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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Hungarian American psychologist who spent decades studying when life feels most worth living, tracking, gets quoted everywhere and sourced almost nowhere. The 5 quotes below are different: each one is checked word for word against the cited work, starting with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, not copied from aggregator sites that pass misattributions along. The source is named under every line, so you can trace each quote back to the page it came from.
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On choosing the harder, more absorbing challenge:
The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
On realizing you can choose what to pay attention to:
The control of consciousness determines the quality of life.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
On not waiting for circumstances to improve before feeling okay:
A person can make himself happy, or miserable, regardless of what is actually happening outside, just by changing the contents of consciousness.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
On being intentional about what takes up your headspace:
The information we allow into consciousness becomes extremely important; it determines the content and quality of life.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
On taking responsibility for creating your own good days:
Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience