1. The evolutionary purpose of life is to survive and reproduce.
2. But unlike other animals, humans have this capacity to reason.
3. So Aristotle observed that the ultimate purpose of life is happiness.
4. He defined it as eudaemonia, meaning, ‘flourishing’ or ‘living well.'
5. A perspective that realises human potential by intellectual fulfillment.
6. This Aristotelian view has defined the nature of western thought since.
7. But happiness is subjective, so there’s no consensus on how it's realised.
8. So several theories on happiness have emerged, which fall in three types.
9. Needs satisfaction, process of activity, and personality disposition theories.
10. Needs theories suggest that reducing pains and tensions lead to happiness.
11. For instance, Freud’s pleasure principle and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
12. Process of activity theories posit that happiness comes from being engaged.
13. For instance, Csikszentmihalyi’s flow and Kahneman’s dual-process theories.
14. Personality disposition theories suggest that happiness is inherent and genetic.
15. For instance, Fiske’s Big 5 and Brickman-Campbell’s hedonic treadmill theories.
16. Perhaps the most practical of all theories: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory.
17. It's born from studying those who did activities for pleasure, even without rewards.
18. He discovered that happiness was the product of intense activities, not relaxation.
19. So happiness lied in the process—being in a state of flow, of complete absorption.
19. A state in which one is so immersed in the joy of doing something for its own sake.
20. A pattern he noticed in painters, musicians, athletes, dancers, scientists, surgeons etc.
21. If challenge exceeds skill, anxiety strikes, if skill exceeds challenge, boredom strikes.
22. So the flow state sits between boredom (activity is too easy) and anxiety (it's too hard).
23. Life’s worth living when one finds flow doing something so absorbing, nothing matters.
24. Like writing, playing an instrument, creating art, a meal, solving a problem, learning etc.
25. The happiest people spend much of their time in a state of flow; it's the happiness factory.