He smiled briefly. It was a smile that did not flatter but warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren live in the here and now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A few guests smiled. One could hear something of longing in the smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a child,\u201d Dr. AuDHS continued, \u201cI didn\u2019t have to look for meaning. The meaning was there: presence. Play. Curiosity. Joy. Relationship. When something was boring, I left it. When something fulfilled me, I lost myself in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans thought of his own childhood \u2013 it was, strangely enough, not warm, not cold; it was correct, bourgeois, well-groomed. And he thought that perhaps he had never lost himself, but had only ever complied.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an adult,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201csomething is added: duty. Responsibility. Wage labor. Organization. Things that are not automatically fun \u2013 but that are necessary because they carry our life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word \u201ccarry\u201d was well chosen; it had something physical.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd with that,\u201d he continued, \u201cmeaning-making begins exactly where I can choose: in my free time. In my shaping. In my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused for a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cA modern word for this is flow,\u201d he said. \u201cI call it that today \u2013 and I deliberately phrase it simply: Happiness is the union of two states: euphoria and hyperfocus. So: joy and immersion. Fun and concentration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans felt how the ring on his finger \u2013 if it had been able to speak \u2013 would have nodded. Euphoria, hyperfocus: those were words that smelled of AuDHS, of the acronym that was more than a name.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly euphoria without focus,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201ccan tip into boredom. Because I do stimulate, but I don\u2019t dive in. Only focus without euphoria can feel like compulsion. Because I do function, but I don\u2019t live.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said \u201cdon\u2019t live\u201d so quietly that it was hard precisely because of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlow arises,\u201d he said, \u201cwhen both come together: when something really interests me \u2013 and at the same time challenges me. When I sense: That is me. Here I am awake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans thought of the moment in the GYMcube when the dumbbell was heavy and yet the body wanted to; he thought of the counting, of the log, of the noting. Awake, yes. But was it life? Or was it optimization?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd from that,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201cfollows a practical task: I have to find out which activities both delight and captivate me at the same time. And I have to build my life so that I get as much of them as possible. This is not romanticism. This is life architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Life architecture \u2013 a word that sounded like a draft in the music room.<\/p>\n
\u201cA central word in this lecture,\u201d he continued, \u201cis diversion.\u201d<\/p>\n