The ultimate test for the ability to control the quality of experience is what a person does in solitude,
with no
external demands to give structure to attention.
It is relatively easy to become involved with a job, to
enjoy
the company of friends, to be entertained in a theater or at a concert. But what happens when we are left to
our
own devices?
Alone, when the dark night of the soul descends, are we forced into frantic attempts to
distract
the mind from its coming? Or are we able to take on activities that are not only enjoyable, but make the
self
grow?
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow