ramesh ramakrishnan, iyer – October 25 2008

there is a huge link between the people types and flow. same situation - different results - ....something happens to people when challenges become high and their skills are low....some experience worry and anxiety but the same situation can become "flow like" for some other kind of people - and probably that is what carl jung 'projected' in that flying saucer lecture - crisis becomes opportunity ; high levels of challenge becomes flow and so so so forth - even the song of the god - THE BHAGAVAD GITA - talks a lot about this - the world is made of different kinds of people with different skill sets and their flows are very different and from varied experiences - some of these kind of people - who can feel - ecstasy ( stepping out of ordinary reality ) do it at situations where there are extreme high challenges and with ordinary skills...

Robert Schueler – October 24 2008

How to get more of life into the flow?

I have been so blessed to have mentors like Mihaly in my life. With a sense of how important freedom and living from my heart was to me from such an early age. And here and now, I am so excited to learn as much from Mark on ' thought office' as possible ways and means to maybe find the money aspect of my fulfillment.

Meditation is the foundation and key to listening to the heart, where all balance resides. Balancing left and right brain hemispheres in association with the Jungian archetypes of balancing beta, alpha, delta and theta waves...then to really listen to the heart and get naked and dance around and around and around the heart of reality. ...being oneself is the flow. ...happiness, joy, bliss, ecstasy, hilariousness, rawness, juicyness...is my internal road map to being in the flow....happy hands, happy feet, happy heart...happyplanetindex.org...the simple easy flow art of being in the flow 24/7....thank you all for reminding me to remember my mentors and teachers ....

you are all invited to participate in the O party ...this invitation is for you all, http://theoparty.eventbrite.com...WE are so blessed to be living in such an amazingly magical time, we are so lucky to be able to surf the industrial age, information age, conceptual age, integral age, magical age and utopian age ...all here and now....

The big step in getting MORE of life into the flow, for me, was the giant leap from ecstasy to hilariosness and the shift in conscios perspective of the "tesla mindset" ....pelodom.

Khan Wong – October 24 2008

I wonder if Mr. Csikszentmihalyi is aware of the "Flow Arts" an umbrella term coming into more frequent use by practitioners of movement disciplines often associated with circus performance: poi and staff spinning, hooping, diabolo, juggling, even devil-sticking, etc. In "flow arts" practice, these disciplines are often performed slightly different than the traditional circus way -- most notably with the hoop. To me (as a hooper and poi spinner) these disciplines bring these ideas into literal, physical manifestation (with some sacred geometry thrown in as a bonus). A great talk, and an idea that is definitely operating out in the world, at least in certain circles. (that was a spinning joke)

Mark Kondor – October 24 2008

check out the bullets of "how does it feel to be in flow?" (at around 15:00) the presentation.

now. if someone asks you to define what "freedom" is, what would you say?
(and I don't mean 'on earth' or 'in your country' but deep inside in the heart)

thinking thinking

SONIA WHITE – October 24 2008

David, Mihalyi has been one of the great minds and researchers into the whole field of creativity. His Flow experience diagram has been around a very long time, so anyone else's 9 square grid (didn't see it, sorry) may well have arisen out of a study of Mihaly's work. I think it is healthy that there is discussion and different viewpoints around what constitutes fulfilment, and creativity and 'flow'. Andrew, to be a "reason able" person, your views and thoughts need to attack ideas, not people, as your argument loses validity the moment you do this.. A person's physiological make-up has nothing whatsoever to do with the ideas he or she is putting forward.

David S. Rose – October 24 2008

I think the whole concept of Flow is both fascinating and incredibly useful as a guide to what one should be doing. As Satayana put it, "happiness is the exercise of one's vital powers along lines of excellence"; in other words: flow.

But as interesting as this talk is, I could have sworn that there was another TED talk, perhaps even better, on almost exactly the same subject, by someone else, about a year later. The chart in that talk was similar to the one that Csikszentmihalyi shows at the end, but it was a nine square grid. Does anyone else recall that one?

Patrick Ploss – October 24 2008

Mark... their are plenty of us that would do something to 'feed our souls', except no one pays for that work... and regardless of what we'd like, having no money means death. So we do things we don't like and can never achieve this flow (or zen,which is the same idea).
And that's still not the worst thing, there are people who work jobs they hate for decades trying to get into the field that gives them that desire... and most people aren't indefinitely hopeful, when we give up on our dream it becomes nearly impossible to flow...

Mark Effinger – October 23 2008

Ahhh... for the love of Flow.

We've been evaluating the two opposing forces that join together in flow:
Creativity to Productivity.

What we've learned is that personality type can be matched and coached into flow:

Creatives fall off the performance (flow) curve as they are forced into routine and the need to be "productive" (in many cases).

Productives decline in performance as they have to develop creative solutions to problems.

We've been focusing on how to effectively master the handoff from the creative to the productive. how to speak compatible languages... to transfer the torch while keeping it lit.

Mihaly's study is an amazing body of work. I believe, especially in the current economic climate, we'll find more people finding their flow as they realize it wasn't the dollar that provided purpose... it was their purpose that fed their infinite souls.
Mark Alan Effinger
Chief Evangelist

Steve Gottschalk – October 23 2008

The quote from the composer about the feeling he experiences while composing music sounds very much like Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke. It's as though the composer is experiencing that right-brained connection to the universe that Dr. Bolte Taylor described in her Ted Talk and is channeling it. That raises interesting questions about the nature and value of music.

Travis Miller – October 23 2008

Evan,

WOW!

One of the best comments I have read on this site.

Thank you