WEEK 4

LEISURE AND FLOW

 LEISURE
● How we spare our spare time, what we do to relax, the
activates we engage in to have fun, and how we exercise our
passion and interests.
● A list of activities that could fall under the category of leisure
would be endless.
● People are creative in finding ways to amuse themselves.
● The emotions associated with leisure activities.
● Some people prefer active adventure sports that contain an
element of danger or risk such as mountain biking or kayaking,
sailing, basketball.
 LEISURE
● A number of studies have looked at how leisure is
related to life satisfaction and well-being.
Leisure and Life Satisfaction
● Studies found that satisfaction with leisure defined as
“life outside work”
● Studies showed that happiness and life satisfaction with
leisure were significantly correlated
● Higher activity level could be effective deterrent to the
damaging effects of Alzheimer’s disease.
 LEISURE
● Studies on exercise have found that increases in aerobic
exercise can decrease the symptoms of depression and
anxiety as well as increase levels of happiness.
● Leisure helps people feel better about their lives.
What turns an Activity into “Leisure”?
● People engage in leisure for fun
● Relief from stress
● British studies on the citizens, leisure 1.)fulfilled needs for
autonomy 2.) allowed the enjoyment of family life 3.)
provided for relaxation 4.) offered an escape from routine.
● People like challenges themselves to develop and acquire
skills, talents, abilities and gain knowledge as a way to
grow and expand their potential.
Flow and Optimal Experience: Being “In The Zone”
● Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi began his studies of psychological
well-being by asking people to describe in their own words
what it felt like when they were doing something really
enjoyable.
● He was interested in studying the experience of enjoyment, fun.
Play or the sense of being intrinsically motivated.
● Mihalyi found out from interviewees whom received little
money or no money for their activity that they were involved
in. What he got out of his interviewees were wonderfully rich
when everything was working just right and all effort just
flowed.
Flow and Optimal Experience: Being “In The Zone”
● Phrase “in the zone” is commonly used to describe
what Csikszentmihalyi termed being in flow.
● Mihalyi’s theory on flow has been very popular
because of the experiences of being in flow and many
people recognize what he was talking about flow.
● States of flow while at work
● Flow experiences may be the key to job satisfaction.
Flow and Optimal Experience: Being “In The Zone”
● Characteristics of flow
● 1.) The merging of Action and Awareness.
-People involved in an activity to the point that they feel
“inside” the activity.
- The person do not have to think about what they are doing
before they do it.
-Eg. An expert in rock climber told mihalyi what it was like
when he was on a climb: “You are so involved in what you
are doing , you aren’t thinking of yourself as separate
from the immediate activity.
 Characteristics of flow
● 2.) Complete Concentration on the task at hand.
-Complete concentration and a centering of attention on the
activity of the moment.
-This concentration appears effortless, not associated with
mental strain or aggressive efforts to control or repress
thinking.
- As a composer described, “I am really quite oblivious to my
surroundings after I really get going. Eg. Composing. I think
the phone could ring or the house could burn down…..when I
start working I really do shut out the world”.
 Characteristics of flow
● 3.) Lack of worry about losing control that paradoxically,
results in a sense of control.
-Loss of worry allows people to maintain concentration and
focus on the task.
-Focus allows the person to feel as if they are in complete
control of their actions.
-Feeling in control than they have ever been.
-Eg. According to a dancer, “If I have enough space. I am in
control. I feel I can radiate an energy into the
atmosphere….It’s not always necessary that another person be
there to catch the energy. I can dance for the walls, I can dance
for the floors…I become one with the atmosphere”.
 Characteristics of flow
● 4.) A loss of self-consciousness
● - Reinforce the merging of awareness and action, focused
concentration
● -During flow, that part of consciousness that evaluates and
plans before acting –the ego is quieted.
● -We do not have to think before we act, we are not trapped in
an internal conflict btw many options.
● -Eg. A composer described what it felt like went he was
writing at his best, “You yourself are in en ecstatic state to
such a point that you feel as though you almost don’t
exist…..My hand is devoid of myself….nothing to do with
what is happening….I just sit there watching it in a
 Characteristics of flow
● 5.) Time no longer seems to pass in ordinary ways.
-Time may seem to pass more quickly than usual or may
appear to be slowed down.
- This element of flow can be very dramatic and is one of
the more distinctive reasons for describing flow as
alternate state of consciousness.
-People have described this feeling while playing sports.
- They report suddenly having all the time in the world to
shoot the basket, throw a pass or position the racket.
 Characteristics of flow
● 5.) Time no longer seems to pass in ordinary ways.
-Time seems to slow down as they feel a sense of
relaxation, a lack of worry and extreme confidence that
their next move will be perfect.
-A chess master said, “Time passes a hundred time faster.
-In a sense, it resembles the dream state. A whole story
can unfold in seconds it seems.
 Characteristics of flow
● 6. Autotelic Nature of the Experience
- The experience is done for its own sake rather than a means
to another goal.
-A rock climber said, “The mystique of rock climbing is
climbing; you get to the top of the rock glad it’s over but really
wish it would go forever.
-The justification of climbing is climbing you don’t conquer
anything except things in yourself.
-The purpose of flow is to keep on flowing not looking for the
peak or utopia but staying in flow
-The climbing itself is a
self-communication
 Characteristics of flow
● Mihalyi said there may be an autotelic personality style
associated with a person who consistently does things for
their own sake with involvement and enthusiasm rather
than in response to external threats or rewards.
● Such Individuals are categorized by autonomy and
independence
● Mihalyi the major characteristic define autotelic
individuals is that their psychic energy seems
inexhaustible
● Autotelic person are less self-centered and generally less
concerned with themselves.
 Characteristics of flow
● 7.)Flow accompanies a challenging activity that requires
skill.
● - Criteria of flow describes one of the parameters that
csikszentmihalyi believes is associated with building the
feeling of flow.
● He believes that when the person challenge of an activity
pushes one’s skill level, the requisite concentration is
produced that can induce the flow experience.
 Characteristics of flow
● -The person will feel BORED, if the demands are low and
skills are high.
● The person will feel ANXIETY- if the demand are high
and skills are low.
● It is only when the demands of the situation present a
challenge to the person’s skills that flow is possible.
 Characteristics of flow
● 8.) The activity has clear goals and immediate feedback
-This describes the parameter of flow.
-A chess expert described the experience in the following way:
“When the game is exciting I don’t seem to hear nothing- the
world seems to be cut off from me and all there’s to think
about is the game
-Eg.During a good game I think over various alternatives to the
game…..nothing else. Problems are suspended for the duration
of the tournament only all that is related to the game is take
into consideration.
- The activity must have clear goals and immediate feedback
…as chess do…..that people don’t have to wonder about how
well he/she is performing the activity during flow.
 Characteristics of flow
● First six characteristics describe what flow feels like as one
experiences it.
● Other qualities of flow:-
● -Children seem to be in flow as it do not need to be
learnt………but we can be taught how to express flow
● Brain wave activity were measured before
performances…when being in the zone there were indication
of less activity in the left hemisphere of the brain.
● There are four stages mentioned by some researchers that a
person might through form microflow to very intense flow
experiences that are paying attention, interested attention,
absorbed attention and merging.
 Thank you
● Let’s experience being in the state of flow……eg. Having
the passion to study the book in curiosity and in
wonderment ….wanting to know more about what enfold
in the subject of discussion.