為您的日常生活增添色彩。

Cafetalk Tutor's Column

Stephen Brivati 講師的專欄

This is how I enjoy life!

每週主題: This is how I enjoy my daily life!

2021年10月18日 | 1 評論

‘This is how I enjoy my life.’ I am not too sure how to approach this topic. Does it mean ‘What do I do for pleasure?’ or should I make a deeper exploration of the meaning of enjoyment? Or what? 

To begin with, there are many things in life that give me pleasure. These include being with my wife, practicing yoga, writing, cooking, studying Japanese, gardening and teaching English to name just a few. The interesting thing is that most of these activities take some effort and involve a challenge. I think this is a very important lesson to take on board because it concerns the very deep question ‘when are we truly happy?’

I found the answer to this question in the work of a Czech psychologist called Csikszentmihalyi. (I have no idea how you pronounce his name). This psychologist invented (?) the theory of ‘Flow.’ In Csikszentmihalyi's words, flow is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.’’The important point is that the activity presents challenges and provides feedback. When you are doing such an activity time seems to stand still. 

When we start looking at creating a meaningful life from this perspective we begin to notice that many activities we do because we think they are fun and enjoyable are actually just a waste of time. For example, ‘binge watching’ drama on Netflix is not going to count as something that makes us genuinely happy.

As Csikszentmihalyi also said ‘Human beings are only truly happy when they are engaged in overcoming their limitations.’ This reminds me of something I read recently that people who lose limbs in accidents often eventually become happier than they were before since they become more focused about life in general and are constantly challenging themselves to reach their potential.

 

專欄文章僅代表作者個人觀點,不代表咖啡滔客的立場。

線上客服諮詢