““What I personally discovered was that my happiness at work could be strengthened by improving my relationships at work, more than by the work itself. True, you can enjoy some jobs more than others: if you find a job where your skills match and evolve with the challenges that you face, you are more likely to find yourself working in ‘Flow’. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has written an entire book on the subject. ‘Flow’ happens somewhere in between stress (anxiety) and boredom. It happens when you feel challenged but not so challenged that you become overwhelmed. To enjoy your job, and find flow you need to feel that you are able to meet the new challenges. The enjoyment happens when you become so immersed in the activity that you forget about – or lose – your self. If you can find ‘flow’ in any job you are almost guaranteed to enjoy it, but enjoyment is not the same as happiness. As we will discover in chapter 5, it’s more the dropping of the self, or more specifically the dropping of your ego, which is linked to an improvement in the health of your Happiness Animal, than is your job.””
