Flow and Happiness
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (according to the professor himself, you should pronounce his name “chicks-send-me-high” [link ->]) identified a particular state of mind he called flow: in this state a person loses all the normal links to time and space and lives the activity he/she’s involved in without obstacles. Salvatore Natoli describes happiness in the same way.
photo credit: twentyhertz
Jan Boxill believes that happiness is generated by unalienated activities, or activities done for nothing else than the activity itself. Sports are the most common unalienated activities: you play some sport just for the sport, and you feel happy playing. No more. Happiness, eudaimonia, can be reached practicing sports. But champions can go further: players can say they are “in the zone” when everything flows easily, and no obstacles tend to stop their actions. The zone is a state of mind, very close to perfect happiness: no time boundaries, your body is you entirely, you can overcome all obstacles and feel your power and full capabilities. You make things happen, but there’s no distinction between you and the game, so at the same time things happens without a particular cause. A sort of nirvana.
Phil Jackson, in fact, uses zen buddhism to teach his pupils (they’re not just players) a particular point of view about basketball. And a famous brand still uses a motto everybody knows: “just do it”. A suggestion to forget overthinking and let your body (yourself) play. That’s happiness, that’s the flow.
Bibliography:
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper Perennial, 1991.
- Salvatore Natoli, Felicità. Saggio di teoria degli affetti, Feltrinelli, 1994.
- Jan Boxill, Sport Ethics, Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
