Mihai Chiksentmihayi "Potok". An unconventional approach to happiness

To the question "Are you happy?"Most people are unlikely to answer unequivocally. For each person the concept of happiness includes a number of these or other factors. This allows us to say that the state of well-being is subjective. But is there happiness that will have the characteristics of inalienability and transcendence? This question is answered by the psychologist Mihai Chikszentmihayi.

Theory of streaming experience and modern psychological knowledge

Most of the psychologists in the development of their theories relied on material obtained from unhealthy patients - neurotics. For example, such is the well-known Freudian psychoanalysis.

The work that Mihai Chikszentmihayi created was "Flow. Psychology of optimal experience "- reflects one of the most authoritative concepts in modern psychological science. Chiksentmihayi, like Maslow, is the scientist who placed the healthy person at the center of the corner. Flow theory finds applications in a variety of domains. This is clinical psychotherapy, increasing efficiency in educational processes, corrective work with juvenile delinquents.

What is missed by a reasonable man?

In our time, many are not without reason foretellingthe end of European civilization. On the other hand, we often forget about the scale of the progress that we managed to achieve. Chikszentmihayi emphasizes: our possibilities are incommensurably greater than those that people had, for example, in the times of Ancient Rome. What could not a man achieve? The answer is simple: he could not become happy. And moreover, in this respect there is not even any progress.

Merciless statistics show that in civilized countries, since the nineteenth century, there has been a gradual increase in the number of suicides.

State of well-being and modern culture

In his book, the scientist comes to the conclusion thathappiness is a subjective concept. Satisfying some needs, a person inevitably encounters the fact that new ones come into their place. Well-being always eludes. Each culture sought to solve this problem in its own way. For example, by faith in God. But how many people do we know whom she made happy? When beliefs fail, their place is occupied by such longed-for benefits: material wealth, power, sex. But they do not bring rest.

So, we have learned to satisfy our physicalneeds, but not spiritual. Obviously, happiness is largely determined by the conditions that life presents to us. A man without a roof over his head is unlikely to feel satisfied. People who live in an unstable political environment will not be particularly enthusiastic either. And, of course, those who have problems in family life can not be fully happy.

What is the state of the flow and its features

But in fact, thus, people a priori can not find peace? Each god gives his own cross, most often, seemingly unbearable.

Chiksentmihayi was able to answer this question. What a person needs to catch a bird of subjective happiness is not a hothouse existence with a complete lack of problems. And not even a state of relaxation. What can I say, if 1.4% of those who commit suicide do so because of ... satiety with life.

No. Happiness brings something completely different; The scientist gives this state the name "flow". The book (Mihai Chikszentmihayi claims that it is the result of twenty-five years of research) is devoted to how anyone can achieve it. Paradoxically, it is even akin to pain. This is the pursuit of the goal.

Should we feel comfortable achieving it? And the answer to this question is also negative. It's unlikely that the runner, who is approaching the finish line, feels himself like in a home armchair.

The state of control and power over the events of his own life is described by Mihai Chikszentmihayi. The flow is the point at which a person surpasses his strength; the point where you can find true happiness.

How Human Consciousness Works

The truth of our being is the fact that wenever achieve full security and fulfillment of all desires, states Mihai Chiksentmihayi. The flow differs from the state of temporary satisfaction by the fact that the latter is due to external factors. For some, an obstacle is something that can completely destroy them. For others - an incentive that provokes the maximum concentration and control of perception.

Consciousness behaves selectively in relation toall the diversity of surrounding information. It "snatches" from it those pieces that correspond to its internal content. Concentration on the negative only leads to its proliferation. Because of this, a person comes to a state of internal disorder or entropy, which is the opposite of happiness.

How do I enter a thread state?

The condition for creating a flow is immersion inactivity, says Mihai Chiksentmihayi. In search of flow, a person needs to be able to identify those activities that simultaneously correspond to his abilities, and are a challenge. Types of such activities are innumerable. It can be anything: competitions in a variety of sports, honing skills in the visual arts, work in the field of entrepreneurship, says Mihai Chiksentmihayi. The psychology of the flow has an important aspect: the state of true happiness is impossible without strenuous efforts.

Although it can arise spontaneously, in most cases, one can not do without diligence, Mihai Chiksentmihayi warns us. The flow is not favorable to those who are lazy.

So, the satisfaction of the vital humanneeds - an important component of life, but the inner well-being is in a completely different field. "Potok" is a book (Mihai Chikszentmihayi emphasizes its universality), which can teach everyone to be happy: from the cleaner to the shareholders of transnational companies.

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