{"id":115,"date":"2019-02-08T16:38:16","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T16:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/?p=115"},"modified":"2019-02-08T16:38:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T16:38:23","slug":"flourishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school-teaching\/2019\/02\/08\/flourishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Flourishing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Jenni Rose<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Having just come from the Flourishing in Academia course run\nby CABA and the ICAEW has made me reflect on what flourishing really means in\nthe life of an academic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term \u201cFlourish\u201d comes from Martin Seligman\u2019s book in 2011 on a new theory of positive psychology and has five elements from the PERMA model.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positive emotion \u2013 feeling good<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engagement \u2013 being in a state of flow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relationships \u2013 truly connecting to others<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meaning  – being part\nof something bigger<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accomplishments \u2013 Achieving marked successes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

On the course we discussed how a life in academia can\nsatisfy these. This life, and yes I do consider it a life rather than a job or\neven a career, can be filled with clear moments of positive emotions to be\ncherished; grateful students, helpful colleagues and being able to leave early\nto make the most of a sunny day. Yes there are absolutely negative emotions,\nfrustration probably being the main one, but training yourself to spot and take\nin the good helps you overcome the 5:1 negativity bias discussed by Rick Hanson\nin his famous ted talk on Hardwiring Happiness https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jpuDyGgIeh0<\/a>\n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academia definitely gives you the opportunities to get into\nflow, communicating your passion in lectures, absorbing yourself in research\nand being so immersed in a task that you don\u2019t notice time passing. It\u2019s also\nfantastic that time is so flexible in academia \u2013 I can often find myself in\nflow if I wake at 5am with great ideas, but then I\u2019ll definitely be needing to\nrest by the early afternoon!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The academic community is unique and frequently amazing in\nits support and collaboration. Recently I was conducting research into\nefficient teaching excellence and was asking excellent teachers about their\nstyles and methods. Most were happy to share their thoughts and even guided me\non where I should focus my research to really understand excellent teaching,\none however was worried about giving away \u2018trade secrets\u2019. She was a freelance\nteacher rather than an academic and this, for me, really summarises the\nopenness of academic collegiality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s this community which can enable an individual academic\nto feel part of something bigger, not just your University but also your\nconnection to other academia. It strikes me as strange, having moved from the\nprivate sector, that academics from different Universities will talk about\nthemselves as \u201ccolleagues\u201d, when really they are competitors! Beyond that there\nare so many conference communities and online communities where we can connect\nglobally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally in terms of accomplishments there are many decisive\nmarkers in an academic career to be celebrated; awards, feedback for teaching\nand of course that holy grail of getting your work published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall I feel that the conditions are present to allow\nfeelings of flourishing through living a life as an Academic, if we continue to\nfocus on the taking in the good and recognising and dissipating frustrations.\nThe pace of academia, as applauded by Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeber in their\nbook \u201cThe Slow Professor\u201d, gives us the time to make the most of our skills and\nexperience and gives the environment to flourish in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenni Rose<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer.rose@Manchester.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/linkedin.com\/in\/jennirose<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Jenni Rose Having just come from the Flourishing in Academia course run by CABA and the ICAEW has made me reflect on what flourishing really means in the life of an academic. The term \u201cFlourish\u201d comes from Martin Seligman\u2019s…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

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