1. goals for the sixth evening
to understand how to use the “reminder dots” for calming & “re-centering” during the day
to know what is meant by “flow” and how important this is for wellbeing and happiness
to be clear about the specific formal “belly” practice and the relaxation/awareness challenges

2. research on how to feel really alive and well:
ESM - experience sampling method - genuine snapshots of present time experience
25 years of research into the experience of happiness, involvement, vitality, focus, and enjoyment
studies in Canada, Australia, USA, Italy, Germany, Japan, India, Korea & Thailand
initially experts - musicians, athletes, surgeons, artists, chess masters - then people from all walks of life

3. the elements of enjoyment
flow experiences typically contain several of these 8 elements:
usually involves a challenging activity requiring skills
clear goals and rapid feedback on how we’re doing
attention is largely absorbed by the activity
the mind clears of irrelevant material
there is a sense of exercising control
loss of self-consciousness, though paradoxically the self tends to emerge stronger and more confident
our sense of time bears little relationship to clock time
the activity becomes an end in its own right

4. typical components of flow
the mind clears of irrelevant material including self- consciousness
challenge
skills & feedback
mental focus
nunc fluens
our sense of time changes and the activity becomes valid in its own right

5. the challenge & reward!!!
when a person is able to organize his or her consciousness so as to experience flow as often as possible, the quality of life is inevitably going to improve
flow makes the present more enjoyable but it also builds confidence and develops skills
Csikszentmihalyi M Flow: the psychology of happiness
London: Random Century Group, 1992

6. developing skills in application
formal practice
developing a trigger phrase/focus
first “differential” practice
second “differential” practice
the reminder dots are to encourage us to re-centre just as much as to calm
the reminder dot exercise
stressful real life situations