Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

In the search for a happy and meaningful life, sometimes it's hard to know where the heck to look. This book offers a useful way of looking at this quest.

The author explores how we can work towards enjoyment and quality of life, the difference between enjoyment and pleasure, and how flow can lead to finding meaning or purpose in life.

Of course if your basic survival needs are not met, this would be more difficult to achieve and the writer acknowledges this. That would have to come first for the most part.

Flow: Most of the book is about pursuing activities that put you in a “flow” experience of enjoyment, and this concept is repeated throughout. A flow experience is when someone engages in an activity with a clear goal, that gives them a sense of control over their actions, completely absorbs their attention, and that tests skills at just the right level. The right level being enough to be a challenge, but not so much that it becomes stressful.

The writer maintains that after experiencing these episodes of flow, a person will have added a new sense of complexity to the self.

After the basic idea of flow is broken down, most of the book shows examples of areas where flow can be found, including mental activities like science, or writing, and physical activity such as dance or sports, and even in working what seems to be mundane jobs. There are many interviews and personal accounts of people who have experienced flow and have found meaning in their lives.

Meaning of Life: The last chapter is on the making of meaning, which seems to be the most important but where the author is not as able to give clear steps. I suppose meaning should be discovered for yourself and no one can really tell you how to go about it. But generally, if your goals are a part of a larger, unified purpose that would give meaning to one's life.

The idea of participating in activities that engage and challenge you to add enjoyment to life might seem sort of obvious but the book breaks down and gives clarity to a process that many people perform without thinking about it or analyzing it.

Wow. Imagine that. The psychology of optimal experience. What a revelation this book was to me when I first read it way back in 1990. Imagine looking at what makes people happy and engaged rather than sad and depressed.

I've always wanted to reread it and now I have. It was just as engaging and powerful this time as it was twenty years ago. I feel happy just thinking about times I've been in that experience of flow, when I was engaged in a task that I had the ability to solve but that required the devotion of my entire self to accomplish the job.

A must-read for anyone interested in happiness.