A framework for aligning our thoughts and actions to attract happiness

books:


	• Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Harper Perennial, 1991 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 106 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A framework for aligning our thoughts and actions to attract happiness

Flow is an extraordinary masterpiece of insightful and moving examples of what it takes to achieve optimal experience. Those looking for a step-by-step recipe for happiness will not find it in this book, but instead find a flexible framework for improving ourselves, our lives and their outcomes.

Donald Marzullo
Chief Executive Officer
Vitalshield.com

Psychology or Philosophy ?

This is a curious but engaging book. Despite the use of the word 'psychology' on the cover, I would rate it 1/3 psychology, 2/3 philosophy, anthropology, and sociology. The author's psychological contribution is based on a series of self-reporting tests where subjects were beeped at random moments and asked to record their moods and thoughts. Lord knows what happened if the beep came during a sensitive business meeting or while making love, the author does not say. He should have. Little also is made of the tendency of anyone to respond in accordance with what they feel will be expected of them or will be well received. This factor and how it was treated should have been debated. When all that is said and done however, there is an honest and provocative account of what makes for the happiest experiences of (mostly) (western, industrialised, modern) people. You could also reframe it as an account of how these same (mostly) (western, modern, indistrialised) people arrive at the state of concentrated and unified attention which throughout the ages has been recognised as the path to paradise. The author gives in fact fair attention to the Oriental paths to the same result, although he stops short of recognising that the Oriental formulation of the result is meaningful. The author's knowledge of the philosophical tradition is deep, and his references to it are always refreshing. A thoroughly interesting read, to be balanced with any modern work on neuro-psychiatry for a satisfying synthesis.

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Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Received the book promptly, and it was in excellent condition.

Great, grounded book

This book covers a lot of territory and does it in a very grounded manner. The interface of pyschology and spirituality is fascinating and this book brings us right to the heart of that junction where we can access much higher principles of living through a practical, real world application of research and experience. Using a significant body of research, Csikszentmihalyi delves into the question of why are we here and what is our purpose. He gets there by studying optimal experience. What is happiness? How can we sustain it given the randomness of life? He supports the rather convenient conclusion that our purpose is what we decide it will be by illustrating the necessity of ordering our consciousness through focused activiities. Actions that lead to something, somewhere. He beautifully conveys the idea that our goals in life, while deemed valuable by either ourselves or our conditioning, are not apt to be valuable if not for the committment of our actions over time. That it is really this focus that brings value to any activity and goal. Further, if we want to extend meaning to our entire life, we need to find a way to tie all of our focused activity into a theme. Thus our life efforts can provide both meaningful experience and valuable results. He offers guidance as to how to tie our decisions about our life-theme into a greater whole, for example, how traumatic experience can provide the opportunity for transcendence by helping others avoid similar trauma. The last chapter, which offers the big picture perspective of the material, was particularly uplifting and helpful as I travel a journey of 'figuring out what I want to be when I grow up'.

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reviews: 1, page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

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