Flow and Peak Experiences The eudaimonic tradition of happiness also includes Csikszentmihalyi’s (2008) concept of flow or autotelic personalities Autotelic personalities are those individuals who engage in activities for their own sake rather than for some later external goals Such autotelic personalities often experience the state of flow Sometimes, industrious students get so immersed in their activities that they lose a sense of time, and the rest of the world seems to disappear Such fully absorbing mental states of a focused mind that does not wander are flow states Renowned positive psychologist Csikszentmihalyi (2008) popularized the concept of flow and referred to it as an optimal experience, a state of complete immersion in an activity, being completely involved for its own sake In this mental state, ego falls away, time flies, and every thought and action follows the previous one, like playing jazz (Cherry, 2017; Csikszentmihalyi, 2008) Flow experiences can occur to many people, especially those who are engaged in sports activities, like skiing, tennis, soccer, mountain climbing, and dancing Certain individuals involved in activities like painting, writing, and surgery may experience flow states They undertake autotelic activities, which people for their own sake Such autotelic activities are also personally rewarding to people experiencing flow How does flow happen? The state of flow occurs when people face a high-level challenge, and their skills are just enough to meet that challenge, stretching them to the limit (Boniwell, 2012; Csikszentmihalyi, 2008) Csikszentmihalyi asserted that some characteristics of flow states are clarity of goals with immediate feedback on progress, 34