About 10 years ago I was given a really cool book for Christmas from my Mom and Dad, who recognized then my affinity for understanding myself. The book is called Soul Pancake, and the Author is Rainn Wilson (Yes, Dwight from the Office! Really interesting man!).
Today I picked it up and started flipping through its pages, looking for something that stuck a chord. I had that "Ah ha!" moment on page 89, where he introduced the concept of Eudemonia, which was first introduced by Aristotle, and it's the word of the day!
Eudemonia (or Eudaimonia, Eudaemonia) is a Greek word meaning happiness or welfare. And over the years the meaning has been adapted, and now represents a sense of wellbeing and flourishing over a lifetime. I like that, flourishing. I want to flourish! The book goes on to describe the happiness Eudemonia encompasses is not the happiness we experience when things go our way or when we get what we want, or a euphoric "high" state, but rather a more substantial and habitual state of contentment that comes from living well and nurturing and serving others. Happiness is something we do, not something we feel (this is my take away, not Mr. Wilson's wording). Essentially though, Eudemonia is living a meaningful life, obviously what's meaningful from vary from person to person. I have to admit, I like the sound of Eudemonia so far, it seems to align with the values I've already defined for myself (know and understand thyself, be kind to yourself, figure out how you can help others, etc...).
Positive Psychology (.com) examined what it means to achieve Eudemonia and determined that it was a state of wellbeing over the course of a life time that comes from living in alignment with ones true purpose or nature (again, not an exact quote). I dig it. Of course, this means first you have to understand your true nature and figure out what you're bringing to the table to serve up to the rest of humanity. It means finding value in yourself and healing your traumas and then taking your uniqueness to the word and doing good, which in turn, gives you the sense of satisfaction and wellbeing that is Eudemonia! As my Gramma Flora used to say, clear as mud!
But no, seriously, I think I get it. It's the sense of peace and rightness that you experience when you're on the right path and you're living in alignment with your values and your purpose, and the first steps to experiencing the "flourish" is figuring out those values and that purpose. No easy task. One of the most frequent issues people bring to me to examine in their Tarot readings is "what's my purpose", or "what's blocking me from finding or living my purpose." We are a society of seekers, in search of deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose in this big wide world.
Thankfully we're all born with deep and innate understandings that Tarot can help us tap into! And years of self examination and trail and error and trauma and healing have finally revealed to me that my purpose and my strengths lie in helping others to heal and grow and thrive. I do it automatically, it is my nature, and as soon as I started living in alignment with that nature, I started to feel a little bit of Eudemonia (sick of that word yet?), the feeling of wellbeing that comes from being on track and in alignment. Acknowledging that I'm a Tarot loving, people serving, empathetic, eclectic witchy woman was the first step in achieving that sense of wellness.
And that my friends is my first "word of the day" post, brought to you by Aristotle and Rainn Wilson! I hope you enjoyed this little crash course on Eudemonia and how true happiness can be achieving by living in accordance to your purpose and values and through the service of others (so says Aristotle).
Thank you to Rainn Wilson for creating such a cool book and inspiring so much thought and soul searching over the years! If you're interested, it's called "Soul Pancake: Chew on Life's Big Questions" and its definitely worth a look!
Katie
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