How Creative Flow is Like Sex | Psychology Today

"Writing is like making love. Don't worry about the orgasm, just concentrate on the process." That useful advice, credited to author Isabel Allende, seems like a good introduction to the idea that how you make love has commonalities with your journey toward creative expression. Consider... 1. In both creative flow and sexual activity, you surrender control. "When I write, I feel out of control in a lovely way," a writer told me. "The analogy that comes to mind is sex: a heightening of senses, a rush, no concept of time, a dimming of the external world, an altered state in which creation is the unconscious though central intent." A popular novelist (Carolyn See) said it this way: "When I create, I'm not thinking. In a sense, you're better off not thinking about it. Like sex, you don't want to think, oh now we're in foreplay.

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2010 Nobel Prize Winning Political Economist Identifies 8 Ways For Groups To Manage Their Own Affairs Sustainably and Successfully

A lot of data interpreted by the right kind of theory was required before Lin Ostrom's could identify the eight ingredients that enable groups to manage their own affairs. A warning is in order before I proceed: After you learn them, you are likely to think "Of course! Aren't these obvious?" The answer is "Only in retrospect". The ingredients did not emerge from neoclassical economic theory, a long intellectual journey was required for Lin to discover them, and all successful explanations, obvious or not, must be understood in terms of a formal theoretical framework. Without further ado, here is Lin Ostrom's recipe for success, taken from the final chapter of her book Understanding Institutional Diversity. 1) Clearly Defined Boundaries. The identity of the group and its rights to the common resource must be clearly delineated.

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