Spiral Of Flourishing: Unveiling Perspectives for Growth and Success

The presence of sound mental health is described as flourishing, whereas the absence of sound mental health is characterized as languishing in life. Flourishing refers to an optimal range of human functioning, that connotes goodness, generativity, growth, and resilience. Flourishing is in sharp contrast to languishing that is experienced by people who describe their lives as “hollow” or “empty”. The costs of languishing are high; relative to flourishing, languishing brings more emotional distress, psychological impairment, limitations in daily activities, and lost work days. Measures of well-being are not only important for Government, policymakers as well as decision-makers in organizations, but also for the general public. An efficient and effective Government, a well-functioning financial system, the absence of corruption and civic stability are all important in supporting families, work, education, health, and religious communities in the promotion of individual flourishing. Karma, the cosmic law of cause and effect is one of the main pillars of Vedantic thought and the essence of the human life cycle which signifies the linkage between actions and their consequences. The Bhagavad Gita is replete with the philosophy of Karma. One of the core tenets propounded in the Bhagavad Gita are Karma Yoga (path of selfless service) which is extolled as one of the four paths to attain liberation, the other three being Jnana (path of knowledge), Bhakti (path of devotion) and Dhyana (path of meditation). The Gita emphasizes the need for ‘Nishkama Karma‘ which means desireless actions or actions performed without any expectation of results or consequential benefits. It transpires that if one is mindful of Karma and his/her deeds are righteous then he/she can flourish in life. Positives of flourishing carry multiple and interrelated benefits. It leads to betterment of people’s mindsets, widens the scope of attention, broadens behavioural repertoires, increases intuition, speeds recovery from cardiovascular disease, alters frontal brain asymmetry, increases immune function, enhances resilience to adversity, increases happiness, lowers the levels of cortisol, reduces stress, increases resistance to rhinoviruses, reduces the propensity for stroke and increases longevity. The individual’s health, relationships, life satisfaction, purpose and meaning in life, virtues and values contribute to the strengthening of the institutions that allow a society and individuals to thrive and flourish.

Positive mental health is the focus of national policy and science. The World Health Organization’s Report on mental health defined it as “a state of wellbeing in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”. Positive psychology as a new branch of psychology aims to achieve a scientific understanding of positive human functioning and develop effective interventions to help individuals, families and communities to flourish and thrive. A significant progress in this regard has already been made in Bhutan which has put forward the idea of a Gross National Happiness Index (GNHI). The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) collects data on measures such as life satisfaction, health, individual financial security and meaningful and purposeful activity for each of the participant nations. A well-functioning Government and society, with sufficient material resources, is of course crucial in sustaining the pathways that promote individual flourishing. An efficient and effective Government, a well-functioning financial system, the absence of corruption and the civic stability are all important in supporting families, work, education, health, and religious communities in the promotion of individual flourishing. To a large extent, the state of Government and the policies it undertakes, influences the flourishing of individuals. However, individual health, relationships, life satisfaction, purpose and perhaps virtues also contribute to the strengthening of the institutions that allow a society and individual to flourish and thrive.

The epidemiology of high levels of well-being, referred to as flourishing, is an important research topic fuelling substantial international interest in its psychometric measurement. Based on the assumption that “well-being would prevail when pathology was absent” (Huppert & So, 2013,) epidemiology has traditionally focused on disease. To flourish, we need to accept responsibility and take accountability for important personal decisions, irrespective of the outcome thereof. The growing evident base of the desirable correlates of high levels of well-being (Diener et al, 2010), and the risks to individual and societal-level functioning associated with low levels of well-being (Keyes, 2002, 2005, 2010), has convinced policy makers of the importance of complementing objective indicators (Gross Domestic Product, Literacy, and Life expectancy) with assessment of subjective well-being. (Weijers & Jarden, 2013). As a result, the last decade has seen several countries devise National, or Multi-national, surveys designed to empirically measure well-being as a multi-dimensional construct.

Karma, the Divine Justice System; Philosophy of Karma vs. Flourishing

Karma, the cosmic law of cause and effect is one of the main pillars of vedantic thought and the essence of the human life cycle which signifies the linkage between actions and their consequences. The doctrine of Karma, whereby one begets good results as a result of good deeds and bad results due to performance of bad deeds, is a baggage which follows the present and future births as inevitable consequences of acts committed in the journey of the soul towards total liberation or enlightenment. There are three types of Karmas in the soul’s passbook that indicates the Karmic balance at any point of time. Firstly, Sanchit Karma is the accumulated Karmic balance of the past lives which is carried over to the present life. Prarabdh Karma is the new balance created in the present birth through one’s actions and deeds. Agamya Karma is the overall karmic balance carried forward to the next lifecycle as Sanchit Karma. Tulsidas, the erudite Saint from India has defined the Karmic cycle as below: “As long as the stock of Sanchit Karma lasts, a part of it continues to be taken out as Prarabdh Karma for being enjoyed or endured in one’s lifetime, leading to the cycle of birth and death. A soul cannot attain Moksha (liberation) from this cycle until the accumulated Sanchit Karmas are completely exhausted.”

The Bhagavad Gita (the holy scripture of India) is replete with the philosophy of Karma. One of the core tenets propounded in the Bhagavad Gita are Karma Yoga (path of selfless service) which is extolled as one of the four paths to attain liberation, the other three being Jnana (path of knowledge), Bhakti (path of devotion) and Dhyana (path of meditation). As enunciated by Lord Krishna, the Gita emphasizes the need for ‘Nishkama Karma‘ which means desireless actions or actions performed without any expectation of results or consequential benefits. This philosophical concept finds its echo in other religious doctrines as well. Taking a pause and deriving inspiration from the lofty concept of Nishkama Karma will make an individual’s life journey comfortable, trouble free, worthy and valuable. The philosophy of Karma is best summed up in the Bhagavad Gita as under:

                                                                                                कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।

                                                                                               मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. (Chapter, 2: Verse, 47) Bhagavad Gita. (The Holy Scripture of India).

From the above, it transpires that if one is mindful of Karma and his/her deeds are righteous then he/she can flourish in life.

Flourishing viewed from the philosophy of Buddhism

Happiness denotes well-being, which represents an individual evaluation of the quality of his/her life. There are two types of happiness: Hedonic happiness and Eudaimonic happiness. Hedonic happiness is achieved through one’s experiences of pleasure and enjoyment, while Eudaimonic happiness is achieved through experiences of meaning and purpose. In a state of flourishing, both Hedonic and Eudaimonic happiness are important which need to be balanced so as to contribute to overall well-being.

This is in alignment with the Buddhist views, and share affinities with the Buddhist approach to enlightenment, namely the four noble truths. These truths are as follows: (1) One must first understand the nature of life as consisting of suffering because pleasure and satisfaction are fleeting. Life involves sickness, sadness, pain, loss and death also; (2) One must understand the origin of suffering; much of it flows from our desires and expectations that encourage cravings and attachment to things we encounter in daily life; (3) If we can understand our role in producing suffering, we can pursue the cessation of suffering so as to achieve (Nirvana) and to rid from our heart and mind the hindrances of greed, anger, ignorance, hatred, envy, lust, and fear. These states are low vibrational in nature and disposition. (4) The final truth, is the eight fold path that consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation.

Striving for a better life can be attained by developing the ethical conduct of speaking truthfully, compassionately, consistently with values and living in a way that does not hurt others and by helping others. The acts of gratitude, empathy, compassion, and forgiveness are of significance and relevance if practiced and put to use in a liberal measure so as to empower self and others. Mental illness represents a form of imbalance of feeling and functioning, a state of mind and existence consisting of a disinterest in life, sadness, and malfunctioning. Mitigating mental illness through treatment or prevention does not result in a flourishing life. One way to overcome the vulnerability to mental illness is to achieve a balanced, wholesome life in which feeling good is connected to the ability to function well. The absence of suffering does not mean one has achieved nirvana and enlightenment, and the absence of mental illness also does not mean one is in a state of flourishing. One must strive to act in ways that develop one’s capacity for doing and being good – to contribute to society, to view oneself and others as fundamentally good, to develop warm and trusting relationships with others – so that one feels the pleasure of living life well.

The Innumerable Positives of Flourishing: Empirical evidence

Beyond their pleasant subjective feel, positive emotions, positive moods and positive sentiments carry multiple, interrelated benefits. First, these good feelings lead to betterment of people’s mindsets: Experiments have shown that induced positive affect widens the scope of attention (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005; Rowe, Hirsch, & Anderson, 2005), broadens behavioral repertoires (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005), increases intuition (Bolte, Goschkey, & Kuhl, 2003) and creativity (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987). Second, good feeling alter people’s bodily system: Experiments have shown that induced positive affect speeds recovery from cardiovascular after-effects of negative affect (Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan, & Tugade, 2000), alters frontal brain asymmetry (Davidson et al., 2003), and increases immune function (Davidson et al., 2003). Third, good feelings predict salubrious mental and physical health outcomes: Prospective studies have shown that frequent positive affect predicts (a) resilience to adversity (Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin, 2003), (b) increased happiness (Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002), (c) psychological growth (Fredrickson et al., 2003), (d) lowers levels of cortisol (Steptoe, Wardle, & Marmot, 2005), (e) reduces inflammatory responses to stress (Steptoe et al., 2005), (f) reductions in subsequent- day physical pain (Gil et al., 2004), (g) resistance to rhinoviruses (Cohen, Doyle, Turner, Alper, & Skoner, 2003), and (h) reductions in stroke (Ostir, Markides, Peek, & Goodwin, 2001). Fourth, good feelings enhance longevity (Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen, 2001; Levy, Slade, Kunkel, & Kasl, 2002; Moskowitz, 2003; Ostir, Markides, Black, & Goodwin, 2000).

The Broaden-and-Build Theory of positivity

The Broaden-and-Build Theory of positivity of Fredrickson states that unlike negative emotions, which narrow people’s behavioral responses towards specific actions that were life-preserving for human ancestors (fight, flight), positive emotions widen the array of thoughts and actions called forth (play, explore), facilitating generativity and behavioral flexibility. Laboratory experiments support these claims, showing that relative to neutral states, induced negative emotions narrow people’s momentary thought-action repertoires, whereas induced positive emotions broaden these same repertoires (Fredrickson & Braingan, 2005). The theory holds that the benefits of broadened thought – action repertoires emerge over time. Specifically, broadened mindset carry indirect and long-term adaptive value because broadening builds enduring personal resources, like social connections, coping strategies, and environmental adaptation. These findings suggest that positive affect – by broadening exploratory behavior in the moment – over time builds more accurate cognitive maps of what is good and bad in the environment. This greater knowledge becomes a lasting personal resource. The broaden-and-build theory goes further to suggest that positive affect also produces future health and well-being (Fredrickson, 2001). The broaden-and-build effects of positive affect accumulate and compound over time, positivity can transform individuals for the better, making them healthier, more socially integrated, knowledgeable, effective, and resilient. Supporting this view, prospective studies by Fredrickson and colleagues have shown that positive affect at initial assessment predicts increases in well-being several weeks later, in part by broadening people’s mindsets (Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002) and building their psychological resources (Fredrickson, Brown, Cohn, Conway, & Mikels, 2005).

Measuring Flourishing

Current national well-being surveys come from a variety of sources, both National Statistics Offices and nonofficial sources including the European Social Survey (Jowell & the Central Co-ordinating Team, 2003), the Sovereign Well-being Index (Human Potential Centre, 2013), the Australian Unity Well-being Index (Cummins, Eckersley, Pallant, Van Vugt, & Misajon, 2003) and Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey (Statistics Canada, 2011).

The first contemporary use of the term flourishing among psychologists to describe high levels of wellbeing was by Corey Keyes. Using a representative sample of adult Americans (N=3032), Keyes categorized adults free from mental disorder as either flourishing, moderately mentally healthy, or languishing (Keyes, 2002) Huppert and So took advantage of the opportunity afforded by the addition of a new well-being module to the 2006/7 European Social survey (ESS; Jowell & The Central Co-ordinating Team, 2003) to conduct the first cross-national epidemiological studies of flourishing (Huppert et al, 2009) next came Diener and colleagues ‘flourishing Scale (FS; Diener et al, 2010). The scale was created in acknowledgement that using the satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Laren & Griffin, 1985) and an affective measure such as the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) which evaluated emotional wellbeing, and therefore failed to assess areas of positive functioning that evidence indicates to be vital for wellbeing (such as competence, self-acceptance, meaning and relatedness, as well as optimism, giving, and engagement) (Brown, Nesse, Vinokur, & Smith, 2003; Putnam, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2001; Ryff, 1989; Seligman, 2006). Finally, the most recent operationalization of flourishing is the PERMA-Profiler, an acronym representing Seligman’s theory that wellbeing requires high levels of positive emotions, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and accomplishments (PERMA; Seligman, 2011). Each of these four different theoretical models, conceptual operationalizations, and the body of science supporting them are depicted in Figure 1.

Profile of Flourishing: PERMA

Seligman theorizes that wellbeing has five components that can be defined and measured as separate, but correlated, constructs (Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning in life, and Accomplishments; PERMA, Seligman, 2011), based on the theoretical grounds that these are what individuals chose freely, “for their own sake” (2011).

The 16-item PERMA-P has three items representing each of the five PERMA components, and one item representing ‘overall wellbeing’. The general wellbeing question serves as a comparison with other population-based surveys. Each item is scored on 11-point Likert scale, anchored by 0 (never) to 10 (always), or 0 (not at all) to 10 (completely), while experiences are assessed via a range of different response scales, for example, ‘in general’, ‘how often’, ‘to what extent’, and ‘how much of the time’. Although Seligman lists his criteria for flourishing as being in the upper range of positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and positive accomplishment, Butler and Kern (2013) do not provide thresholds for a categorical diagnosis of flourishing. Instead this research team has advocated a ‘dashboard’ approach to reporting results whereby the three scores of each component are averaged to produce a single component score ranging from 0-10 (higher scores indicate greater wellbeing) and the five component scores are reported as dashboard of PERMA scores. This highlights particular strengths and weaknesses better, whereas a global score lacks the specificity required for targeted intervention and measuring component change over time (in press).

“Just as we do not have a single indicator telling us how our car is performing (instead, we have an odometer, a speedometer, a gas gauge, etc.), we suggest that we do not want just one indicator of how well people are doing” (Foregeard et al., 2011). As yet, no empirical evidence of dashboard statistics, scale norms, or psychometric properties of PERMA-P have been published. Butler and Kern have suggested that, their studies demonstrate the scale’s acceptable reliability, test-retest stability, and construct validity however, and that factor-analyses confirm the five-factor structure (Butler & Kern, in press).

The components of flourishing and indicator items from the PERMA-P are presented below.

Figure 2: Components of flourishing and indicator items from the PERMA –Profiler

Discussion and Conclusion

Flourishing refers to high levels of wellbeing, therefore the measuring of human flourishing is important. Objective measures of flourishing are informative, but provide only limited insight into the prosperity at the population level. A considerable body of empirical evidence indicates that flourishing is a desirable condition that any community, organization, or Government would benefit from protecting and promoting among its citizens. The current review identified four ways different research teams have theorized, conceptualized, and operationalized flourishing. These four research teams (Keyes; Huppert & So; Diener et al; and Seligman et el.) have operationalized flourishing differently, but are all in agreement on two matters: one, that flourishing refers to high levels of subjective well-being and two that wellbeing is a multi-dimensional construct that cannot be adequately measured using single item assessment. All four require endorsement of positive relationships, reflecting the important evidence-based role that relationships have for flourishing. Meaning and purpose also feature in all four operationalizations. Given the empirical evidence indicating that life satisfaction and flourishing are separate, but related, constructs (Huppert & So, 2013), adding an item to assess life satisfaction alongside Huppert and So, Diener et al. and Seligman et al.’s measures give a more rounded picture of wellbeing. The Seligman et al, model is also unique in that it offers brevity while incorporating more than one item per construct as recommended by psychometricians (OECD, 2013).

Suggestions for future Research

For a construct receiving focused academic interest, such as flourishing, it is essential to be confident that what the investigator is measuring corresponds with the concept of flourishing in the mind of participants. It is suggested that a useful direction for future research would be a prototype analysis (Rosch, 1975) investigating how the layperson perceives the construct of flourishing. Prototype analysis is particularly suited to investigating natural language concepts such as flourishing, which have “fuzzy collection of features” determining category membership (Lambert, Graham, & Fincham, 2009), and has been an effective methodology for studies investigating similar constructs such as gratitude (Lambert et al., 2009), forgiveness (Kearns & Fincham, 2004), and love (Fehr, 1988). Measures of flourishing tend to be more stable over time and international research has indicated significantly better individual and organizational outcome associated with flourishing (Howell, 2009; Huppert, 2004; Keyes, 2002, 2005, 2010; Keyes & Haidt, 2003).

As a result, demand is growing for the collection and publication of measures of subjective wellbeing and epidemiological work on flourishing. A literature search identified four different theoretical, conceptual, and operational definitions of flourishing currently being used by psychological researchers and statisticians. Following Corey Keyes’ (2002) model, three more models have recently been devised and conceptualized (Diener et al., 2010; Huppert et al., 2009; Seligman, 2011). Despite sharing theoretical and conceptual similarities, the four models produce substantially different prevalence rates when replicated using SWI variables and data, therefore limiting the usefulness of resultant epidemiology. The psychometrics of flourishing is in its infancy, and that substantial empirical progress has been made in this endeavor, for psychometric measures to be useful they must be collated in a consistent manner, which requires a consensus around theoretical, conceptual and operational definitions.

Until an identical measurement approach is adopted across countries, the possibility that observed national differences reflect methodological differences cannot be ruled out. OECD guidelines on measuring wellbeing emphasize that comparability is of the highest priority: “Whether comparisons are to be made over time or between groups of respondents, the guidelines argue in favour of adopting a consistent measurement approach across all survey instruments, study waves and countries wherever possible, to limit the additional variance potentially introduced by differing methodologies” (OECD, 2013). It is understood that this consensus would take time and further research. In light of this, and the lack of published empirical research exploring lay perceptions of flourishing, a prototype analysis is suggested to be conducted to examine the alignment between lay and academic conceptions, and investigation of which of the four models reviewed fits with the lay opinion most closely. Clinicians, policy makers and citizens would stand to benefit significantly from standardization of measurement tools on flourishing.

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