Apple Flow

The father of flow research is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian professor and researcher. His research and analysis of flow experiences have been applied to everything from educational theory (PDF) to business management. Csikszentmihalyi’s basic premise is this: we most enjoy life when we’re presented with – or seek out – manageable but creative challenges that tap into our individual curiosities and interests – challenges that give us immediate feedback for our improvement and success. They’re enough tostimulate our biochemical triggers without setting off the whole fight or flight cascade. These constructive trials of choice and circumstance offer a stark contrast to the getting and spending, passive entertainment and personal pampering modern society often promotes as self-fulfillment. (It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “just do it,” eh?) Csikszentmihalyi says it best: “When a person’s entire being is stretched in the full functioning of body and mind, whatever one does becomes worth doing for its own sake; living becomes its own justification. In the harmonious focusing of physical and psychic energy, life finally comes into its own. It is the full involvement of flow, rather than happiness, that makes for excellence in life.”
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/flow/

An easy life is not a good life, an easy life is a boring life.  Humans are made to respond to the demands of life, and removing those demands makes humans all to familiar with the sad clown of life.

I think it should be obvious, though, how lucky you or I might be if we were able to choose the demands and challenges we respond to.  For example, Tim Ferriss isn't sitting around eating bon bons now that he's rich and famous - he's still tackling appearance goals, performance goals, skill goals, learning projects, and entertainment/indulgence projects on what sounds like a carefully planned annual schedule (based on what I've read in his books).  However, learning how to recognize the experience of flow, how to get good at making ourselves available to flow, and therefore maximizing our ability to respond the demands we face up to - that sounds "much better than bad."