“Hey,
can anyone out there disclose which is the secret formula of happiness?”
—Merce Cardus, I say Who, What, and Where!
In Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, professor and
former chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago
Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, professor and
former chairman of the Department of Psychology at the
Creative
persons have one thing in common:
“Creative
persons differ from one another in a variety of ways, but in one respect they
are unanimous: They all love what they do. It is not the hope of achieving fame
or making money that drives them; rather, it is the opportunity to do the work
that they enjoy doing.”
Are you programmed for
creativity?
“When
people are given a list and asked to choose the best description of what they
enjoy about doing what they enjoy most—reading, climbing, mountains, playing
chess—the answer most frequently chosen is ‘designing or discovering something
new.”
“By
random mutations, some individuals must have developed a nervous system in
which the discovery of novelty stimulates the pleasure centers in the brain.
Just as some individuals derive a keener pleasure from sex and others from
food, so some must have been born who derived a keener pleasure from learning
something new.”
The
force of entropy:
“But
there is another force that motivates us, and it is more primitive and more
powerful than the urge to create: the force of entropy.
This,
too, is a survival mechanism built into our genes by evolution. It gives us
pleasure when we are comfortable, when we relax, when we can get away with
feeling good without expending energy.”
What
is enjoyment?
“Certain
people devote many hours a week to their avocations, without any rewards of
money and fame.
Why
do they keep doing it?
It
is clear from talking to them that what keeps them motivated is the quality of
the experience they feel at the time. This feeling often involves painful,
risky, or difficult efforts that stretch the person’s capacity, as well as an
element of novelty and discovery.
I
call this optimal experience flow. ”
The
relation between flow and happiness:
“It
is tempting to conclude that the two must be the same thing; actually, the
connection is more complex. When we are in flow, we do not usually feel happy,
because we feel only what is relevant to the activity. Happiness is a
distraction.
It
is only after we get out of flow, at the end of a session or in moments of
distraction within it, that we might indulge in feeling happy.”
Twenty-five
centuries ago, Plato wrote that the most important task for a society was to
teach the young to find pleasure in the right objects. What should those right
things be?
“The problem is that it is easier to
find pleasure in things that are easier, in activities like sex and violence that
are really programmed into our genes.
Hunting,
fishing, eating and mating have privileged places in our nervous system. It is
also easy to enjoy making money, discovering new lands, or building elaborate palaces,
because these projects fit with survival strategies established long ago in our
physiological makeup.
It is
much more difficult to learn to enjoy doing things that were discovered
recently in our evolution—such as manipulating systems by doing math or composing
music—and to learn about the world and ourselves in the process.”
*****
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Deconstructing INFATUATION
by Merce Cardus
Giveaway ends April 23, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Click to order I say Who, What, and Where!
an inspirational
novel about the courage to be oneself freely.
Click to order Deconstructing INFATUATION
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.
a thought-provoking novel about infatuation.
Copyright © 2013 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All
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