Experiencing Flow: Creativity and Meaningful Task Engagement for Senior Women

Abstract

The possibility of positive aging is examined, and related to the experience of flow, a pleasurable state in which people are fully engaged in a task or activity and lose all sense of time, space and ego (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008). Positive aging, as viewed by some seniors, involves a sense of purpose, interactions with others, personal growth, self-acceptance, autonomy, and health (Fisher & Specht, 1999). These dimensions are related to flow, and with engagement in creative and meaningful tasks. Research is reviewed which demonstrates that creative activity and meaningful tasks are related to subjective well-being, and to better physical and psychological health for older people (Cohen, 2006). Older women’s potential for meaningful work and creativity activity is addressed, including barriers. Encouraging older women to engage in creative and meaningful activities is viewed as contributing to the subjective well-being, and to the physical and mental health of older women.

KEYWORDS:

• autonomy
• creativity
• flow
• intrinsic motivation
• positive aging
• subjective well-being