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