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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Madeleine Aggeler

‘An optimal state of consciousness’: is flow the secret to happiness?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
person puts both hands on face and smiles
‘It would be impossible to “hack” flow on demand,’ says Dr Cameron Norsworthy. But we can increase our chances to experience it, he adds. Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

What is the secret to happiness? In a 2004 Ted Talk, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi boldly claimed to have the answer: flow.

Flow is the experience of being completely absorbed in a particular task. Sometimes we call it being “in the zone”. Csikszentmihalyi described it in his Ted Talk as an “effortless, spontaneous feeling” and an “ecstatic state”.

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