The Curious Connection Between Flow and Happiness
- The Flow Channel
- Apr 18, 2021
- 1 min read
Updated: May 9, 2021
The Holy Grail of the human condition is Happiness. We all want to know how to “find” it. We think that passion and purpose are keys to it, but as we parcel our attention out in a hundred directions in an increasingly chaotic world, what energy is left for passion or purpose? As Viktor Frankl reminded the world, “The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.”
As it turns out, building a life for happiness and meaning takes far less energy than randomly searching for it. Through authentic experience, focused attention, and encounters with challenge, we can prove to ourselves what we are capable of, what matters to us, what engages us and makes us feel most alive. Click the link below to hear "Finding Happiness and Achieving Flow," a conversation with
Gary Gute, PhD, co-founder of TheFlowChannel.com with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Associate Professor of Applied Human Sciences at the University of Northern Iowa. Gary researches flow and creativity and teaches the courses Creativity and the Evolution of Culture and Foundations of Positive Psychology, and the MBA course Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning.
Benjamin Hunnicutt, PhD, professor of health and human physiology, University of Iowa. Ben teaches a course called Happiness for Health, has written for The Wall Street Journal, Politico, and the Huffington Post, and is the author of The Age of Experiences: Harnessing Happiness to Build a New Economy (2020).
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This was such a good reminder everyone strives for this happiness in life. "the more you aim for it the more we miss it" This gave me the reminded to be in the moment and what is meant to bring us happiness will come to us. Happiness happens by the things we do the people we are with so really taking the time to take those moments in when we have them
This was such a powerful reminder that happiness isn’t something we can chase down; it’s something we create through how we live and where we choose to focus our energy. I love the idea that authentic experience and meaningful challenges are what truly help us discover what makes us feel most alive. It’s so encouraging to realize that we don't have to exhaust ourselves searching for happiness; instead, by living with intention and openness, happiness finds us. Thank you for sharing this beautiful perspective!
I really appreciated the reminder that the more you aim for something the more likely you are to miss it. I think this can be applied in so many aspects of life but it especially describes experiencing happiness. We all search and crave happiness, however if we just let it happen it will happen more often then we think. Its so easy to get wrapped up into other things, it is easy to fortget to enjoy happiness in any moment.
It is so true that happiness is something that everyone strives for in life. I like how it is said that if you look for it too hard you are never going to find it. The idea that happiness is something that happens through things we do, and experience is something that I really think that stuck with me. So many times, I am not present with things in life, and I think that I will try to more present with the things that I experience in life.
I really liked the idea that happiness happens naturally through the things we do and experience. I don’t have to constantly look for happiness, it can come from being present, trying new things, and getting into the flow of something I enjoy. It made me want to be more intentional about doing things that challenge and engage me, even if its outside my comfort zone