The germ of an idea doesn't make the sculpture that stands up... so the next stage is hard work
Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRead
It is as if evolution has built a safety device in our nervous system that allows us to experience full happiness only when we are living at 100%-when we are fully using the physical and mental equipment we have been given.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness is a result of fully engaging with life and utilizing our capabilities to the fullest.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests that our nervous system operates as a mechanism that only enables us to feel true happiness when we are actively and completely engaged in our lives. This idea emphasizes the importance of using our physical and mental abilities to their full potential in order to attain a deep sense of fulfillment and joy.
Themes
HappinessEvolutionEngagementPotentialFulfillment
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about the importance of living life to the fullest.
More from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
All quotes →It is not the skills we actually have that determine how we feel but the ones we think we have.
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To know oneself is the first step toward making flow a part of one's entire life. But just as there is no free lunch in the material economy, nothing comes free in the psychic one. If one is not willing to invest psychic energy in the internal reality of consciousness, and instead squanders it in chasing external rewards, one loses mastery of one's life, and ends up becoming a puppet of circumstances.
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To live means to experience-through doing, feeling, thinking. Experience takes place in time, so time is the ultimate scarce resource we have. Over the years, the content of experience will determine the quality of life. Therefore one of the most essential decisions any of us can make is about how one's time is allocated or invested.
Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRead
Our jobs determine to a large extent what our lives are like. Is what you do for a living making you ill? Does it keep you from becoming a more fully realized person? Do you feel ashamed of what you have to do at work? All too often, the answer to such questions is yes. Yet it does not have to be like that. Work can be one of the most joyful, most fulfilling aspects of life. Whether it will be or not depends on the actions we collectively take.
Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRead
When we are involved in [creativity], we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.
Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRead
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