How to Flourish: Practical Activities Supported by Scientific Research

A considerable body of research has suggested that religious service attendance powerfully affects health and also affects other aspects of flourishing such as meaning in life, character, and close social relationships (Koenig, King, and Carson, 2012; Li et al., 2016ab; VanderWeele et al., 2016, 2017; VanderWeele, 2017abc).

Results from a randomized trial suggest that the implementation of an intervention designed to promote the use of one’s central character strengths in new ways improves well-being (Seligman et al., 2005). The intervention consists of taking a survey to identify one’s five central character strengths and then using one of these top five strengths in... See more

Cognitive behavioral therapy interventions have also been developed to treat anxiety and many of these have been found to be effective in randomized trials (Cuijpers et al., 2016). Do-it-yourself self-help, workbook, and computer- or internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy interventions are also available and have been shown in randomized trial... See more

The idea of job crafting (Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001) is that one reflects upon one’s work environment and takes actions at work to try to (i) structure one’s tasks so that they can be done more effectively, or so that tedious tasks are no longer necessary, or so that more challenging tasks are available; (ii) have better, more meaningful, or mo... See more

Acts of kindness, helping others, and going out of one’s way to be of assistance to those in need can, of course, increase the well-being of others. 

There are numerous variations on these simple activities but the original intervention (Emmons and McCullough, 2003) consisted of taking time once per week to reflect upon five things in life that one was grateful for and writing these down, and then repeating this for ten consecutive weeks.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is focused on changing the thought processes and behaviors that may contribute to depression and numerous forms of cognitive behavioral therapy have been shown to be effective in alleviating depression in randomized trials (Cuijpers, Cristea, Karyotaki, Reijnders, and Huibers, 2016). 

Some research has indicated that an exercise consisting of imagining and writing about one’s best possible self increases various aspects of well-being (King, 2001; Boehm, Lyubomirsky, and Sheldon, 2011; Layous, Nelson, and Lyubomirsky, 2013).

A number of observational studies have indicated that volunteering is associated with improvements in various aspects of well-being. In some sense, volunteering and regularly participating in various volunteering activities and organizations is a commitment to repeated acts of kindness, generally directed to an important goal of improving the life ... See more