Flow – Psychology of Optimal Experience

THE BODY IN FLOW ■ 111 remind the listener of the mother’s throbbing heart first heard in the womb. The next level of challenge ...

112 ■ FLOW Our culture seems to have been placing a decreasing emphasis on exposing young children to musical skills. Whenever c ...

THE BODY IN FLOW ■ 113 nious sounds is not only enjoyable, but like the mastery of any complex skill, it also helps strengthen t ...

114 ■ FLOW The preparation of food has developed in history according to the same principles as all other flow activities. First ...

THE BODY IN FLOW ■ 115 foods of Venice, they learn what kind of sausage goes best with polenta, and what kind of shrimp is the b ...

116 ■ FLOW be. Our physical apparatus has evolved so that whenever we use its sensing devices they produce a positive sensation, ...

6 THE FLOW OF THOUGHT The good things in life do not come only through the senses. Some of the most exhilarating experiences we ...

118 ■ FLOW lot of conceptual, political, and intellectual activity.... The visual representations are really signposts to this b ...

THE FLOW OF THOUGHT ■ 119 One must be able to concentrate and interact with the opportunities at a level commensurate with one’s ...

120 ■ FLOW that, once one develops this strategy for overcoming psychic entropy, to give up the habit becomes almost impossible. ...

THE FLOW OF THOUGHT ■ 121 notation systems were developed, all learned information had to be transmitted from the memory of one ...

122 ■ FLOW among the most important precursors of systematic knowledge were riddling games. In the most ancient cultures, the el ...

THE FLOW OF THOUGHT ■ 1 23 few druids who knew how to use letters could sing a song ostensibly referring to a battle among the t ...

124 ■ FLOW contents of her mind. While others need external stimulation—televi­ sion, reading, conversation, or drugs—to keep th ...

THE FLOW OF THOUGHT ■ 125 form discrete events into universal categories. The power of the word is immense. In Genesis 1, God na ...

126 ■ FLOW It is important to stress here a fact that is all too often lost sight of: philosophy and science were invented and f ...

THE FLOW OF THOUGHT ■ 1 27 rewarding he found the practice of thinking to be: “It is godlike ever to think on something beautifu ...

128 • FLOW minds would have soon filled with dread and despair. By mastering the orderly cadence of meter and rhyme, and encasin ...

THE FLOW OF THOUGHT ■ 1 29 of words. And today words still offer many opportunities to enter flow, at various levels of complexi ...

130 ■ FLOW of the basic rules for interaction in our culture, which holds that talking about the weather is a safe way to establ ...