The Gift of Introversion

Flow is my five-year old playing with his Lego set, sometimes
accompanied by his best friend, sometimes not — time seems
to float by as he lies contentedly on his stomach, watching
the wheels go ‘round. Flow is my 84- year-old father,
a former medical school professor, sitting at his desk
for hours reading medical journals.
When I was a kid and saw my father come home
from a long day at work only to crack open those
forbidding - looking papers, I worried that he
worked too hard. Now I know that he was
spending time the way he loved.
People in flow don’t tend to wear the broad
smiles of enthusiasm that Fleeson’s research
focused on. When you watch them in action,
the words “joy ” and “excitement” don’t come to
mind. But the words “engagement,” “absorption,”
and “curiosity ” do.
THE POWER OF INTROVERTS | 22