24 Nov How to flourish at work and life?
A few years ago, a colleague of mine decided to do his PhD on flourishing at work. For three years he worked with nine organisations in the UK, surveying, profiling and interviewing 1,400 employees. He discovered that only 4 percent were flourishing! That’s shocking, don’t you think?
Now, take a moment and consider your life, your workplace – how many people do you know who are truly flourishing? And what about you?
Flourishing is living with high levels of wellbeing. Flourishing is not about being ok and feeling good. It goes beyond ok, beyond feeling good and far beyond life satisfaction. Flourishing is our best possible future. It embraces happiness, resilience, purpose, fulfilment, presence and connection.
Recent figures for the UK indicate that 20 percent of us are flourishing. That’s higher than 4 percent that my friend’s survey but still seems disappointingly low. So why do only a small group of people enjoy what we are all capable of achieving? And how do they do it?
The answer is extraordinarily simple. People who flourish understand how their mind works. And that’s why they can use it to its full potential and live their best life. It may sound very complicated but actually it is not….it all comes down to one simple word – THINKING!
People who flourish know that human beings are programmed to think. We are thinkers. Thoughts pass through our minds like clouds pass through the sky. Each thought has a feeling that goes with it in the same way as each cloud casts a shadow. In fact, we experience everything in our lives through thought.
“Your thoughts are like the artist’s brush. They create a personal picture of reality you live in.” – S. Banks
People who flourish know that, in the same way as we cannot stop clouds from appearing in the sky, we cannot stop or change our thoughts. Studies estimate that we have around 60,000 thoughts a day. Ninety per cent of these are habitual thoughts and most are negative. People who flourish are simply aware of their habitual thinking, but they don’t believe it is real. They meet their thoughts with perspective and understanding.
“How can we stop negative thoughts from entering our heads? We can’t. They come too fast and if you try, you will soon find you are on fool’s mission. What you can do, however, is realize that your own thoughts have no power on their own, only that which you give them. However, if you can see that they are only thoughts and you refuse put life into them, they are harmless.” – S Banks
In fact, people who flourish understand that thoughts are just thoughts. And thoughts, just like clouds, pass by. And when habitual thoughts clear, fresh insights appear. Insights are not an exotic type of thought reserved for a few – we are all capable of insight. People who flourish fully harness this capacity because they know that insights are powerful experiences that expand our understanding, fuel our creativity and allow us to see life from a completely fresh perspective.
“In the silence of our minds lies creative incubation, bringing new insights, wisdom and the joy we seek.” – S. Banks
Love
Dorothy
And if this article touched you in some way, it would mean a lot to me if you like, share or forward it so it can help others.
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