“Pain and Pleasure occur only in consciousness and exist only there.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Being back with the students over the week end made me think about the science of creativity and happiness, and how they are interrelated.

One of my absolute favorite authors of all time is Mr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (…I know very hard to read and pronounce last name, but he is a modern-day genius) all his life researched and crystallized the science of living happier and more creative lives.

Mr. Csikszentmihalyi is a world renown expert in creativity and happiness as well as a philosopher and a scientist, whose studies of the “FLOW” process were used everywhere from developing corporate leadership to programming new computer games.

At one point I bought several copies of his book “The Flow” and was handing them out to my closest friends. It is an amazing eye opener book!

Here I would bring some of my favorite quotes from him:

 “We are always getting to live, as Ralph Waldo Emerson used to say, but never living. Or as poor Frances learned in the children’s story, it is always bread and jam tomorrow, never bread and jam today.”

“Repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason.”

“The names we use to describe personality traits – such as extrovert, high achiever, or paranoid – refer to the specific patterns people have used to structure their attention. At the same party, the extrovert will seek out and enjoy interactions with others, the high achiever will look for useful business contacts, and the paranoid will be on guard for signs of danger he must avoid. Attention can be invested in innumerable ways, ways that can make life either rich or miserable.”

“It is when we act freely, for the sake of the action itself rather than for ulterior motives, that we learn to become more than what we were. When we choose a goal and invest ourselves in it to the limits of concentration, whatever we do will be enjoyable. And once we have tasted this joy, we will redouble our efforts to taste it again. This is the way the self grows.”

Hope you will give his books a try, especially the “Flow.” It can hold the key for your happiness

Always yours,

E.