How do you flourish? And what do you do when life is stressful, uncertain, overwhelming, or hard? Decades of research show that well-being is not a fixed trait—it’s a teachable and learnable skillset. Yet most of us were never taught how emotions work, how habits form, how resilience is built, or how meaning and vitality are sustained over time. We’re left navigating life with good intentions—but without a clear map.
How We Flourish, turns research into learnable, livable skills.
Part of an ongoing series exploring how humans flourish—individually and collectively—this book brings together evidence-based skills that support well-being, resilience, and vitality. Drawing from positive psychology research and nearly twenty years of real-world application, this volume focuses on foundational practices that underpin human flourishing, brought to life through the voices of practitioners who live this work every day.
Conceived, curated, and edited by positive psychology pioneer Emiliya Zhivotovskaya, founder of The Flourishing Center, this book bridges rigorous science with lived experience. Each chapter is written by a graduate of the world’s longest-running Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) program—practitioners actively applying these tools across schools, organizations, healthcare, coaching, leadership, and communities worldwide.
Each chapter is joyful, touching, and inspirational, while rooted in rigorous science. Together, they offer not just knowledge, but lived wisdom—stories, practices, and insights that invite reflection, growth, and real-world application.
What’s inside Volume 2? We cover: Growth Mindset, Self-Compassion, Optimism, Play, Savoring, Procrastination, Decision Making, Meditation, Belonging, Forgiveness, Reciprocity, Leadership, Values, Awe, Primal Beliefs, Collective Effervescence, Goal Setting & Meeting, Self-Efficacy, Time Management, Grit, Nervous System Regulation, Movement, Nutrition, Sexuality, & Prospection
Organized around the PERMA-V framework—Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement, and Vitality—each volume in the How We Flourish series focuses on core skills for flourishing, offering distinct perspectives and practices that can be explored independently or as part of a cohesive whole.
Whether you are a coach, educator, clinician, leader, caregiver, or simply someone seeking a grounded, science-based approach to living well, How We Flourish is a literacy manual for the inner life—teaching skills many of us rely on every day, yet were never taught. You can read this book cover to cover or choose your own adventure by exploring each chapter as a standalone, while knowing it is part of a larger, integrated system designed to support flourishing across life domains.
Proceeds from this book support the CAPP Scholarship Fund—our commitment to expanding access to applied positive psychology education and training more practitioners equipped to bring evidence-based well-being skills into the world, where they are needed most.
We hope this book helps you recognize what is already whole within you—and gives you the skills to help that wholeness flourish. May it support you in living with more awareness, vitality, and care, and in helping others do the same.
Welcome to How We Flourish.
MAIN AUTHOR & EDITOR:
Emiliya Zhivotovskaya
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS (CAPP AUTHORS COLLECTIVE):
Gaia Uman Borrero
Theresa Bodnar
Katherina Capra
Christa Stauder
Lisa Caughman Payne
Anika Kumar Vashishth
Hamide Eygoren
Jodi Heywood
Elizabeth Kessler
Tiffany Keener
Kayla Thompson
Laurie Lyte
Jody Miller
Antonina Musenko
Simon ‘Si’ Norton
Kay Olorunju
Theresa Parra
Meghan Reynolds
Sarah Elisabeth Roth
Andy Radzevicius
Nina Sherak
Andrew Robert Somers
Solat Zaidi
