To be a Flourisher...

Alright, so I read this article on msn.com about longevity, and it gave ten signs that you will live longer than you might think. Most of the signs had to do with health…the foods you eat, how much exercise you get, etc. But then there was one sign of longevity which said, “You’re a flourisher.” Hmmm. A flourisher? I hadn’t heard that word used quite like that before. The article quoted Corey Keyes, Ph.D., who said, "We should strive to flourish, to find meaning in our lives." A flourisher is someone who lives life to the fullest, but with a purpose. A flourisher becomes passionate about using his/her own gifts and talents to make the world a better place.

I know in my first marriage I wasn’t a flourisher. My life was all about hitching a ride on someone else’s back…someone whose life dreams I assumed were more important than my own. With that mindset, I believed I was put on this earth to service him and to take care of the kids and to support him in his career. My own goals and dreams had little importance. And rather than flourish, I languished.

I believe the challenge is for each of us to determine what our individual purpose is for being alive. And if we just aren’t sure, well, then we have to take up a cause—something “virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy,” and while we’re doing that, we’ll be lead in the direction we’re supposed to go. (And hey, in the mean time our days are well spent.) It’s got to be a very personal, individual thing—something that would still be a passion, goal or dream even if our spouses died or abandoned us, if our kids grew up and left the house, if our friends turned their backs.

I’ve heard about people who reach that moment of epiphany where they say to themselves, “This is it; this is why I was put on this planet. I’m doing the thing I came here to do.”

Here’s hoping every one of us gets to have one of those moments. At least one, before time runs out.