Flow

Abstract

In his groundbreaking books, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990) and The Evolving Self (1993), Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi reported on over two decades of research into the sources of human happiness. His studies showed that people were happiest when they were involved in challenging efforts that used all of their skills and concentration. According to Csikszentmihalyi (1990), "the best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile" (p. 3). When people are in this state of 'flow," they are intensely involved in a meaningful activity and able to remain focused for the length of time needed to achieve a deeply valued goal. The opposite of flow is psychic entropy, a state in which random information disrupts consciousness and creates inner disorder