Creating Happiness
Through Happy Activities and Finding Flow

Follow Your Bliss. - Joseph Campbell

Flow means being so absorbed in what you are doing that you loose track of time and of yourself.

Characteristics of Flow

Dr. Csikszentmihalyi has identified five key characteristics of flow experiences. Our best happy life moments have all these characteristics. However, the more we engage in activities that just have one or two of the characteristics, the more flow experiences we are likely to have. Also, each of these characteristics has a way of creating happiness all on its own.

The conditions for flow are: (1) A Clear Goal, (2) Immeadiate Feedback, and (3) A Challenge to your Skills

1)     Attention completely outside ourselves

When we experience flow, we do not think to ourselves at that moment that we are happy. We do not think about ourselves at all as we are completely absorbed in the experience or task at hand. It is only afterwards that we can look back and realize the high quality of the experience.

2)     Clear goals and rules for achieving them

The song, A Spoon Full of Sugar, starts with the words, “In every job that must be done there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap, the job’s a game.” Clear goals and clear rules that allow you to achieve those goals are common elements for games and a tried and true way of creating happiness.

3)     Good balance between our skill level and the level of challenge

It is not in the pursuit of happiness that we find fulfillment, it is in the happiness of pursuit. Denis Waitley

Happiness is all about growth. When we take on a challenge for it’s own sake that is too easy, we don’t grow and we don’t experience the peak feelings of flow. It is only when the challenge pushes us to use our skills to the fullest that we become fully absorbed in it. Too much challenge and we get anxious. Too little challenge and we become bored.

4) Immediate feedback

Whether our measurements are internal or external, flow depends on knowing how we are doing. External measures like the score in a game or the smile on the face of someone we have helped can help us reach flow states more directly, However, we can also use internal measures like the harmony of a piece of music or art as an internal measure of how we are doing.

5) Congruence

In moments of flow what we want, what we think and what we do are all in complete harmony. We might normally enjoy tennis and we might enjoy the challenge of the game, but if at that moment, we believe we should be doing a job or paying attention to our children we will not be completely congruent and will not experience one of those peak moments of intense aliveness.

Creating Happiness Through Flow

Sometimes our challenge is to challenge others and help them succeed. It is all about Growth

Happiness is often measured through our satisfaction with life at any given moment. Flow experiences increase our overall sense of satisfaction. Studies of teenagers have shown that those who participate in sports, school activities involving others like music or drama, and hobbies tend to be more satisfied with life than those who spend most of their time watching TV or hanging out at the mall. That is not to say that watching TV or hanging out at the mall are not happy activities. These activities can lead to relaxation and satisfaction, but they do not present as many opportunities for finding flow as sports, hobbies or creative pursuits.

Anyone can increase their happiness level at any time by finding ways to improve flow. Make the job a game. Find a way to increase the feedback for a given task. Take up a hobby that you enjoy that takes your attention away from yourself, or volunteer time doing something that matches your values like teaching someone to read or making your space more beautiful.