Emotional inteligence
180/661experienced this time and again. My hand seemsdevoid of myself, and I have nothing to do with whatis happening. I just sit there watching in a state ofawe and wonderment. And it just flows out by itself. 25His description is remarkably similar to those of hundredsof diverse men and women—rock climbers, chesschampions, surgeons, basketball players, engineers,managers, even filing clerks—when they tell of a timethey outdid themselves in some favored activity. Thestate they describe is called "flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,the University of Chicago psychologist who hascollected such accounts of peak performance during twodecades of research. 26 Athletes know this state of graceas "the zone," where excellence becomes effortless,crowd and competitors disappearing into a blissful,steady absorption in the moment. Diane Roffe-Steinrotter,who captured a gold medal in skiing at the 1994Winter Olympics, said after she finished her turn at skiracing that she remembered nothing about it but beingimmersed in relaxation: "I felt like a waterfall." 27Being able to enter flow is emotional intelligence at itsbest; flow represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessingthe emotions in the service of performance and learning.In flow the emotions are not just contained andchanneled, but positive, energized, and aligned with thetask at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or
181/661the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. Yetflow(or a milder microflow) is an experience almosteveryone enters from time to time, particularly whenperforming at their peak or stretching beyond theirformer limits. It is perhaps best captured by ecstaticlovemaking, the merging of two into a fluidly harmoniousone.That experience is a glorious one: the hallmark of flowis a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture. Becauseflow feels so good, it is intrinsically rewarding. It is astate in which people become utterly absorbed in whatthey are doing, paying undivided attention to the task,their awareness merged with their actions. Indeed, it interruptsflow to reflect too much on what is happening—thevery thought "I'm doing this wonderfully" canbreak the feeling of flow. Attention becomes so focusedthat people are aware only of the narrow range of perceptionrelated to the immediate task, losing track oftime and space. A surgeon, for example, recalled a challengingoperation during which he was in flow; when hecompleted the surgery he noticed some rubble on thefloor of the operating room and asked what hadhappened. He was amazed to hear that while he was sointent on the surgery part of the ceiling had caved in—hehadn't noticed at all.
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- Page 142 and 143: 142/661people ruminate. Worrying ab
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- Page 150 and 151: pain of their own. Throwing oneself
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- Page 156 and 157: 6The Master AptitudeJust once in my
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- Page 176 and 177: 176/661Seligman defines optimism in
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- Page 192 and 193: 192/661the root of caring, stems fr
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- Page 196 and 197: 196/661mother cry, one baby wiped h
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- Page 200 and 201: Attunement is very different from s
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the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. Yet
flow(or a milder microflow) is an experience almost
everyone enters from time to time, particularly when
performing at their peak or stretching beyond their
former limits. It is perhaps best captured by ecstatic
lovemaking, the merging of two into a fluidly harmonious
one.
That experience is a glorious one: the hallmark of flow
is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture. Because
flow feels so good, it is intrinsically rewarding. It is a
state in which people become utterly absorbed in what
they are doing, paying undivided attention to the task,
their awareness merged with their actions. Indeed, it interrupts
flow to reflect too much on what is happening—the
very thought "I'm doing this wonderfully" can
break the feeling of flow. Attention becomes so focused
that people are aware only of the narrow range of perception
related to the immediate task, losing track of
time and space. A surgeon, for example, recalled a challenging
operation during which he was in flow; when he
completed the surgery he noticed some rubble on the
floor of the operating room and asked what had
happened. He was amazed to hear that while he was so
intent on the surgery part of the ceiling had caved in—he
hadn't noticed at all.
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