Health Sciences 4091A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Roots, Autotelic

• School: Western University
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: Health Sciences 4091A/B
• Professor: Marnie Wedlake

Document Summary

Ideal= we (cid:498)should(cid:499) be happy if we are not happy then something is (cid:498)wrong(cid:499) Real= life is not one big oasis- it"s a vast desert, with the occasional palm tree. The ever-present conflict of living with (cid:498)ideal(cid:499) vs. (cid:498)real(cid:499) causes us to experience inordinate amounts of stress i. e. anxiety, fear, disappointment, frustration, grief, anger, etc. We have to be fluid enough to work with what we have. Of great fascination to aristotle, and many others (cid:498)more than anything else, men and women seek happiness(cid:499) Ideal= we are socialized to believe (cid:498)stuff(cid:499) will make us (cid:498)happy(cid:499) Real= but, accumulating lots of (cid:498)stuff(cid:499) does not make us happy: although money doesn"t make you happy, it does relieve a lot of stress such as poverty and you can focus on things that make you happy. Does not happen by chance, cannot be purchased or commanded. Must get out of your comfort zone in order to reach new heights (csikszentmihalyi) never done.