Page 37 - BB_Textbook

GRADE 12
What’s Happiness & Flow?
Adaptation of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Finding Flow (New York: Basic Books, 1997), pp. 17-34.
Arousal
Flow
Control
Relaxation
High
Anxiety
Read along as you listen to this summary of finding flow, take notes, and prepare to identify the speaker’s three main points.
What we do each day depends on how we experience life.
It doesn’t matter if you live in the Delta or Ho Chi Minh City, or if you are rich
or poor. What matters is how you live your life. Humans share basic emotions. Each emotion is positive (attractive) or negative (repulsive). Emotions help us choose what is good.
VOCABULARY Worry
alert anxiety Aristotle aspirations
attractive Apathy
Happiness is a positive emotion. More
than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle explained
that humans do not want wealth, health, or fame. Rather, they seek these things because they will make us happy. If happiness is the basic emotion, what do we know about it?
boredom
challenging Boredom
clarity
emotions Low
experiences SKILLS
psychology repulsive risks sociology trigger zap
The quality of life experience is a function of the relationship between challenges and skills; flow experience occurs when these two variables are both high. Source: Csikszentmihalyi 1997, p. 31.
For decades, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has researched
how we live. Drawing on psychology and sociology, he concludes that if we pursue challenging tasks, we are
more active, strong, alert, and happy. Our quality of life depends on how we develop goals, pursue aspirations, take risks, communicate, and use our minds. Positive emotions (happiness, strength, alertness) increase energy. Negative emotions (sadness, fear, anxiety, boredom) zap energy.
What we call “thinking” is how we order our energy. Goals place desired outcomes in order. Our thinking links cause and effect. So for example, when a woman falls in love, she experiences emotions common to love. She sets goals – to win another’s heart. This triggers thoughts of cause and effect to reach her goal.
One experiences “flow” when living with clarity about emotions, goals, and thoughts. One’s energy aligns with commitment to meet a challenge. One applies available skills to the task at hand. People are happiest when they are in the state of full concentration and completely absorbed in an activity they care about. Picture our woman in love. She is focused on wooing her lover. She links challenges to her skills. As her high challenge aligns with her high skills, she is living with commitment, and is “in the flow.”
BENDING BAMBOO
IDENTITY | CHAPTER 1 37
CHALLENGES
High