VIDEO

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the Secret to Happiness

By Mihály Csíkszentmihályi — 2008

Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks, "What makes a life worth living?" Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of "flow."

18:56 min

How to Enter the ‘Flow State’ for Effortless Creativity

Taking a modern look at a millennia-old concept. We experience the "flow state" when a given task becomes effortless and time slips by without our noticing. The concept has appeared in many ancient philosophies like Stoicism and Taoism, and modern research has confirmed this experience is real.

Article
Matt Davis
2018
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The ‘Flow State’: Where Creative Work Thrives

Many of us know what it’s like to be in a state of creative flow. Do you have to wait for inspiration to strike, or can you hack ‘the zone’?

Article
Alice Robb
2019
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The Flow (the Zone)— For Writers? What Is It? How Do I Get Into It?

The concept of the flow, or being in the zone for an artist, is very much like the state an athlete achieves (or strives to achieve) for peak performance. It’s that place beyond all the effort, where time is meaningless and everything just flows.

Article
Elle Fredine
2018
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The Mindful Musician: Mental Skills for Peak Performance

In The Mindful Musician: Mental Skills for Peak Performance, author Vanessa Cornett offers guidelines to help musicians cultivate artistic vision, objectivity, freedom, quiet awareness, and self-compassion, both on- and offstage in order to become more resilient performers.

Book
Vanessa Cornett
2019
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Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s famous investigations of optimal experience have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life.

Book
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
2008
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Focus

SARK’s whimsical, hand-printed, hand-painted books . . . are guides for adults (kids, too) who long to play and be creative, but have forgotten how.

Article
Joe Brown
1994
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Healing and Creativity: SARK and Others

In an interview, SARK said she knows that art is healing “because of how it heals me and how I see it healing other people every day. Through art, we come alive through the deep connections to our souls and spirits.”

Article
Douglas Eby
2017
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SARK on Being an Artist and Dealing with Our Inner Critic

As part of the 2018 Transformational Author Experience, host Christine Kloser provided a free Playbook with contributions by multiple authors including Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, better known as SARK.

Article
Douglas Eby
2018
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SARK’s Journal and Play!Book: A Place to Dream While Awake

SARK invites the journal writer to compose his/her own creative companion through gentle instructions and playful directions toward artistic freedom. Your “inside child” will peek out to want, wish, find pleasure, and amaze you.

Book
SARK
1993
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SARK’s New Creative Companion: Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit

We all need reminders that it’s little things that make us feel really alive—those small actions and subtle gestures that can potentially lead to great moments of magic and joy.

Book
SARK
2025
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EXPLORE TOPIC

Peak Performance