happiness

There exists a fundamental difference in various ways of acquiring happiness, happiness that is gained from ordinary activities such as eating, and happiness that is acquired from active leisure such as reading a book.
Reason: this is because activities such as eating which produces positive emotions do not channel the individual into the flow state which is needed to be productive. On the other hand, active leisure produces those positive emotions and the flow state. The positive emotions come as a result or feedback of the activity.
Evidence: “it is the involvement of flow, rather than happiness that makes for excellence in life” (csikzentmihalyi 32).
Reason: meaningful and long-lasting happiness require the flow experiences rather than self help books that teaches about happiness
Evidence: schumaker says that gaining happiness from reading self help books is not a good idea. Self help books only provide the individual a false happiness that can only last for a short period. This will lead the individual (to search for new books in order to continue obtaining that same happiness)that say they know the road to happiness.
Reason: to be truly happy one must participate in flow activities which happiness is the end result or the feedback to the activity.
Evidence: “the happiness that follows flow is of our own making, and it leads to increasing complexity and growth in consciousness” (csikzentmihalyi 32).
Claim: while I realize that self help books might produce minute cases of happiness, they do not produce the essence of flow. This leads me to believe that the only constructive way to be happy is to participate in active leisure activities which produce flow and happiness.