Felt your pulse lately? Chances are your heart is beating a little faster these days — and not just because your boss has been hovering around your desk or because $100 worth of groceries barely fills a shopping basket (forget the cart). Maybe it’s also the worry that some of what you’re buying could be under a recall you’ll never hear about thanks to DOGE cuts. Or perhaps it’s the unsettling feeling of being around a bunch of snotty-nosed kids whose parents may or may not believe in vaccinations. You get the gist. And I haven’t even mentioned the state of education, maternal and dental health, or the fact that our president apparently wants to take over Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal — just for starters. Suffice it to say, most of us don’t exactly feel like we’re “flourishing” these days. Is anyone? Actually, that’s exactly what researchers around the world have been trying to find out.
A new survey of over 200,000 people across 22 countries took a deep dive into that very question. What does it really mean to flourish? Beyond fleeting happiness or financial security, flourishing is about living a multidimensional life—one marked by meaning, health, strong relationships, and a sense of belonging. In other words, it’s not just about having stuff, but about feeling whole.
Surprisingly, the findings reveal that richer countries like the U.S. and Sweden aren’t doing as well as expected. Yes, they rank high in material comfort, but they lag when it comes to meaning, purpose, and social connection. Meanwhile, places like Indonesia and the Philippines, where people often have far less money, are thriving in ways that matter deeply: close-knit families, spiritual lives, and resilient communities. Even people who faced hardship in childhood — poverty, loss, trauma — were often able to build lives filled with purpose and connection later on.
So, if flourishing is tied as much to relationships, purpose and resilience as to wealth, what does that say about our current path? When government policies and economic strategies (like tariffs, cultural wars, and endless distractions) focus only on GDP, military might, or consumerism, they may leave behind what truly makes life meaningful.
In short, flourishing isn’t a luxury for the few. It’s a human need for all of us. And at a time when global instability and political bombast seem to dominate the airwaves, it may be the most urgent call to action of all. Go beyond the headlines…
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