Course Description

For millennia, human cultures have offered various recipes for “flourishing,” a life filled with deep satisfaction, well-being, resilience, and accomplishment. In this class, students will learn some of the key ingredients of flourishing and the skills that contribute to its realization. Throughout the semester, we will explore perspectives from the sciences and the humanities about what it means to flourish and what the key ingredients of flourishing might be. Appreciating the tremendous diversity of perspectives and experiences even within our university community, I will seek to empower students to come to their own understanding of flourishing that embraces both individual uniqueness and also what is shared across diverse cultures and contexts. Our semester will include training in various practices—such as mindfulness—that help develop the qualities and skills that can contribute to a flourishing life. Each week we will explore a specific theme as articulated in the sciences and the humanities, with the goal of facilitating expanded self-awareness, enhancing social connectivity, and finding purpose and passion in your studies, your lives, and your future careers. Our exploration of flourishing will proceed through five units that engage with key topics for flourishing in each week. Details of the units are available on our Blackboard course. Learning Outcomes This course will enable you to: Examine flourishing in its complex diversity Recognize the elements that are central to your notion of flourishingCreate your own vision of flourishing based on those elements Assemble the skills to realize that vision Experiment with embodying that vision in your life