What Does It Mean to Flourish?
Anika Kumar Vashishth is a positive psychology practitioner and founder of I Am Enough | Flourish, a community supporting people to cultivate self-awareness, well-being, and flourishing. With a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Melbourne, she brings psychology grounded in evidence into everyday life.
When life looks fine on the outside, how do we know we are truly flourishing? I remember meeting a professional whose life, by conventional measures, seemed to be going well. He had built a career, achieved financial security and had a family with children. From the outside, there was little reason to think anything was missing. Yet, somewhere between meeting responsibilities and responding to one demand after another, the space to enjoy his life had begun to disappear.
Whenever something needed his attention, he felt an urgency to respond immediately. There was always something to attend to, something to resolve, something that could not wait. Travel, leisure and the simple pleasure of doing something just because he enjoyed it had gradually taken a back seat. His life was full, but I wondered how much room it left for him actually to experience it.
How often do we get so caught up in responsibilities that we forget to ask ourselves whether we are enjoying the lives we are working so hard to build? In my more than ten years as a wellbeing specialist in schools, working alongside students, teachers and parents, I became increasingly interested in a question that went beyond how people coped with life's challenges.
What does it mean to be well, beyond simply getting through the day?
This question led me to the work of psychologist Corey Keyes, whose research offers a valuable perspective on the relationship between mental illness and positive mental health. His work helped articulate a distinction I had been reflecting on through my own practice: the absence of mental illness does not automatically mean that a person is flourishing.
Understanding wellbeing: The work of Corey Keyes
The World Health Organization (WHO) describes mental health as a state of mental wellbeing that enables us to cope with life's stresses, realise our abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to our communities.[1] Psychologist Corey Keyes explored this idea further through his mental health continuum model. He proposed that mental illness and positive mental health are related but distinct dimensions of human experience.[2] [3]
Keyes described positive mental health along a continuum from languishing to flourishing. Languishing is associated with low levels of positive emotion and psychological and social functioning. A person may feel disconnected, struggle to find meaning, or engage little in daily life. Flourishing, by contrast, involves positive feelings and functioning across emotional, psychological and social dimensions.
This distinction matters. Someone living with a mental illness may still experience meaningful relationships, positive emotions and a sense of purpose. Equally, someone who is not experiencing mental illness may struggle to feel engaged, connected or fulfilled.
Mental illness and positive mental health are not opposite ends of a single scale. One does not automatically determine the other. Keyes's work encourages us to look beyond whether people are coping and consider whether they are experiencing positive mental wellbeing. So, what might flourishing look like in our everyday lives?
6 dimensions of flourishing
Psychologist Dr Martin Seligman introduced the PERMA framework, which identifies five elements associated with wellbeing: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment.[4] The Flourishing Centre extends this framework through PERMA V, adding vitality as a sixth dimension.[5] Together, these dimensions offer a practical way to reflect on the experiences that contribute to flourishing.
1. Positive emotion: Making room for joy
Positive emotions include joy, gratitude, interest and appreciation. Barbara Fredrickson's theory of broadening and building suggests that positive emotions can broaden our thinking and help build psychological and social resources over time.[6]
After a demanding day, sharing a laugh with a friend or pausing to appreciate the warmth of the afternoon sun may not remove our challenges, but these moments can change how we experience the day. Flourishing does not mean feeling happy all the time. It means making room for positive experiences alongside life's difficulties.
Reflect: Am I making room for moments of joy and appreciation in my everyday life?
2. Engagement: Being fully involved
Engagement is the experience of becoming absorbed in an activity. It might happen when we are painting, gardening, learning a skill or working on something that genuinely interests us. Research on flow, associated with psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, explores how deep involvement can arise when an activity's challenge aligns with our skills.[7]
Think of a time when you were so involved in something that you lost track of time. Your attention was fully absorbed, and the experience itself felt rewarding.
Reflect: Which activities make me feel engaged, curious and fully present?
3. Relationships: Feeling connected
Supportive relationships build belonging, trust, and a sense of being understood. In A Primer in Positive Psychology, Christopher Peterson captured their importance: “Other people matter”.[8]
Sometimes, connection comes from a conversation with someone who genuinely listens, a friend checking in, or a shared meal with family. These ordinary moments remind us we don't have to navigate life alone. Flourishing is not simply about how many people we know, but about the quality of the connections we experience.
Reflect: Which relationships help me feel connected, understood and supported?
4. Meaning: Knowing what matters
Meaning emerges when we recognise what matters to us and how our lives connect with those values. It may be found in family, community, creativity, spirituality, learning or contributing to something larger than ourselves. Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl explored the human search for meaning in Man's Search for Meaning, reflecting on its significance even in the face of profound suffering.[9]
Meaning can also be found in everyday experiences: helping a child learn, supporting a family member or contributing to a cause we care about. When obligations consume our days, reconnecting with our values can help us consider whether how we spend our time reflects the life we want to live.
Reflect: What gives my life meaning, and how does it show up in my daily choices?
5. Accomplishment: Recognising progress
Accomplishment involves working towards goals, developing skills and experiencing progress. Research by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham explores how clear, appropriately challenging goals can support motivation and performance.[10]
Progress might mean completing a project, learning a new skill or recognising how far we have come. However, accomplishment is not simply about doing more or constantly striving for the next milestone. When we tie our worth exclusively to productivity, it can be hard to appreciate where we are. Flourishing invites us to value progress without turning life into an endless pursuit of achievement.
Reflect: Can I recognise and appreciate the progress I have already made?
6. Vitality: Caring for our physical wellbeing
Vitality brings the physical dimension of our lives into the conversation about flourishing. Sleep, movement, nutrition and rest can influence our energy, concentration and capacity to participate in everyday life.[5]
We may notice the difference between starting the day after a restful night and after several nights of interrupted sleep. Our energy can influence our patience, focus and ability to engage with others.
Vitality looks different for everyone. Health conditions, disability, caring responsibilities and access to resources shape our experiences. The goal is not to meet a particular physical ideal, but to recognise and support our individual needs.
Reflect: What influences my energy, and what helps me feel supported in everyday life?
Beyond getting by
Keyes's research reminds us that mental health deserves to be understood not only in terms of illness, but also in terms of positive wellbeing. PERMA V offers one practical framework for exploring this broader understanding, although no single model captures the whole of human flourishing.
Our wellbeing is also shaped by our circumstances, including supportive relationships, financial security, safe environments and access to healthcare. Flourishing is not simply a matter of individual effort, nor does it mean feeling positive every day.
Through my work in wellbeing, I have come to appreciate the importance of looking beyond what people accomplish and considering how they experience their lives. Are we finding moments of joy? Do we feel connected to others? Are we engaged in activities that matter to us? Can we recognise meaning and progress in our everyday experiences?
We do not need to have everything figured out. Sometimes, flourishing begins with a small shift: making time for a meaningful conversation, returning to an activity we love, acknowledging our progress or allowing ourselves to rest without guilt.
Perhaps flourishing begins when we look beyond the visible markers of a successful life and pay attention to how we are actually experiencing it. The question is not only whether we manage our responsibilities, but whether we make room for the experiences that make life meaningful, connected, and fulfilling.
Are we simply getting through life, or are we finding ways to flourish? What does flourishing look like in your life?
Read more from Anika Kumar Vashishth
Anika Kumar Vashishth, Positive Psychology Practitioner
Anika Kumar Vashishth is a positive psychology practitioner whose work explores mental wellbeing beyond the absence of distress, towards flourishing. Grounded in positive psychology and neuroscience, she is interested in what enables individuals and communities not merely to function, but to live with greater meaning, connection, and wellbeing. She is the founder of I Am Enough | Flourish, a community that brings evidence-based approaches to wellbeing into everyday life. Her work is centred on making the science of flourishing accessible, relevant, and applicable to how we live, learn, and connect.
References:
[1] World Health Organization. (n.d.). Mental health.
[2] Keyes, C. L. M. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43(2), 207 to 222.
[3] Keyes, C. L. M. (2005). Mental illness and/or mental health? Investigating axioms of the complete state model of health. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73(3), 539 to 548.
[4] Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Free Press.
[5] The Flourishing Center. (n.d.). Certified Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP).
[6] Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218 to 226.
[7] Moneta, G. B., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). The effect of perceived challenges and skills on the quality of subjective experience. Journal of Personality, 64(2), 275 to 310.
[8] Peterson, C. (2006). A primer in positive psychology. Oxford University Press.
[9] Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man's search for meaning. Beacon Press. (Originally published in 1946.)
[10] Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705 to 717.
