{"author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi","total_quotes":22,"quotes":[{"text":"Creative people are constantly surprised. They don’t assume that they understand what is happening around them, and they don’t assume that anybody else does either. They question the obvious—not out of contrariness but because they see the shortcomings of accepted explanations before the rest of us do. They sense problems before they are generally perceived and are able to define what they are.","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["creativity","problem-finding","surprise"],"id":1485,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"},{"text":"In other words, if Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy showed more than their fair share of pathology it was due less to the requirements of their creative work than to the personal sufferings caused by the unhealthy conditions of a Russian society nearing collapse. If so many American poets and playwrights committed suicide or ended up addicted to drugs and alcohol it was not their creativity that did it but an artistic scene that promised much, gave few rewards and left nine out of ten artists neglected if not ignored.","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["creativity","writing"],"id":3661,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"},{"text":"Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person's capacity to act.","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["flow","inspirational"],"id":9735,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"},{"text":"It might be true that it is “quality time” that counts, but after a certain point quantity has a bearing on quality.","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["happiness","quality-of-life"],"id":27524,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"},{"text":"Try to be surprised by something every day. It could be something you see, hear, or read about. Stop to look at the unusual car parked at the curb, taste the new item on the cafeteria menu, actually listen to your colleague at the office. How is this different from other similar cars, dishes or conversations? What is its essence? Don't assume that you already know what these things are all about, or that even if you knew them, they wouldn't matter anyway. Experience this once thing for what it is, not what you think it is. Be open to what the world is telling you. Life is nothing more than a stream of experiences - the more widely and deeply you swim in it, the richer your life will be.","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["inspirational","life-lessons"],"id":32570,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"},{"text":"..Such practices and beliefs, which interfere with happiness, are neither inevitable nor necessary; they evolved by chance, as a result of random responses to accidental conditions. But once they become part of the norms and habits of a culture, people assume that this is how things must be; they come to believe they have no other options.","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["happiness"],"id":39419,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"},{"text":"As people move through life, passing from the hopeful ignorance of youth into sobering adulthood, they inevitably face an increasingly nagging question: Is this all there is? Childhood can be painful, adolescence confusing; most people, expect that in adulthood things will get better. During the early years of adulthood the future still looks promising. But inevitably the mirror' shows the first white hairs and confirms the fact that those few extra pounds are not about to leave; eyesight begins to fail and mysterious pains begin to shoot through the body...' Where's all that money I was to have made? Where are all of the good times I was going to have?","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["aging","existentialism","life"],"id":81534,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"},{"text":"Few would argue that a simpler consciousness, no matter how harmonious, is preferable to a more complex one. While we might admire the serenity of the lion in repose, the tribesman’s untroubled acceptance of his fate, or the child’s wholehearted involvement in the present, they cannot offer a model for resolving our predicament. The order based on innocence is now beyond our grasp. Once the fruit is plucked from the tree of knowledge, the way back to Eden is barred forever.","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["flow","opportunities","options-in-life"],"id":108040,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"},{"text":"A large majority of our respondents were inspired by a tension in their domain that became obvious when looked at from the perspective of another domain. Even though they do not think of themselves as interdisciplinary, their best work bridges realms of ideas. Their histories tend to cast doubt on the wisdom of overspecialization, where bright young people are trained to become exclusive experts in one field and shun breadth like the plague.","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["academia","art","creativity","science","specialization"],"id":111737,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"},{"text":"If one has failed to develop curiosity and interest in the early years, it is a good idea to acquire them now, before it is too late to improve the quality of life. To do so is fairly easy in principle, but more difficult in practice. Yet it is sure worth trying. The first step is to develop the habit of doing whatever needs to be done with concentrated attention, with skill rather than inertia. Even the most routine tasks, like washing dishes, dressing, or mowing the lawn become more rewarding if we approach them with the care it would take to make a work of art. The next step is to transfer some psychic energy each day from tasks that we don’t like doing, or from passive leisure, into something we never did before, or something we enjoy doing but don’t do often enough because it seems too much trouble. There are literally millions of potentially interesting things in the world to see, to do, to learn about. But they don’t become actually interesting until we devote attention to them.","author":"Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi","tags":["happiness","interest"],"id":117411,"author_id":"Mihaly+Csikszentmihalyi"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":22,"pages":3,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}