Latest / Motivational Podcast / ENTER THE FLOW STATE – Achieve Peak Performance in Every Moment

Transcript

ENTER THE FLOW STATE – Achieve Peak Performance in Every Moment · Motivational Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: If we really want to live, we'd better start at
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: once to try. If we don't, it doesn't matter, but
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: we'd better start to die. The choice is simple, between
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: now and the inevitable end of our days. We can
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: choose either to live or to die. Biological life is
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: an automatic process as long as we take care of
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: our needs of the body. But to live in the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: sense the poet means it is by no means something
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: that will happen by itself. If we don't take charge
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: of its direction, our life will be controlled by the
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: outside to serve the purpose of some other agency. Biologically
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: programmed instances will use it to replicate the genetic material
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: we carry. The culture will make sure that we use
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: it to propagate its values and institutions. Other people will
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: try to make as much of our energy as possible
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to further their own agenda. All of this without regard
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: to how any of this will affect us. We cannot
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: expect anyone to help us live. We must discover how
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: to do it by ourselves. There is no hope in
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the past. There is no solution to be found in
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the present, nor will we be better off by jumping
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: ahead into an imaginary future. The only path to finding
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: out what life is about is a patient, slow attempt
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: to make sense of the realities of the past and
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the possibilities of the future as they can be understood
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: in the present. Life will mean what we experience from
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: morning to night, seven days a week, for about seventy years,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: if we're lucky, for even longer, if we are very fortunate.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: What this life will amount to is in part determined
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: by the chemical processes in our body, by the biological
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: interaction among organs, by the tiny electrical currents jumping between
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the synapses of the brain, and by the organization of
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: information that the culture imposes on our mind. But the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: actual quality of life, and what we do and how
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: we feel about it will be determined by our thoughts
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and emotions, by the interpretations we give to chemical, biological,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and social processes. How can each person create an excellent life?
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: If we look out of a window in winter, we
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: might see millions of identical snowflakes cavoiding by. But if
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: we took a magnifying glass and looked at the flakes separately,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: we would soon discover that they were not identical. In fact,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: that each had a shape that no other flake duplicated.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Exactly the same is true of human beings. If everything
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: was determined by the common human condition, by social and
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: cultural categories and by chance, it would be useless to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: reflect on ways to make one's life excellent. Fortunately, there
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: is enough room for personal initiative and choice to make
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a real difference, and those who believe this are the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: ones with the best chance to break free from the
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: grip a fate. To live means to experience through doing, feeling, thinking.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Experience takes place in time, so time is the ultimate
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: scarce resource we have. Over the years, the content of
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: experience will determine the quality of life. Therefore, one of
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the most essential decisions any of us can make is
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: about how one's time is allocated or invested. Of course,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: how we invest time is not our decision alone to make. Nevertheless,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: there is room for personal choices, and control over time
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: is to a certain extent in our hands. Even in
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the most oppressive decades of the Industrial Revolution, when workers
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: slaved away for more than eighty hours a week in
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: minds and factories, there were some who spent their few
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: precious free hours in literary pursuits or political action, instead
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: of following the majority into the pubs. Rarely do we
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: feel the serenity that comes when heart, will, and mind
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: are on the same page. To control attention means to
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: control experience, and therefore the quality of life. How much
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: stress we experience depends more on how well we control
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: the tension than on what happens to us. The effect
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: of physical pain of a monetary loss depends on how
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: much attention we pay to it, how much room we
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: allow for it in consciousness. The more psychic energy we
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: invest in a painful event, the more real it becomes,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: and the more entropy it introduces in consciousness. To deny, repress,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: or misinterpret such events is no solution either, because the
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: information will keep smoldering in the recesses of the mind.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: It is better to life sufferings straight in the eye,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: acknowledge and respect its presence, and then get busy as
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: soon as possible, focusing on things we choose to focus on.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: All emotions share a basic duality, which is they are
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: either positive and attractive, or they are negative and repulsive.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: The evolution of self reflective consciousness has allowed our race
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: to toy with feelings, to fake or manipulate feelings in
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: ways that no other animal. Can the songs, dances, masks
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: of our ancestors evoked dread and awe, joy and intoxication,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Poorer movies, drugs, and music do the same thing. Now,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: everything we do is ultimately aimed at experience happiness. We
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: don't really want wealth, or health or fame as such.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: We want these things because we hope that they will
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: make us happy. But happiness we seek not because it
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: will get us something else, but for its own sake.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: In fact, if one wants to improve the quality of
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: everyday life, happiness may be the wrong place to start.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: The quality of life does not depend on happiness alone,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: but also on what one does to be happy. If
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: one fails to develop goals that give meaning to one's existence,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: if one does not use the mind to its fullest,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: then good feelings fulfill just a fraction of the potential
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: we possess. Without dreams, without risks, only a trivial semblance
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: of living can be achieved. Emotions refer to the internal
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: states of consciousness. Negative emotions like sadness, fear, anxiety, or
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: boredom produce psychic entropy in the mind. That is, a
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: state in which we cannot use attention effectively to deal
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: with external tasks because we needed to restore an inner
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: subjective order. Positive emotions like happiness, strength, or alertness are
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: states of psychic negentropy because we don't need attention to
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: ruminate and feel sorry for ourselves, and psychic energy can
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: flow freely into whatever thought or task we choose to
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: invest it in. When we choose to invest attention in
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: a given task, we say that we have formed an
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: intention or set a goal for ourselves. How long and
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: how intensely we stick by our goal is a function
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: of motivation. Intentions, goals, and motivations are also manifestations of
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: psychic negentropy. They focus psychic energy, establish priorities, and thus
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: create order in consciousness. Without them, mental processes become random
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and feelings tend to deteriorate rapidly. It is the goals
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: that we pursue that will shape and determine the kind
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: of self that we are to become. The normal condition
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: of the mind is one of informational disorder. Random thoughts
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: chase one another instead of lining up in logical causal sequences.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Unless one learns to concentrate and is able to invest
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the effort, thoughts will scatter without reaching any conclusion. Usually
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the more difficult to mental task, harder it is to
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: concentrate on it. But when a person likes what he
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: does and is motivated to do it, focusing the mind
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: becomes effortless, even when the objective difficulties are great. By
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: learning to concentrate, a person acquires control over psychic energy,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: the basic fuel upon which all thinking depends. Imagine, for instance,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: that you are skiing down a slope and your full
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: attention is focused on the movements of the body. There
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: is no room in your awareness for conflicts or contradictions.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: You know that a distracting thought or emotion might get
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: you buried based down in the snow, the run is
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: so perfect that all you want is for it to
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: last forever, to immerse yourself completely in the experience. If
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: skiing does not mean much to you, substitute your favorite
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: activity for this vignette. It could be singing in a choir,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: programming a computer, dancing, playing bridge, reading a good book,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: or This complete immersion in the activity may occur in
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: a social interaction, as when good friends talk with each
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: other or when a mother plays with their baby. What
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: is common to such moments is that consciousness is full
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: of experiences, and that these experiences are in harmony with
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: each other. In moments such as these, what we feel,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: what we wish, and what we think are in harmony.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: The metaphor of flow is one that many people have
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: used to describe the sense of effortless action they feel
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: in moments that stand out as the best in their lives.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Athletes refer to it as being in the zone, religious
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: mystics as being in ecstasy, artists and musicians as esthetic rapture. Athletes, mystics,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and artists do very different things when they reach flow,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: yet their descriptions of the experience are remarkably similar. Flow
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: tends to occur when a person faces a clear set
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: of goals that require appropriate responses. It is easy to
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: enter flow in games such as chess, tennis, or poker
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: because they have goals and rules for action that make
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: it possible for the player to act without questioning what
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: should be done and how for the duration of the game.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: The player lives in the self contained universe where everything
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: is black and white. The same clarity of goals is
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: present if you perform a religious ritual, play a musical piece,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: write a computer program, climb a mountain, or perform surgery.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Activities that induce flow could be called flow activities because
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: they make it more likely for the experience to occur.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: In contrast to normal life, flow activities allow a person
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: to focus on goals that are clear and compatible. Another
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: characteristic of flow activities is that they provide immediate feedback.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: They make it clear how well you were doing. After
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: each move of a game, you can tell whether you
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: have improved your position or not. Flow tends to occur
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: when a person's skills are fully involved in overcoming a
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: challenge that is just about manageable. If challenges are too high,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: one gets frustrated, then worried, and eventually anxious. If challenges
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: are too low relative to one's skills, one gets relaxed,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: then bored. If both challenges and skills are perceived to
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: be low, one gets to feel apathetic. But when high
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: challenges are matched with high skills, then the deep involvement
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: that sets flow apart from ordinary life is likely to occur.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: A typical day is full of anxiety and boredom. Flow
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: experiences provide the flashes of intense living against this dull background.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: When goals are clear and challenges and skills are in balance,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Attention becomes ordered and fully invested because of the total
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: demand on psychic energy. A person in flow is completely focused.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: There is no space in consciousness for distracting thoughts or
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: irrelevant feelings. Self consciousness disappears, yet one feels stronger than usual.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: A sense of time is distorted. Ours seem to pass
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: by in minutes. When a person's entire being is stretched
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: into full functioning of body and mind, whatever one does
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: becomes worth doing for its own sake. It is the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: full involvement of flow, rather than happiness, that makes for
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: excellence in life. When we are in flow, we are
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: not happy because to experience happiness he must focus on
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: our inner states, and that would take away attention from
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: the task at hand. If a rock climber takes time
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: out to feel happy while negotiating a difficult move, he
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: might fall to the bottom of the mountain. The surgeon
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: cannot afford to feel happy during a demanding operation, or
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: a musician playing a challenging score. Only after the task
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: is completed do we have the leisure to look back
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: on what has happened, and then we are flooded with
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: gratitude for the excellence of that experience. But one can
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: be happy without experiencing flow. We can be happy experiencing
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: the passive pleasure of arrested body, a warm sunshine, or
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: the contentment of a serene relationship. These are also moments
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: to treasure, but this kind of happiness is very vulnerable
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: and dependent on favorable external circumstances. The happiness that follows
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: flow is of our own making, and it leads to
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: increasing complexity and growth in consciousness. We can also see
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: why flow leads to personal growth in arousal. A person
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: feels mentally focused, active and involved, but not very strong, cheerful,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: or in control. How can one return to the more
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: enjoyable flow state. The answer is obvious by learning new skills.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: The flow experience acts as a magnet for learning, that is,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: for developing new levels of challenges and skills. It takes
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: energy to achieve optimal experiences, and all too often we
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: are unable or unwilling to put out the initial effort.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Flow is generally reported when a person is doing his
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: or her favorite activity. A life filled with complex flow
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: activities is more worth living than once bent consuming passive entertainment.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: To be totally absorbed in what you are doing and
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: to enjoy it so much that you don't want to
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: be doing anything else. I don't see how people survive
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: if they don't experience something like that. When we are
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: able to confront life with such involvement and enthusiasm, we
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: can be said to have achieved an autotellic personality. Autotellic
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: is a word composed of two Greek roots, auto, meaning
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: self and telos, meaning gold. An autotellic activity is one
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: we do for its own sake, because to experience it
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: is the main goal. An autotelic person needs few material
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: possessions and little entertainment, comfort, power, or fame, because so
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: much of what he or she does is already rewarding.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Because such persons experience a flow and work in family life,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: when interacting with people, when eating, and even when alone
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: with nothing to do, they are less dependent on the
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: external rewards that keep others motivated to go on with
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: a life composed of dull and meaningless routines. They are
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: more autonomous and independent because they cannot be as easily
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: manipulated with threats or rewards from the outside. At the
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: same time, they are more involved with everything around them
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: because they are fully immersed in the current of life.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: If there is one quality that distinguishes autotellic individuals, it
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: is that their psychic energy seems inexhaustible, even though they
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: have no greater attentional capacity than anyone else. They pay
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: more attention to what happens around them, They notice more,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and they are willing to invest more attention in things
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: for their own sake without expecting an immediate return. Most
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: of us hoard attention carefully. We build it out only
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: for serious things, for things that matter. We only get
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: interested in whatever will promote our welfare. The objects most
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: worthy of our psychic energy are ourselves and the people
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and things they will give us some material or emotional advantage.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: The result is that we don't have much attention left
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: over to participate in the world on its own terms,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: to be surprised, to learn new things, to empathize, or
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: to grow beyond the limits set by our self centeredness.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Autotelic persons are less concerned with themselves and therefore have
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: more free psychic energy to experience life with. If one
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: has failed to develop curiosity and interest in the early years,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: it is a good idea to acquire them now before
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: it is too late to improve the quality of life.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Many people will say that this advice is useless to
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: them because they already have so many demands on their
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: time that they absolutely cannot afford to do anything new
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: or interesting. Time stress has become one of the most
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: popular complaints of the day, but more often than not,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: it is an excuse for not taking control of our lives.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: How many of the things that we do are really necessary?
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: How many of the demands could be reduced if we
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: put some energy into prioritizing, organizing, and streamline the routines
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: that now fritter away our attention. It is true that
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: if we let time run through our fingers, we will
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: soon have none left. Not so much in order to
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: achieve wealth and security in some distant future, but in
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: order to enjoy life in the here and now. Time
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: is what one must find in order to develop interest
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and curiosity to enjoy life for its own sake. The
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: other equally important resource is the ability to control psychic energy.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Instead of waiting for an external stimulus or challenge to
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: grab our attention, we must learn to concentrate it. More
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: or less it will. If you are interested in something,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: you will focus on it, and if you focus attention
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: on anything, it is likely that you will become interested
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: in it. Work has severe drawbacks, but its lack is worse.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: It is possible to learn to like solitude, but it
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: does not come easily. If one is an artist, scientist,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: or writer, or if one has a hobby or a
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: rich inner life, then being alone is not only enjoyable
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: but necessary. Relatively few individuals, however, master the mental tools
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: that will make this possible. Whether we like solitude or not, However,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: in our times, we must be able to put up
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: with some of it. It's difficult to learn math, or
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: practice piano, or program a computer, or figure out the
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: purpose of one's life when other people are around. The
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: concentration required to order thoughts in consciousness is easily interrupted
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: by an extraneous word, by the necessity to pay attention
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: to another person. As long as we can presume that
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the others will share our basic goals and will behave
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: predictably within certain limits, their presence adds a great deal
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: of spice to the quality of life. Romance and sex
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: provide some of the best moments of the day, but
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: for most people these activities are rather rare, so they
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: fail to make much of a difference in the overall
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: quality of life unless they are embedded in a context
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: of an enduring relationship that provides emotional and intellectual rewards
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: as well. Variety and frequency of sexual encounters have taken
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: precedence over the depth and intensity of the relationship in
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: which they are embedded, a force that could result in
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: some of the deepest and most intimate joys of life
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: is taken over and manipulated by outside interests. As with
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: other aspects of life, the important thing is to decide
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: for oneself. To realize what is at stake and what
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: are the interests that try to control our sexuality for
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: their own ends. It helps to realize how vulnerable we
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: are in this respect. It is a very universal condition.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: What counts is how we wish to order our lives
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: and what part we wish sexuality to play in it,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And the less we depend on it for material benefits,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: the more we can enjoy its potential for emotional rewards.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: The effects of family relationships on the quality of life
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: are so extensive that volumes could be written about it.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: The only way to take over the ownership of life
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: is by learning to direct psychic energy in line with
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: our own intentions. The quality of life is much improved
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: if we learn to love what we have to do.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: The problem is that people also learn to love things
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: that are destructive to themselves and to others. Enjoying what
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: one does is non sufficient reason for doing it. Flow
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: is the source of psychic energy in that it focuses
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: attention and motivates action. Like other forms of energy, it
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: is neutral. It can be used for constructive or destructive purposes.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Fire can be used to warm us up on a
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: cold night, or it can be used to burn down
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the house. The same is true of electricity or nuclear energy. Thus,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: in creating a good life, it is not enough to
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: strive for enjoyable goals, but also to choose goals that
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: will reduce the sum total of entropy in the world.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: These goals cannot be justified only in terms of our
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: lives here and now, because if the only effects of
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: our actions were the ones we could observe in this life,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: common sense would dictate that we get as much pleasure
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and material advantage as we can, even if we must
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: be ruthless in the process. There are enough hints about
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: how the universe functions to know that what kind of
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: actions support the increase of complexity and order, and what
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: kind lead toward destruction. In order to experience flow, it
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: helps to have clear goals, not because it is achieving
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: the goals that is necessarily important, but because without a goal,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: it is difficult to concentrate and avoid distractions. The simple
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: way of improving the quality of life is to take
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: ownership of one's actions. The same ability to transform a
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: tragic situation into at least a tolerable one is shown
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: by victims of terrorists who survive solitary confinement or prisons
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: and concentration camps. Those who survive are able to ignore
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: selectively the external conditions and to redirect their attention to
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: an inner life that is real only to themselves. It
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: is easier to do so if you know poetry, mathematics,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: or some other system of symbols that allows you to
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: concentrate and do mental work without any visible material props.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: These examples suggest what one needs to learn to control attention.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: In principle, any skill or discipline one can master on
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: one's own will serve meditation and prayer if one is
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: so inclined. Exercise aerobics martial arts for those who prefer
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: concentrating on physical skills, any specialization or expertise that one
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: finds enjoyable, and where one can improve one's knowledge over time.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: The important thing is the attitude toward these disciplines. If
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: one prays in order to be holy, our exercises to
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: develop strong pectoral muscles, or learns to be knowledgeable, then
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: a great deal of the benefit is lost. The important
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: thing is to enjoy the activity for its own sake,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: and to know that what matters is not the result,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: but the control one is acquiring over one's attention. Normally,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: attention is directed by genetic instructions, social conventions, and habits
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: we learned as children. Most of what we experience will
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: have been programmed for us. We learn what is supposed
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: to be worth living and dying for. Through the years,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: our experience will follow the script written by biology and culture.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: The accident of birth puts a person in a slot
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: that greatly determines what sorts of experiences he is or
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: her life will consist of. Unfortunately, there is no justice,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: nor any rhyme or reason in one person being born
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: into a starving community, perhaps even with a congenital physical defect,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: while another starts life with good looks, good health, and
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: a large back account. So, while the main parameters of
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: life are fixed and no person can avoid resting, eating, interacting,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: and doing at least some work, humanity is divided into
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: social categories that determine, to a large extent, the specific
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: content of experience. When and where we happen to be
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: born defines a single coordinate of existence that no one
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: else shares. Thus, each of us is responsible for one
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: particular point in space and time in which our body
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: and mind forms a link within the total network of existence.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: For whereas it is true that who we are is
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: determined by genetic instructions and social interactions, it is also
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: true that, having invented the concept of freedom, we can
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: make choices that will determine the future shape of the
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: network of which we are a part. Whether we like
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: it or not, our lives will leave a mark on
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: the universe. One cannot lead a life that is truly
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: excellent without feeling that one belongs to something greater and
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: more permanent than oneself. It would be so much easier
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: if we were responsible only for ourselves. Unfortunately things don't
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: work that way. An active responsibility for the rest of
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: humankind and for the world of which we are apart
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: is a necessary ingredient of a good life. The real challenge, however,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: is to reduce entropy in one's surroundings without increasing it
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: in one's consciousness. Act always as if the future of
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: the universe depend on what you did, while laughing at
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: yourself for thinking that whatever you do makes any difference.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: It is this serious playfulness that makes it possible to
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: be both engaged and carefree at the same time. Helping
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: to maintain order in the universe becomes its own reward,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: regardless of consequences. Then it is possible to find joy
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: even when fighting a losing battle in the good cause.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: The danger is that one's entire psychic energy will go
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: towards satisfying the needs of the imaginary entity we have
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: ourselves created. This might not be too bad if the
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: self we bring into being is a reasonable entity. But
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: children who are abused may grow up constructing a hopeless
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: or vindictive image of self. Children who are indulged without
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: being loved may create narcissistic selves. A self may grow
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: to be insatiable or have a completely exaggerated idea of
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: its importance. Persons who own such a distorted self nevertheless
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: feel compelled to satisfy its needs. If they think they
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: need more power, or money, or love or adventure, they
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: will do everything to satisfy that need, even beyond what
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: is good for them in the long run. In such cases,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: a person's psychic energy, directed by an ill conceived ego
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: is likely to cause entropy in the environment as well
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: as within consciousness. For each of us, the chief obstacle
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: to a good life is oneself. Yet if we learn
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: to live with it, the self can become a friend,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: a helper, a rock upon which to build a fulfilling life.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: We all have the opportunity to use ambition, the need
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: to be loved, even aggressiveness, in constructive ways without being
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: carried away by them. Once we realize what our demons are,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: we need not fear them any longer. Instead of taking
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: them seriously, we can smile with compassion at the arrogance
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: of these fruits of our imagination. We don't have to
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: feed their ravenous hunger, except on our own terms, when
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: to do so helps us achieve something worth water. What
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: we feel, what we wish, and what we think are
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: in harmony. Am