Author Archives: Mirjam van Olst

Flow – Achieving Happiness

I’m currently reading the book “Flow” from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The subtitle is “The classic work on how to achieve happiness”, so it seemed like a good book to read. Not to say that I’m not happy, on the contrary, but there is always room for improvement when it comes to topics like this one.

I haven’t finished reading the book yet, but so far, it’s very interesting. It’s also at times a bit long-winded. Mainly when reading through the elaborate examples takes a couple of hours, which in my case most of the time means that it takes several days just to get through the examples. I didn’t find flow while reading those parts :).
I’ll try to write a couple of posts about the bits that I did find interesting though. A good reason to write a blog post is always to be able to find something that you might want to get back to later. Also, I quite often experience flow while writing a post, which means it lets me experience happiness.
And perhaps others find it interesting, enjoyable or inspiring too, which would be a bonus!

The book, of course, starts by explaining when you’re most likely to experience flow.

When you can fully concentrate on a single task or activity
When you know you will be able to complete the task, but it still provides sufficient challenge (it’s not boring)
When you don’t feel self-conscious

A good example for me is that I can experience flow
when I’m playing tennis. I like to constantly improve myself and very much enjoy practicing. It is also possible to find flow while playing a match, as long as you’re more focused on the process than the outcome. I’m not too good at that and thus don’t really enjoy playing matches.

Running is another activity that lets me experience flow. It allows me to set a challenge depending on how I feel, or how much time I want to spend running when I go out. I can focus on sticking to a certain pace, ensuring that I run a certain distance, or go out for intervals and try to survive (anyone who has ever done intervals will understand that).

It is also possible to experience flow from for instance studying beautiful paintings, reading or writing poetry, cooking or eating wonderful food, dancing or listening to music. Reading all these examples made me think about many different things that I would like to spend (more) time on like going to museums, baking cakes, reading and playing golf. I’m pretty sure I could easily fill my days if they were twice as long!

At least that gives me plenty of motivation to start the next book I want to read, which is “Busy” by Tony Crabbe…

After summer dip

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Do you know the feeling you get when summer is over, when days are getting shorter and traffic jams are getting longer?

I always get into an after-summer-dip this time of year. Feeling a bit gloomy that summer is over and that we are on our way to another cold, dark winter. I realize this sounds a bit dramatic, but it feels like that too!
Normally I’m very well organized, my house is generally very tidy and chores are done when they need doing. I also tend to be able to kick myself in the behind to get some exercise done during the workweek. Right now, the laundry pile is bigger than it normally is, overblown flowers are staring at me from their vase and I can’t motivate myself to go for a run when it’s already dark when I get home from work.

summerisover

The best way to conquer the gloominess, at least for me, is to stay active, but that is also the most difficult thing to do.
Last week during the week I spend my free hours (not that many of them) on the sofa, catching up on some TV shows. I didn’t do any housework and I didn’t get as much exercise as I would normally get. Yesterday I did the one thing that makes many women feel better. I went shopping! After a search that spanned several months I finally find the exact sofa that I want and I ordered it.

Finding and buying the sofa felt very good, but it also made me feel guiltier for being a slob. To top it off I went to bed way to late and didn’t do any ab-exercises. A vicious circle.
This morning when I woke up I decided that enough was enough. I got up and started the day with some serious ab-exercises. Then I did laundry, had breakfast, watered the plants and cleaned the bed sheets.
And I felt a LOT better already!

The rest of day I got some more exercise, did chores, I was reasonably active, but also had enough time to relax and enough energy and motivation to write this blog post as a bonus.
So, this is a note to self: if you feel a bit down again because of the lack of daylight, or because the leaves are falling, kick yourself into gear and get moving!

Happiness Can Be Found, Even In THe Darkest Of Times, If One Only Remembers To Turn On The Light - Albus Dumbledore Quote

Focus to Succeed

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Did you ever wonder what you could achieve if you could have complete focus on one thing for a significant period of time?

I was watching the documentary “Breaking2” tonight, about three athletes preparing to try and run a marathon in under 2 hours. They spent two years preparing for it. Training daily with the other world class athletes. Eating, sleeping, drinking according to a rigorous schedule. Supported by their trainers and a team of scientists, who helped them determine how to optimally prepare. For two years.
It was a great watch, I can highly recommend it.
Oh and the fastest one finished in 2:00:25. He did something that was pretty much out of this world and still didn’t reach his goal.

The successful warrior is the average man

Afterwards I was trying to imagine what it would be like to be so focused on one thing for so long. Like most people my life contains a lot of variety. A significant part of it is spend on working. But in my spare time I like to play tennis, go rock climbing, plant shopping, running, spend time with my family, read, write and sometimes just sit on the sofa and watch TV. At several of these things I can perform a little above average (especially the shopping of course ;-p). Mostly because of my drive and determination. But I can’t imagine being able to focus on one of these things for more than a couple of hours.

Because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, I do sometimes dream about being able to put a lot of focus on something physical for a couple of months in a row and see where that would get me. For instance, play a lot of tennis or do a lot of running. Just to feel what it would be like.
I expect that it will not only be very hard physically, but also mentally. To stay motivated and to give 100% for a long time to reach a specific goal requires immense discipline and perseverance. Where do you find the motivation to keep going day after day? What keeps these people going?

I have profound respect for professional athletes and I’m happy that they are able and willing to put in all this energy and focus. Through them we can experience what it’s like to push the boundaries of what’s humanly possible and to feel the euphoria when they succeed.

Bad habits are easy to acquire

Target: reached

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Several weeks ago, I wrote here that I was going to try and do the 30 day abs-challenge. I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to complete it. It took me closer to 60 than to 30 days, but that’s ok.
While my belly might not be as muscular and dry as it was around 3 years ago, I’m still very happy with the result. And so are my irritable bowels apparently, as they seem to be a lot less irritated.

30 day Abs Challenge Result

This sight makes me happy, even if it only looks like this for about an hour after I wake up 🙂

I’m trying to keep stay in this shape for a while, by repeating the 30th day of the challenge at least every other day.
Ok, I must be honest, I usually only get to 90-100 seconds of plank. 120 seconds plank after all the other exercises is just a bit too brutal.

30th ab challenge day

Kalliope's Journey

Stories about books, the inspiration they provide and the ideas that they spark