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Living well
For the Disillusioned—How to Flourish in a Changing World?
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It seems easier to be cynical and disillusioned these days than to have hope. I know I get quite disaffected by the problems in our world and some days, even for an optimist like me, it’s hard to stay positive. Yet to maintain hope for the future we are told to focus on the positive, count our blessings, be mindful, don’t be a ‘victim’, strive for happiness, and if we heed economists, the antidote to everything is to seek more wealth.
Despite all our valiant attempts, it’s still hard to stave off despair, and to make matters worse we must bear witness to the ineffectual, bandaid fixes in the name of “leadership”. It’s disheartening. What are we to do? Sometimes I wonder, is it possible for anyone to flourish in this world?
What does it mean ‘to flourish’?
Flourishing as a human being, according to psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman (2011), results from paying careful attention to building and maintaining positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments. If I could respond to Dr. Seligman I would say, “perhaps attending to these things wouldn’t be so difficult if we were standing on stable ground. But we’re not. In this topsy turvy…
