Flow experiences (also known as optimal performance) occur when people engage in activities they enjoy. The authors discuss such events in their study that examined a number of healthy, active individuals (performing artists, athletes, and others engaged in a range of recreational activities) and divided these into three groups based on adverse childhood experiences. They found that, although fl?ow is higher among the individuals who experienced more adversity in childhood, this same group also had more difficulty regulating emotions and more frequently employed emotion-oriented coping strategies under stress. They also discovered that, compared to the athletes and regularly active individuals, performing artists suffered significantly more adversity in childhood and engaged in more emotional-oriented coping strategies. All three groups, however, enjoyed high autotelic fl?ow experiences, which--so the authors suggest--indicates that the subjects derived meaning from their preferred activities. Overall, the authors claim, their study's findings reinforce the psychological benefits of ?flow-based experiences.