How does it feel to thrive?

As I walked away from the group, my body tingled and my mind had clarity of thought.

I could not help but smile and make eye contact with people as they passed.

I felt energized and alive!

This connection that I felt successfully infected others that I came in contact with.

They smiled back.

Was I glowing? It sure felt like I was.

And I wondered, “if leaders are able to thrive and easily transmit this to their teams… wow… it could create a environment where people engage, have clarity, increased creativity, contribute to shared purpose, and can flourish both at work and at home… creating a ripple effect of thriving indivduals who are happy!”

So simple. Or is it?

When I thrive, I flourish.

Flourishing helps me to grow.

These words are typically used for plants not humans! But we are nature, after all!

We need to change our alignment with machine, as metaphor, to one that is aligned to life!

Flourishing is “to live within an optimal range of human functioning, one that connotes goodness, generativity, growth, and resilience.” And is characterized by four main components: goodness, generative, growth, and resilience.

According to Martin E.P. Seligman, author of Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, “to flourish, an individual must have all the “core features” below and three of the six “additional features.”

As a leader…

1. Do you emit the all the core features and at least 3 additional features?
2. Does your team or group feel that you are thriving?

In my new book, The Apple in the Orchard: a story about finding the courage to emerge, the main character, Brave Apple, is not thriving at the onset. She embarks on a journey of self-discovery which provides her with an opportunity to glow and thrive. And in the process, she leaves a legacy.

This happened, not because she was perfect, but because she had positive emotion, she engaged with her environment, and discovered her purpose.  She had optimism (through her courage to emerge), resilience, and self-determination.

Have you ever felt the glow?

Why is this important?

What are the benefits of personal flourishing and growth?

According to Seligman, “when individuals flourish, health, productivity, and peace follow.” And he suggests the following actions will aid our long mission to make the world flourish:

“… by psychologists in one-on-one coaching or therapy sessions. It will be aided by positive education, in which teachers embed the principles of well-being into what they teach, and the depression and anxiety of their students drop and their students’ happiness rises. … it will be aided by positive business, in which the goal of commerce will not be solely profit but also better relationships and more meaning.”

Have you have ever witnessed flourishing, which I call glow?

How to thrive?

Since I founded Harvest Performance in 2009, as a division of my 15-year Performance Improvement consulting practice, I have been helping people flourish through their communications and feedback practices. Through the launch of my book, I have gone through an intense learning journey with one main question as my guide:

How can I use my strengths to change the world?

In addition to workshops on how to offer and ask for feedback that changes the world, I am now publicly offering individual and group coaching to:

• Educators, trainers, principals, managers, supervisors, mothers/fathers, business owners
• Leaders who want to offer their team, group or organization an opportunity to leave a legacy
• Emerging leaders (of all ages) looking for the courage to emerge

If you are interested in learning how to glow and thrive, then let’s connect! Sign-up using the form below to receive ongoing tips to help kick-start this glow within you and in the process help your living system glow.

On April 17, 2013 Sonia will be delivering her popular session, Give Feedback that Changes the World at The Performance Improvement Conference 2013 in Reno, NV. Join her?