The mind is completely unified and ‘one with the experience.’” What Csikszentmihalyi calls “flow” is a meditative state we might compare to the ancient Buddhist state of ekaggata-or “one-pointed concentration”-a state meditation teacher Shaila Catherine describes as “certainty, deep stability, and clarity….

What does this mean? Youtuber Fight Mediocrity‘s short book video book review above-which also teaches us how to pronounce Csikszentmihalyi’s name-explains the concept in brief, noting the book’s references to Stoic philosophers Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius and psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl to point out that the idea isn’t new but has been around for centuries: The idea being, as Csikszentmihalyi says in his TED talk, that we naturally experience the greatest happiness when fully absorbed in work we find meaningful and fulfilling. “Flow” is the shorthand word he uses to refer to the thesis of his book of the same name: “A person can himself be happy, or miserable, regardless of what is actually happening ‘outside,’ just by changing the contents of consciousness.” After chancing upon a Jungian lecture in Switzerland by a speaker who turned out to actually be Carl Jung, Csikszentmihalyi embarked on a course of study in the field now widely known as “ positive psychology.” He now co-directs the Quality of Life Research Center at Claremont Graduate University and studies “human strengths such as creativity, engagement, intrinsic motivation, and responsibility.” Yes, he may present his ideas in popular self-help books and articles, but this does not make his data or conclusions any less sound than in his academic work.

Creativity by mihaly csikszentmihalyi