Quote

There are two main strategies we can try to improve the quality of life. The first is to try making external conditions match our goals. The second is to change how we experience external conditions to make them fit our goals better.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Age: 90
Born: 1934
Born: September 29
Professor
Psychiatrist
Psychologist
University Teacher
Fiume
Life
Experience
Main
Two
Strategy
Change
Fit
Better
Conditions
Strategies
Firsts
Second
Match
First
Quality
External
Trying
Goal
Improve
Make
Making
Goals

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Entropy is the normal state of consciousness - a condition that is neither useful nor enjoyable.
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Other things equal, a life filled with complex flow activities is more worth living than one spent consuming passive entertainment.
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An ideal organization is one in which each worker's potentialities find room for expression.
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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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Look at problems from as many viewpoints as possible. Figure out the implications of the problem. Implement the solution.
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It is by being fully involved with every detail of our lives, whether good or bad, that we find happiness, not by trying to look for it directly.
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Through learning we grow, becoming more than we were before, and in that sense learning is unselfish, because it results in the transformation of what we were before, a setting aside of the old self in favor of a more complex one.
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If we agree that the bottom line of life is happiness, not success, then it makes perfect sense to say that it is the journey that counts, not reaching the destination.
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Produce as many ideas as possible. Try to produce unlikely ideas.
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Attention is psychic energy, and like physical energy, unless we allocate some part of it to the task at hand, no work gets done.
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A person can make himself happy, or miserable, regardless of what is actually happening 'outside,' just by changing the contents of consciousness.
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We can transform reality to the extent that we influence what happens in consciousness and thus free ourselves from the threats and blandishments of the outside world.
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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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Find out what you like and what you hate about life. Start doing more of what you love, less of what you hate.
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Problems are solved only when we devote a great deal of attention to them and in a creative way...to have a good life, it is not enough to remove what is wrong with it. We also need a positive goal, otherwise why keep going? Creativity is one answer to that question - It provides one of the most exciting models for living.
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As long as we respond predictably to what feels good and what feels bad, it is easy for others to exploit our preferences for their own ends.
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How we feel about ourselves, the joy we get from living, ultimately depends directly on how the mind filters and interprets everyday experiences. Whether we are happy depends on inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the great forces of the universe.
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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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The more a person feels skilled, the more her moods will improve while the more challenges that are present, the more her attention will become focused and concentrated.
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People generally report higher levels of stress, depression, and tension after watching TV. It seems that TV's main virtue is that it occupies the mind undemandingly.
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