WELLBEING
approach to living life . To flourish is to feel contentment throughout the different aspects of your life , - happiness and life satisfaction , meaning and purpose , mental and physical health , character and virtue , and positive social relationships ( VanderWeele , 2020 ).
To truly flourish is not about the temporary pleasure that we tend to label as happiness , but to feel fulfilled in all the different aspects of your life . Working with Harvard researchers on this project has invited me to reflect on what this means in practice , as well as how I can feel more fulfilled in my own life . I would suggest to anyone who wishes to be happier ( which I think is everyone !) - take some time to reflect on what it might mean to do so . When you approach your own life with an outlook of flourishing , thinking beyond momentary pleasure to the longer-term happiness and contentment , it might make a real difference .
What does it mean to flourish ? Student research fellow reflections
Lilli Ganzer , Eloise Simpson , Jen Thomas ( Students ) Helen Hampson ( ITL Research & Development Manager )
In the following article three of our students reflect on their role as research fellows in our flourishing project , giving their perspectives on what flourishing means to them , how their understanding of the research process developed through the project , and some of the research findings that began to emerge .
What does it mean to flourish ? Jen Thomas
What does it mean to flourish ? How can I truly make myself happy ? These are questions I have asked myself before , as many have , when I feel that times are tough . I have found myself asking these questions more over the last year , wondering what exactly it is that I feel that I am missing . However , I am very fortunate to have been able to take part in the flourishing project with researchers from Harvard University . This incredible opportunity truly came at a time in my life when I felt that I was at a loss for how to improve my wellbeing . It was then that I was first introduced to the concept of flourishing . I learnt that flourishing is less of a tangible , physically attainable state of mind and more of an
The role of the student research fellow Eloise Simpson
The flourishing project enabled students throughout different years to undertake research , an opportunity that we rarely get as students , especially in the social sciences . Since COVID-19 , few projects have been undertaken throughout the years , but this project ran through lower school , middle school , and upper school , and for many of us was the first real research we participated in . The online sessions taught us valuable skills for designing surveys , filtering data , analyzing it , and drawing conclusions .
One of the hardest parts of dealing with research data is doing so from an unbiased viewpoint . It is important not to discount data because it does not seem correct or relevant to you . There is a step in the analysis process where data presenting similar ideas will be given ‘ codes ’. Labelling recurring views like this allows the data to be cut down . However , it is easy to subconsciously rephrase data to fit what the person processing it believes or just to simplify it too much . Overcoming this challenge is key to keeping the data accurate .
It was also interesting seeing how much data directly contradicted itself , which showed us that making conclusions from research is never straightforward , but also how much the way people view the same things can differ . We would often find ourselves presenting information claiming the complete opposite to what the previous person had found , which makes it hard to understand which points are representative of a general feeling , and really emphasises the importance of looking across the whole data set . Data analysis in research is needed because simply looking at each piece of data and drawing conclusions is highly ineffective and inaccurate but analysing it as a whole brings out key points and important recurring themes .
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