Flow

1. A less drastic obstacle to experiencing flow is excessive self-consciousness. A person who is consistently worried about how others will perceive her, who is afraid of creating the wrong impression, or of doing something inappropriate, is also condemned to permanent expulsion from enjoyment. So are people who are excessively self-centered. A self-centered individual is usually not self-conscious, but instead evaluates every bit of information only in terms of how it relates to her desires.

   Flow

2. To overcome the anxieties and depressions of contemporary life, individuals must become independent of the social environment to the degree that they no longer respond exclusively in terms of its rewards and punishments. She has to develop the ability to find enjoyment and purpose regardless of external circumstances.

   Flow

3. Malcolm X, who in his early life followed the behavioral script for young men in the slum, fighting and dealing drugs, discovered in jail, through reading and reflection, a different set of goals through which to achieve dignity and self-respect. He invented an entirely new identity.

   Flow

4. Animals suffer just as we do when their biologically programmed goals are frustrated.

   Flow

5. The person whose attention is immersed in the environment becomes part of it — she participates in the system by linking herself to it through psychic energy. This, in turn, makes it possible for her to understand the properties of the system, so that she can find a better way to adapt to a problematic situation

   Flow

6. Great music, architecture, art, poetry, drama, dance, philosophy, and religion are there for anyone to see as examples of how harmony can be imposed on chaos. Yet so many people ignore them. Expecting to create meaning in their lives by their own devices. To do so is like trying to build up material culture from scratch in each generation.

   Flow

7. To arrive at this level of self-assurance one must trust oneself, one’s environment, and one’s place in it.

   Flow

8. Activity and reflection should ideally complement and support each other. Before investing great amounts of energy in a goal, it pays to raise the fundamental questions: is this something I really want to do? Is it something I enjoy doing? Am I likely to enjoy it in the foreseeable future? Is the price that I and others will have to pay worth it? Will I be able to love with myself if I accomplish it?

   Flow

9. We are biologically programmed to find other human beings the most important objects in the world. Because they can make life either very interesting and fulfilling or utterly miserable, how we manage relationships with them makes an enormous difference to our happiness.

   Flow

10. In that sense one would call them self-assured, yet at the same time, their egos seem curiously absent: they are not self-centered; their energy is typically not bent on dominating their environment as much as on finding a way to function within it harmoniously. This attitude occurs when a person no longer sees himself in opposition to the environment.

    Flow

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