So that the reader understand how they lived.
Answer: involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. or the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Wikipedia
Explanation: According to positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, what you are experiencing at that moment is known as flow, a state of complete immersion in an activity. He describes the mental state of flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away.
Staccato refers to the music term when every sound is short and disconnected with the other sounds.