How We Flourish: Science-Backed Practices at the Core of Well-Being (Volume One)

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, & inspirational, while rooted in rigorous science. Together, they offer not just knowledge, but lived wisdom—stories, practices, and insights that invite reflection, growth, & real-world application.

What’s inside Volume 1? We cover: Broaden & Build, Gratitude, Resilience, Curiosity, Mindfulness, Willpower, Character Strength, Flow, Mattering, Active Constructive Responding, Kindness, Social Contagion, Purpose, Spirituality, Post-Adversarial Growth, Transcendence, Hope, Habit Change, Motivation, Visualization, Stress, Sleep, Nature, Breath & Heliotropic Effect.

Organized around the PERMA-V framework—Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement, & Vitality—each volume in the How We Flourish series focuses on core skills for flourishing, offering distinct perspectives & 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 & 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—& gives you the skills to help that wholeness flourish. May it support you in living with more awareness, vitality, & care, and in helping others do the same.

Welcome to How We Flourish.

Main author and Editor:
Emiliya Zhivotovskaya

Contributing Authors (CAPP Authors Collective):
Fatin Bundagji
Laurie Butson
Jennifer Clay
Laura Cooke
Ariyo Cummings
Patricia C. Ehret
Maria Elshamy
Katrina Goff
Nené Gómez
Anna Irani
Ginger Lerner
Shelley Lippman
Meera Mathur
Michele Mavissakalian
Elizabeth O’Neil Meurehg
Jessica Morgenthal
Yumiko Yokochi Ordal
Molly Peterson
Karen Riddell
Elize Simon
Cristina Tijerina Sepulveda
Tara Tiefenthaler
Melinda Weber
Lisa Wozniak
Karim Zayed