Someone sent this image around the office a couple of days ago and I thought it was worth sharing.

I’ve begun reading 43 Folders pretty regularly and typically I agree with what is written there or at least find in it an interesting perspective. The article Attention & Ambiguity: The Non-Paradox of Creative Work struck a nerve of sorts with me.

In particular the following paragraph bothered me:

Most all makers with longevity talk about a process that involves regular, scheduled work periods that allow generous time for warmups and getting into what Csikszentmihalyi himself has called, “Flow.” For as long as he or she can stay in that Flow state, a good artist is capable of synthesizing unbelievably disparate material and ideas in a way that’s often satisfying and productive. For those who cannot, it means another morning of video games, Facebook, and binge eating.

The reason it tugged on my reply strings is pretty basic, it seems to attribute the state of “Flow” solely to artists. I realize this is not the most significant part of the article, in fact it seems almost like an aside but reading those sentences colored the rest of the article for me. I focused on this so much because I disagree with it, it is not simply artists who get into a “Flow” but I would say any individual who is focused on creating or producing something tends to get into a “Flow”. When I’m talking about “Flow” I’m thinking of a specific mental state which I can most easily describe as focused on a task or action with something akin to tunnel vision. Given a definition such as this arguments could certainly be made for expanding it’s applicability far beyond an association with people creating things.

Other than the above bit though I generally agree with what Mr. Mann is saying. Talent and brilliance does not occur in a vacuum. Producing great works requires a number of things including attention, refinement, and criticisms.

On my way home this evening I found myself asking a significant but oft overlooked question. The question is this; “Do I want to be happy or will I be satisfied with being content?” The reason I think this question is often overlooked is because most people associate the two things together. Most folks, in my wealth of experience satisfy themselves with one and assume it fulfills the other. This is to say most people affiliate being content with their existence equates to their being happy with their lives.

In light of this evening’s rather odd revelations I have to kindly disagree. As I was walking home this evening this question struck me in a rather odd fashion. I walked past a clearly comfortable home and saw an animal, presumably a black collie, laying quite contentedly on the hardwood floor sleeping. At the time I thought to myself “I wish I were as content as thought pup.” However, soon after I realized I didn’t actually wish I was as happy as that pup. In fact I am as happy as that pup. I lead a relatively healthy life, sleep in a warm comfortable place with familiar and non-threatening surroundings. Call me cynical all you want but this is how I qualify contentment. My internal statement about the contentment of that pup made me ask myself if I was content, and when I decided I was I asked myself if I was happy. When I decided I wasn’t happy I asked myself well what the hell is the difference.

At this point I have no answer because to be honest I have found myself quite happy any number of times within the bounds of my current circumstances. However on looking back I realize the happiness was merely fleeting during my times of contentment. I was happy while I was dating certain people because they brought me joy. I was happy while I was working on certain projects because they brought me joy. No matter though, during every case I found my happiness and joy to be fleeting.

This of course brought me to the academic question: what would make me truly happy with my life and existence. Asking myself this question made me realize that during each period of happiness there was something sustaining the rest of my being. This leads me to believe that if I combine the experiences I can find what would bring me real and lasting happiness rather than simple periodic contentment.

• Interesting and hence challenging work
• Honest and lasting friendships
• Challenging and complementary female companionship
• Fulfilling though perhaps standard sex life

Each of these things have in turn brought me a great amount of joy but rarely have I had more than two occurring simultaneously. Presumably I would need all four of these things to be truly happy though I can honestly say I don’t expect I’ll ever know for sure. Perhaps that is a commentary on how I expect my life to play out but I take no shame in it. I don’t expect many people ever achieve real true happiness.