The most profound reading experience I've had was the book Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (say that three times fast). It was taught in a Brown University psychology intro class.

Flow, the theory or term discussed in the book, agrees with my father's thinking that happiness is derived from the process (rather than being some sort of final desired homeostasis). Indeed, Csikszentmihalyi was investigating optimal human experience with this work. Everyone must want to know how to reach optimal human experience. That's rainbows-all-day-long territory.

What is it, then? Flow is a state that arises from activities that use our core skillset but also challenge us, leading to increased motivation and immersion within what we’re doing. The result is that we are more content, partially because performance is improved.

Flow is an all-natural performance-enhancing drug. Utilizing flow, like meditation, can almost put our brains on steroids (as discussed in "Flow as ADD Self-Help" below). Our brain has incredible neurochemical capacities, of course. Flow allows us to make use of the calm, proactive "drugs" that arise in our body with forward motion.

If we do struggle to stay........

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