Last week, I wrote about flow, what it is, and how I began to pursue inviting more of the feeling into my life in 2020. While in M. Csikszentmihalyi’s conceptual framework the basic descriptive outline of what flow is is fairly simple, it is only the starting point. Once we understand what flow is and where it can be found, “Dr. C” prompts us to consider the purpose of flow in life: the provision of enjoyable experiences.

Importantly, these enjoyable experiences—i.e., flow activities—are intrinsically motivated, or what Csikszentmihalyi calls autotelic (auto = self, telos = end goal). This means that practical activities that can generate flow are, in and of themselves, their own reward. They are done because they are enjoyable, and there need not necessarily be larger purpose. The objective in feeling more flow—understood as practicing ordering of consciousness—then, is to develop an autotelic personality. That is, to create a self that is motivated by its own goals, and which easily converts psychic entropy—disordered consciousness—into flow by mastering a set of practices. Herein lies the liberatory potential of this idea: these practices can be undertaken regardless of circumstances, stresses, and adversities.