Flourishing

 

Article at a glance:

• Our current thinking around mental health is all wrong.
• What we should all be focusing on is cultivating flourishing.
• There are specific things we can all do to experience greater flourishing in our lives.

Why our current thinking around mental health is wrong:

As a professional in the mental health field I’ve been increasingly questioning the common definition of mental health as being free of mental illness.  Is our measure of physical health whether or not we’ve had a heart attack or stroke, been diagnosed with diabetes, or have an autoimmune disease?  I’m sure most of us would can quickly point out things ways in which we can improve our health even though we are not experiencing a serious medical condition.  Perhaps we could improve our diet, get more exercise, lose a few pounds, cut out the alcohol, or get more sleep.   And certainly there are many of us who are not suffering from a diagnosed mental illness that are not experiencing the level of mental wellness we would consider optimal.  Perhaps we are overly stressed, feeling burned out, or not as happy as we think we should be.  Our relationships are not going as well as they once did or we are not functioning optimally at work.  And, we experiencing suffering as a result.  Sure, we don’t have a mental health disorder, but is this really mentally “healthy?”

What it means to flourish:

Increasingly, my interest is not in diagnosing and treating psychological disorders.  My personal interest is in flourishing and my professional interest is in helping others flourish.  When we are flourishing we are experiencing a state of positive emotions, mental clarity, social connectedness, and spiritual purpose that allows us to show up and perform at our best, whether that is in our relationships, at work, or our personal pursuits.  I love the word flourishing because it describes a state of being that reaches so far beyond just the absence of mental illness.  Most of us do not have a mental illness but my hunch is that few of us our flourishing. 

The first time I heard the word flourishing used this way was by Dr. Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology.  Dr. Seligman may well know more about this topic than anyone else on the planet and, in fact, one of his books is titled, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Wellbeing.  In it, Dr. Seligman defines, based on extensive clinical research, the key elements of human flourishing using the acronym PERMA.  This stands for Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. 

    Positive Emotions – We all have a sense of what positive emotions are though what often comes to mind are examples of hedonic happiness such as experiences of joy and pleasure.  However, positive motions also include eudaimonic happiness or a sense of satisfaction that accompanies experiences that are meaningful  or connected to a sense of higher purpose.  In future blogs I’ll be discussing strategies for evoking and sustaining positive emotions such as practicing gratitude and forgiveness, savoring pleasurable moments, practicing mindfulness, and actively cultivating hope and optimism. 

    Engagement – Here, engagement is similar to what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined as a state of “flow.”  When we are truly in a state of “flow” the activity is it’s own reward, we are fully present and engaged in the task, time slows down, and everything outside of the task at hand melts away.  We are one with the activity.  In sports, this is popularly referred to as “the zone” but it is by no means limited to sports.  We can enter a state of flow when engaged in a deep conversation, at work, or engaged in recreational activities like playing music, dancing, gardening, reading a book, or any number of other activities.  And, we can develop skills that allow us to more easily enter states of “flow” and experience greater happiness and wellness as a result.

    Relationships – Human beings are social creatures.  In fact our social nature likely accounts for the size and complexity of our prefrontal cortex (i.e., the large front part of our brain that separates us from other animals) and is certainly the reason we’ve become the most dominant species on the planet (though this may not actually be true – just ask your gut bacteria and mitochondria).  But you get my point.  We are not the biggest, fastest, or strongest animal on the planet.  We are, however, social creatures that have banded in small groups throughout history in order to survive and thrive.  And, these social connections that promote feelings of love, intimacy, and belonging are critical to happiness and flourishing.  Just think about the last time you felt rejected.  It physically hurt, right?  That was your bodily signal that you were in “danger” because social connections are essential for your survival.

    Meaning – We are all driven by a deeper sense of meaning and purpose, and without a sense of meaning our life feels empty.  This meaning and purpose could come from a religious faith, spiritual belief or practice, helping others, raising children, contributing to a greater societal good, our creative expressions, and any number of other activities that connect us to something beyond ourselves.  While a lack of meaning an purpose leaves us feeling empty, connecting with a greater purpose elicits a sense of wellbeing and satisfaction that are central to flourishing. 

    Accomplishment -  Lastly, a sense of accomplishment comes from setting, working towards, and accomplishing goals as well as sharing our goals and accomplishments with others.  Later, we’ll have a chance to discuss different types of goals and their purposes (i.e., performance goals v. personal goals), but a sense of accomplishment can bring about a sense of satisfaction that contributes to human flourishing.  As you can see, PERMA is not about moments of joy and pleasure, though that may be part of it.  Rather, PERMA is about a deeper and more sustained sense of wellness, satisfaction, and peace with our lives and the world around us.  PERMA is about flourishing. 

Ways you can experience greater flourishing:

In future blogs, I’ll be diving further into PERMA and sharing scientifically validated strategies that enhance aspects of PERMA and lead to greater states of flourishing.  Many of these strategies come from the Dr. Seligman and others in the field of positive psychology.  However, I won’t stop there as I believe to truly flourish we must go beyond our psychology alone.  We also need to address our biological, social, and spiritual needs.  As such, I’ll also be discussing diet, exercise, and sleep as well as mindfulness meditation, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Tapping,  and exciting new tools on the forefront of human flourishing including biofeedback, neurofeedback, photobiomodulation, red light therapies, and more.  Honestly, I can’t wait.  I’m so excited to be writing this blog and hope you find reading it as worthwhile as I find writing it.