.
In the chapter, Relationships and the Quality of Life, gender differences are again
discussed. One I thought that was very interesting was that the moods of the father
affect the rest of the family, the moods of the children affect the mother, and the moods
of the mother rarely affect anyone else. How we relate with others and our families
again determines our excellence in life. Csikszentmihalyi also hits on how community
involvement affects relationships in general and our lives as a whole.
The choices we make, the way we choose to perceive given situations, and how we choose to
react to them are key elements of living that life of excellence. One chooses and wills
one's fate. We need to experience activities for the activity themselves, not the end
result. Love what you do just for the sake of doing it.
How does one change the patterns already established in their lives to get that life of
excellence? Read the book and get some concrete steps to changing your life into the one
you want, filled with flow and excellence!
