Scan barcode
A review by tristy
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
3.0
A bit dated and strangely capitalist -like there is a chapter about how happy factory workers can be on the assembly line. But there are some really powerful gems in here. Essentially, happiness doesn’t come from outside people/experiences, but how we choose to show up to those experiences. He uses the word “control” a lot - how we "control" our minds, experiences, etc., but I think ultimately we can't "control" much of anything in life and it is a recipe for disappointment when we think we can. What we can do is choose to show up to every moment we are having and allow absolutely anything to happen - that is when amazing gifts can arise. And he does touch on this concept, like this quote from the book:
“The most important step in emancipating oneself from social controls is the ability to find rewards in the events of each moment. If a person learns to enjoy and find meaning in the ongoing stream of experience, in the process of living itself, the burden of social controls automatically falls from one’s shoulders. Power returns to the person when rewards are no longer relegated to outside forces. It is no longer necessary to struggle for goals that always seem to recede into the future, to end each boring day with the hope that tomorrow, perhaps, something good will happen. Instead of forever straining for the tantalizing prize dangled just out of reach, one begins to harvest the genuine rewards of living.” (Page 19)
I also found his distinction between "pleasure" and "enjoyment" really fascinating. Also how important it is to really let go our our idea of who we are and just BE who we actually are: “...loss of self-consciousness does not involve a loss of self, and certainly not a loss of consciousness, but rather, only a loss of consciousness of the self. What slips below the threshold of awareness is the concept of self, the information we use to represent to ourselves who we are.” (Page 64)
Also, a surprising bonus, I learned about the elaborate secret codes used my mystic poets in Ireland and Wales, where epic poems used letters that stood for the names of trees and spelled out ancient wisdom for those who knew the code.
Overall a dense, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately interesting read.
“The most important step in emancipating oneself from social controls is the ability to find rewards in the events of each moment. If a person learns to enjoy and find meaning in the ongoing stream of experience, in the process of living itself, the burden of social controls automatically falls from one’s shoulders. Power returns to the person when rewards are no longer relegated to outside forces. It is no longer necessary to struggle for goals that always seem to recede into the future, to end each boring day with the hope that tomorrow, perhaps, something good will happen. Instead of forever straining for the tantalizing prize dangled just out of reach, one begins to harvest the genuine rewards of living.” (Page 19)
I also found his distinction between "pleasure" and "enjoyment" really fascinating. Also how important it is to really let go our our idea of who we are and just BE who we actually are: “...loss of self-consciousness does not involve a loss of self, and certainly not a loss of consciousness, but rather, only a loss of consciousness of the self. What slips below the threshold of awareness is the concept of self, the information we use to represent to ourselves who we are.” (Page 64)
Also, a surprising bonus, I learned about the elaborate secret codes used my mystic poets in Ireland and Wales, where epic poems used letters that stood for the names of trees and spelled out ancient wisdom for those who knew the code.
Overall a dense, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately interesting read.