What does it mean to flourish? 

Positive Psychology has some very specific ideas about that. In his newest book, Flourish, Martin Seligman, professor and chair of the Master's program in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania states that in order to flourish people have to experience a state of well-being.  He defines well-being as being composed of 5 elements that, together, form the acronym PERMA, and here's the short- hand version:

Positive emotion - happiness and satisfaction

Engagement - flow, mindfullness, savoring the moment

Positive relationships - being meaningfully socially connected to individual people, groups and insitutions

Meaning - purpose

Accomplishment - achievement

Positive Psychology says that in order to flourish people need to experience these 5 qualities and characteristics on a regular basis because the their presense positively impacts our health, productivity, social connectedness, emotional well-being, and general over-all happiness.  People who flourish are commonly described as optimistic and relisient, have high self-esteem and vitality, and self-determination (folks who make things happen rather than let things happen).  

The good news is that Positive Psychology isn't just theoretical - it's all about application too!  So, we can learn a lot about how to develop more positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning and greater accomplishment, something that, as members of the human race, we're probably all interested in.

Check out resources on Google, the library, or our new Positive Psychology course.  And help make the world a more positive place!