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Psychologists are convinced that we feel best when we use our abilities for the sake of something meaningful and thus turn the ordinary into a real pleasure. This is the state to strive for in every moment of our lives.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes his own life as “an effort to understand what really makes people happy.” He argumentatively argues with the conventional wisdom that the path to happiness lies through the satisfaction of desires and carefree consumption.
For 30 years, he has interviewed thousands of people from around the world, trying to understand what makes them happy, and made sure that we feel best when we use our strengths and talents to the maximum for a meaningful goal. Then happiness becomes an integral part of life – active meaningful happiness that turns everyday life into a real pleasure. Csikszentmihalyi calls it the “flow state”. This definition is not accidental: the participants in his studies most often compared their feelings with the flow.
It turned out that we feel happy not when we eat cake or bask on the beach, but when we use our abilities and talents to the maximum. It is this creative state that Csikszentmihalyi calls “flow”: in it we feel better than ever and do the best we can. In these moments, we merge with what we are doing, forgetting about time and worries.
Together with his students, Csikszentmihalyi filmed and then analyzed the testimonies of people who learned to draw energy and joy in this state. Based on 91 interviews, he determined what can help everyone live life creatively. To do this, it is not necessary to create masterpieces, the main thing is to fully invest in every gesture, every step.
Here are some ways to develop individual creativity.
Open up to small joys
Since we are often overwhelmed by the solution of everyday problems, and the need to simply survive becomes an obsession, we do not have the spiritual energy to create, learn, create something new. How to be?
If we manage to be surprised every day, then we will definitely feel new strength.
First of all, you need to maintain a curiosity about life and be interested in the world around you without a special purpose. We are talking about the simplest things: listening and hearing what a colleague or partner is saying, feeling the breeze on your face, admiring the reflection of the clouds on the glass facade of the house, watching a child playing with a puppy.
If we manage to be surprised every day, then we will definitely feel new forces.
Allow yourself to change
It’s funny how much money we spend on improving the exterior, although an internal overhaul would certainly bring much more benefit. However, fatalism is inherent in a person in everything that concerns his character. But if we go through life without changing our habits, we block our creative energy.
Everyone has their own way of interacting with the world. But look at creative people: they often combine qualities that at first glance are mutually exclusive.
Exploring our hidden sides, the existence of which we do not suspect or in every possible way deny their presence, is a fruitful exercise. For example, a competitive person might practice cooperation, and vice versa. Another, with a developed intuition, should learn to be objective and rational.
If it is difficult for you to determine the field of activity, ask your loved ones what qualities are characteristic of you. So you can choose the type of behavior “on the contrary.” Of course, it will not be easy, but such experience allows you to grow and develop.
Pause
When creative energy has awakened, it must be protected, completely surrendering to it, so that it does not disappear, does not melt like smoke. JK Rowling admitted that while the Harry Potter novels were being written, chaos reigned in her apartment. After all, every minute won from boring and routine affairs is a minute saved for creativity.
Many are accustomed to living in a constant hurry, and at the thought that there is nothing to do, they are seized with anxiety. Nevertheless, the constant fuss does not contribute to creativity.
Allow yourself the luxury of reflection. Set aside time to take stock, remember all that we have done in life, and think about what we have yet to do. It is ideal to combine these pauses with physical activity: walk, swim, make something, work in the garden … And then, whether we like it or not, new ideas will come to our minds. And the less we control them, the more interesting and creative they will be.
express emotions
The creative process begins with the feeling that something is not right. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi offers to sort out our difficulties and express what worries us in order to regain contact with feelings. Even if they upset us or scare us.
Creative problem solving means constantly revising the situation, changing approaches
If we have lost a mother or a father, is there a note of relief in our sadness, or perhaps a sense of liberation? The best way to understand your complex and ambiguous emotions is to start expressing them without the help of the intellect, through drawing, modeling, music. And only then try to call them words.
Another way: to change the formulation of the question. One big businessman accustomed himself to a simple exercise. To each of his own statements, he answered himself: “But what if the opposite is true?”
It would be nice to be able to change course a little every day depending on new information. Solving problems creatively means constantly reviewing the situation, changing approaches. The only prerequisite is to have fun. According to Csikszentmihalyi, this is the only way we can make a feasible contribution to the development of mankind.
people in the flow
They have found an occupation in which they reach the highest joy and feel truly alive.
Lyudmila, 36 years old, translator: “Behind the computer, I live a full life. I’m on my own, nothing else matters. I get up and go to work – in pajamas and not a soul around. When I’m working on a book, those are moments of grace. Sometimes I’m even ashamed that work gives me more joy than the rest of my life.”
Yuri, 51 years old, photographer: “When I choose a frame, I feel like I am in a cocoon. I abstract from the outside world. I photographed at exhibitions, at film festivals, when there were a crowd of people around. But I did not notice or see anything, except for the background for the picture. One day, at the end of a session, a famous actor called me a “hypnotist.” Indeed, when I work, my eyes freeze, my stomach tightens, my breath stops. Remember Jean Reno’s character in the movie “The Blue Abyss”, when he enters the water with crazy eyes? Approximately in such a special state we plunge when we want to find support in the depths of our own being.
Larisa, 24 years old, athlete: “In order to run easily, whether in training or in competition, I have to free myself from everything, become “empty”. Then my mind is at peace. There are even such moments, very fleeting, when I just soar above the ground. This does not mean that I have absolutely nothing in my head. I am focused on the body, sensations. I can’t completely distract myself from the world around me. But I react without thinking. Everything happens automatically, as if the survival instinct is at work. While running, I forget about everything, and only then can I analyze and evaluate.”
Nina, 31, mother of five-year-old Arseniy: “My son has changed me. Before, I was worried all the time, I was depressed, I lived in a state of stress. After the birth of Arseny, I became wiser. Saturday morning we let dad sleep and spend time together. It’s kind of like a symbiosis. Our games and long conversations energize for the whole week. When I play with Arsyusha, I forget about time. Sometimes the husband says that he watched us for twenty minutes, but we did not notice. I myself am surprised how interested I am with my son and what tenderness I can feel for him. And I, with my natural anxiety and even a tendency to depression, feel a sea of calm in myself.
About expert
Mihai Csikszentmihalyi – psychologist, professor at Claremont University (USA), author of a dozen and a half books, including the famous Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.