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Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Age: 90
Born: 1934
Born: September 29
Professor
Psychiatrist
Psychologist
University Teacher
Fiume
Experience
Happens
Something
Make
Optimal
Thus
Happen

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It is by becoming increasingly complex that the self might be said to grow.
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One must develop skills that stretch capacities, that make one more than what one is.
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If you are interested in something, you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it. Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them.
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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.
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Those who seek consolation in existing churches often pay for their peace of mind with a tacit agreement to ignore a great deal of what is known about the way the world works.
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Try to be surprised by something every day.
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Getting control of life is never easy, and sometimes it can be definitely painful.
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If we are so rich, why aren't we happy?
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The task is to learn how to enjoy everyday life without diminishing other people's chances to enjoy theirs.
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To play the trumpet well, a musician can not let more than a few days pass without practicing.
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Flow is the process of achieving happiness through control over one's inner life. The optimal state of inner experience is order in consciousness. This happens when we focus our attention (psychic energy) on realistic goals and when our skills match the challenges we face.
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A person who forgoes the use of his symbolic skills is never really free.
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However, a good life consists of more than simply the totality of enjoyable experiences. It must also have a meaningful pattern, a trajectory of growth that results in the development of increasing emotional, cognitive, and social complexity.
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Some individuals have developed such strong internal standards that they no longer need the opinion of others to judge whether they have performed a task well or not. The ability to give objective feedback to oneself is in fact the mark of the expert.
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Only direct control of experience, the ability to derive moment-by-moment enjoyment from everything we do, can overcome the obstacles to fulfillment.
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To be overcome with the ultimate goal often interferes with performance.
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Look at problems from as many viewpoints as possible. Figure out the implications of the problem. Implement the solution.
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Since the purpose of business is to satisfy existing desires, or stimulate new ones, if everyone were genuinely happy, there would be no need for business any longer.
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If you do anything well, it becomes enjoyable. To keep enjoying something, you need to increase its complexity.
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Knowing oneself is not so much a question of discovering what is present in one's self, but rather the creation of who one wants to be.
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