Going back in time, or “counter-factual” thinking, can have mixed outcomes. “Sometimes when we look back, we think about how things could have been better: If only I had gotten that part in that play when I was in high school… then I would have gotten into that great theater program at the Ivy League…
Category: Positive Psychology
25 Years Jubilee: Super Bowl, Flow, Creativity & You!
25 years ago, 1993, in February, a set of rather extraordinary and important events happened. Many people have been inspired to creativity by the ideas of Prof. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. But only a few people know that the widespread use of the Flow theory is the result of “an unusual association. In 1993 Jimmy Johnson, coach of the Dallas Cowboys, showed the…
Flow conditions – Csikszentmihalyi’s summary
Professor Csikszentmihalyi defines 8 basic conditions of flow in his book Good Business (2003). Let’s see the essential characteristics of flow experience listed below in key thoughts from Csikszentmihalyi himself. 1. Clear goals For a person to become deeply involved in any activity it is essential that he know precisely what tasks he must accomplish,…
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – A life story with his own words
The following article is the translation of a nearly 30 minutes interview in Hungarian, that is available by clicking on the photo below: When I was 10, I felt that adults did not understand what was happening in the world and I wanted to understand why this was so. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – psychologist, a university professor. He…
Flow in education -> FLOWER
Can you imagine a deeper water than dropping someone into the waves of unknown situations? The person either comes out right by overcoming fears and learning something new about herself or sinks into the canyon of fears. Now, this is what I had to go through recently when I participated in my very first conference (actually…
What I learned comparing my highest FLIGBY skills vs my signature strengths
This article is from our guest author: Pilar Reyes Recently a friend of mine (Ale Leon) introduced me to FLIGBY; she said it was a game about leadership and flow, created by Prof. Csikszentmihalyi and ALEAS Simulations Inc. Last year I studied a Masters in Positive Leadership, based on Positive Psychology that is the scientific study of…
What Positive Psychology is about?
The following post is a transcript of Prof. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi‘s answer on the question, “how the Positive Psychology movement has been started?” (recorded at the IPPA conference, July 2017, in Montreal.) … Some of us felt that psychology was too focused on individual behavior and values didn’t really play any role in the essence of our time.…
Book Review: FLOW The Psychology of Happiness
This blog entry is from our guest author: Bernie Gourley (Writer and Yoga Teacher) Recently, I read and reviewed Steven Kotler’s “The Rise of Superman”, which is about how extreme athletes use a mental state called “the flow” to pull off some miraculous feats (e.g. “hanging righteous air” to use an appropriate term of art.) That…
Happy
The Theory of “Flow” And Its Relevance for Organizations – 1st part from the working paper
Since the publication of ‘Missing Link Discovered,’ Zoltan Buzady (Ph.D., CEU Business School, Hungary) and Paul Marer (Ph.D., CEU Business School, Hungary) have continued researching the implications of the theory of Flow for effective leadership, elaborating on and expanding the book’s first two chapters. This Working Paper is a progress report on that continuing research; the first of two…