Human Flourishing: The Path of Eudaimonia
Eudaimonia, the state of human flourishing, is deeper than emotional happiness or physical vitality. It is the result of uncovering and expressing our unique genius.
To live eudaimonically is to be fully absorbed into experience, to quiet the unsettled mind and to know a quality of connection from within ourselves to the world around us that reveals our extraordinary human gifts.
We discover it when our attention is directed and super-charged by our biology. It is the marker of all great things from enlightenment to innovation, from inspiration to intimacy. This profound presence to life is what we seek. It is a faculty that can be trained and cultivated. From here it can be directed into what matters most to you. Whatever you do, you will do it better.
Perhaps we were listening to a Mozart concerto or watching a break dancer on the street. Perhaps we were in creative endeavor and genius struck like a bolt from the blue. These moments, almost otherworldly, change us and change what we believe possible.
These are the moments of eudaimonia, moments that can become something more permanent: a way of living, an evolving stage in our lives. The shift comes from within. It takes time. It takes effort. It is possible.
At some level we each know this. We have tasted moments when something broke through in our ordinary lives and we felt lit from within.
We all want the same basic things: to create, to contribute, to connect and to feel intimacy.
