Posts in society
#28 Nick Holton: Flourishing, Performance, and Privilege
#28 Nick Holton: Flourishing, Performance, and Privilege

Flourishing provides a framework for how to live well by taking into account individuality, constraints, and systems. Yet what does it look like to apply this framework in education? Classroom-teacher-turned-positive-psychologist Nick Holton has been exploring the concept of flourishing through a performance lens to determine how to help students become the best versions of themselves. Nick includes concepts like achievement, mastery, motivation, flow, meaning, and connection in his promotion of flourishing in schools. He also acknowledges the role of privilege in well-being and how to repair system-level concerns to help more people access vital aspects of life.

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society, educationDanielle LeCourtflourishing
#27 Beth Launiere: Mental Health and Flourishing in Sports
#27 Beth Launiere: Mental Health and Flourishing in Sports

In sports, there’s a fine line between growth and exhaustion, strength and breakdown, health and pathology—and this couldn’t be more true for athletes competing during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Yet sports also provide a unique playground for the development of mental tools, identity, and tolerance for discomfort. In this conversation with Beth Launiere, storied head coach of the University of Utah Women’s Volleyball team, we discuss the mental and emotional facets of competition and the responsibility of the systems and leaders that support elite athletes. We also discuss the challenges of a season during COVID and social unrest and how tumultuous times can give way to a fresh start.

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health, business, societyDanielle LeCourtsports, Pac-12, volleyball, elite athlete, mental health
#26 Danya Rumore: The Skill of Conflict
#26 Danya Rumore: The Skill of Conflict

In a time of great division, we become positional and put up our walls. So in this episode with the University of Utah’s Dr. Danya Rumore, we talk about how to attack problems, not people, avoid zero-sum thinking, and manage our needs to come together in a time marked by cancel culture, aggression, and a breakdown of dialogue. We even dive into the mass migration to the rural Mountain West and how income inequality, housing affordability, and water issues necessitate greater skills in conflict and dialogue.

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society, environmentDanielle LeCourtenvironment, rhetoric
#25 Matthew Lee: Love, Spirituality, and Flourishing
#25 Matthew Lee: Love, Spirituality, and Flourishing

What does it mean to be well? In this conversation with Dr. Matthew Lee, Director of Empirical Research at Harvard's Human Flourishing Program, we run the gamut of subject matter—love, spirituality, inner peace, business—in search of the answer. A sociologist and former criminologist, Lee's research explores the pathways to human flourishing, benevolent service to others, and the integration of social science and the humanities.

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research, societyDanielle LeCourtwell-being, flourishing