Finding Flow

Alex Beleny
Professor Elnahal
ENG 112
31 August 2014
Summary of “Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life” In “Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life,” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains that happiness is not attained through leisure or relaxation, but through the fulfillment of flow. Flow is not exactly happiness, but a supreme feeling after accomplishing a demanding task. This feeling has been termed as being on top of one’s game, yet Csikszentmihalyi actually describes how to reach this “place” in a person’s everyday life, claiming that this is the goal for having a good and virtuous life. He reasons that true happiness is attained through reaching a state of flow- where a task completely immerses one’s thoughts and abilities, requiring one to have a lucid objective, equilibrium between demands and abilities, and instantaneous reaction to the task. Csikszentmihalyi states that flow results from an undertaking demanding enough of a person to cause stimulation and utter immersion in such a task, eliminating all feelings of boredom. This highly perplexing job however is supposed to be met with a person’s equally powerful skill that pertains to the challenge. He describes that even poorly educated people lacking capability can attain flow, considering the task strains all of their abilities. Even such people can have better and more rewarding lives than the affluent people in the world. For this experience of flow is so blissful but thrilling, removing all stresses and thoughts from people’s minds. According to Csikszentmihalyi, the mind does not have enough room for such hectic worries, since the mind is occupied with full alertness to the task people are in flow with. He details flow as a state of mind in which a person is totally aware and conscious of everything happening around them, but yet their mind is only on their task. A main component of flow is a person’s complete attention. This is not as easy as it sounds according to the author, who portrays life-threatening experiences that require attention or the result would be detrimental. He asks that whether a person would still be concerned with everyday qualms if they or someone else was at risk. Being submerged in the task for flow involves having stability between expertise and difficulty. Csikszentmihalyi describes that many struggle with this balance, usually ending up in a state of provocation or control on either side of the grandeur of flow. Provocation comes from a high difficulty and stimulating task with no ability to stabilize the task eventually ending in frustration, therefore making it hard to complete if at all. The range of control exists when a person exercises an excess of skill and lack of pressure, resulting in boredom from the mundane. Additionally, there is the need for an instantaneous reaction during a difficult task. The response to this task has to be strong to let the person know how far they are into completing it and how much is needed to fulfill such a job. During the feedback while in flow, a person knows exactly where they are in relation to the task. From this intense focus into the subject, time feels slow with the person being concentrated on what they are doing every second. However, flow does not allow happiness or peace. Flow causes constant attention and thinking to remain in it. Csikszentmihalyi describes to reach flow people must attempt tasks that they would normally avoid from the refusal to put forth more energy and attention. He goes on to detail that, although during flow a person is not happy, it is the completion of the objective in which one feels the rewards of being in flow. Happiness, joyousness, confidence, and serenity all result from accomplishing a task in flow, with most everyday chores being capable of reaching a state of flow. According to the author, if a person follows the steps to reach flow- where a task totally engages one’s thoughts and abilities, requiring one to have a lucid objective, equilibrium between demands and abilities, and instantaneous reaction to the task, people will constantly want to re-experience flow. Consequently, flow has short-term feelings of brilliance, and long-term effects of activity and liveliness that affect everyday life that improves the experiences in a person’s life.