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To flourish is to use, develop, and enjoy your uniquely human capacities.
It’s an old fashioned word. Used by Aristotle and those old school Greek men.
We like to think about it in terms of every day behaviors. When you’re flourishing, your days are more than a series of tasks: getting up, going to work, cleaning the house, cooking, paying the bills, sleeping. When you’re flourishing, your days include learning something new, having an interesting thought, connecting with someone, feeling deeply, experiencing some small joy.
Richard Kraut, writes in his very good book What is Good and Why that: “Speaking in the broadest possible terms, there is one kind of life that is best for all human beings – a life of flourishing, one that follows a pattern of psychological and physical growth, filled with enjoyment.”
He goes on to say: “According to this way of thinking, the point of social institutions, social interactions, and individual projects should be to enhance someone’s well-being or to eliminate impediments to well-being. What is good for someone is a central, and not only a necessary, reference point of practical reasoning because it is what we should be aiming at.”
We couldn’t agree more! This thinking is what guides our work with people in homes and communities.