I don't know what about you, but lately, I've been feeling more energized and uplifted, even more optimistic. It starts in the morning when I open my eyes and look through the window, see the trees blooming with white, pink, and purple flowers, or as I bike outside, and see tulips, daffodils, and anemones popping in every street corner. Yep, spring has definitely sprung in The Netherlands, and I can't get enough of it! I'm lucky to be surrounded by nature (even though I live in a city), so I can witness the shedding of the winter remnants as flourishing starts in its beautiful bright colors. So yes, after a long cold winter in The Netherlands, I feel it's brushing over me, and the flourishing season is also starting within me.
But what does it actually mean for a person to "flourish"?
According to the "founding father" of Positive Psychology, Dr. Martin Seligman, flourishing is finding fulfillment in our lives, accomplishing meaningful and worthwhile tasks, and connecting with others at a deeper level - essentially, living the "good life."
Positive psychologist Dr. Lynn Soots states that flourishing is not a trait or a characteristic. It is a process that requires action, meaning anyone can flourish, but it will likely require some effort.
Flourishing is what Positive Psychology is all about.
It is scientifically proven that those who are flourishing report more positive emotions than those who are not. Also, flourishing was found to have many psychological impacts, such as lower helplessness, resilience, intimacy, and clarity of life goals. In addition, measurable physical effects include a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases, fewer health limitations of daily living activities, and fewer missed work days.
Sounds good, doesn't it? One way to enhance your flourishing is by adopting a new approach to your well-being, as suggested by Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar. During his work around the concept of happiness and how we can feasibly achieve it, he developed a model called SPIRE that considers the entire individual and encompasses five distinct well-being traits. SPIRE is an acronym for these five equally essential aspects of our life, with two principles underlying each of them:
S: Spiritual well-being:
✿ Leading a meaningful life - having a sense of purpose to which you commit
✿ Mindfully savoring the present - being mindful and experiencing life in the
present moment
P: Physical well-being:
✿ Caring for the body - maintaining an exercise routine, healthy nutrition,
good sleep, etc
✿ Tapping into the mind-body connection
I: Intellectual well-being:
✿ Engaging in deep learning
✿ Opening to new experiences - having a sense of curiosity
R: Relational well-being:
Nurturing a constructive relationship with
✿ Yourself - which highly contributes to having healthy relationships with
others
✿ Others - having a sense of compassion for and connection to others in life
E: Emotional well-being:
✿ Allow yourself to feel all emotions, positive as well as negative
✿ Striving towards resilience and positivity
SPIRE is both a grounding foundation for our authentic self at this moment and an aspirational tool, encouraging us to move closer to our ideal future self. It teaches us that true happiness, health, and flourishing depend on the whole of us.
Flourishing results from carefully paying attention to building and maintaining these five aspects. You can start seeing a bigger perspective of well-being and incorporate the SPIRE elements into your life by doing simple SPIRE check-ins regularly, and it's super easy!
How, you ask?
Start by rating yourself on each SPIRE element on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being "not at all" to 5 being "extremely."
Then, for each rating, describe your reason (for example, I rated my P a 3 for not caring for my body due to a lack of sleep).
After rating yourself on all five elements, observe your results and select the one area that you believe will make a difference to your overall well-being. Select an action step that can help improve that area and commit to it.
Finally, observe how you feel.
Regularly using and applying the SPIRE check-in can help you to track your progress toward a more flourishing life.
Want to see for yourself how simple it is? Check it out by clicking this link: Spire Check-in worksheet
And if this gets you curious to learn about other easy, practical tools to boost your well-being, I invite you to contact me @ elinorharari@gmail.com
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