Aaron Antonovsky’s creation, salutogenesis, refers to the study of health and the state of flourishing. Frustrated by the whack-a-mole continuous problem solving approach of 1970’s medicine Antonovsky proposed that medical professionals spend less time focusing on pathology and instead spend more time studying “Salutogenesis”, or the origins of health and growth in organisms.

Unlike the pathogenic model of studying disease and mental dysfunction, salutogenesis challenges us to understand health and flourishing as more than a lack of disease or dysfunction. Instead, it seeks to help understand why/how states of elevated well-being occur based upon historic, cultural and physical environments. By studying these high performance time periods we are better able to recreate their occurrence and successes using similar models of motivational intervention for individuals such as yourself.

The scientific inquiry into the factors, both intrinsic to the individual as well as socially significant, that facilitate vitality, motivation, social integration, and well-being.  These factors can be classified into three categories: autonomy, relatedness, and competency.  Psychologists term these factors as “Basic Psychological Needs” and postulate that they are required for fostering intrinsic motivation, sustained interest at work, personal as well as professional development, mental wellbeing and flourishing for the individual.   

• Autonomy is classified as the need to self-regulate experiences and actions.  It is the ability to feel in control of one’s behaviors as they relate to our actions and intrapersonal or interpersonal interactions.
• Relatedness refers to our feelings of social connection.  It is described as a feeling of belonging and significance among others where the contribution of one’s own thoughts and opinions is encouraged and heard.
• Competency is our basic organismic need to feel effective and able to express or develop mastery.  This manifests as an innate desire for development, manifest curiosity, idea manipulation, and inclination toward one’s salient interests. 

Following the model of Salutogenesis, the positive psychology movement was founded in 1998 by Dr. Martin Seligman.  Seeking a shift from the Freudian focus upon psychopathology and the control of negative thoughts, Seligman proposed that professionals instead focus more time studying what makes people happy.  Focused upon strengths, health and vitality, positive psychology seeks to arm individuals with the tools necessary for the pursuit of happiness, well-being, and purpose.

To this end positive psychologists focus upon five key areas:

1. 1. Positive Emotions and How We Generate and Protect Them
   2. Engagement and the Obtainment of a Regular State of Flow in Everyday Life
   3. Relationships and Fostering Healthy Interpersonal Interactions
   4. Meaning and the Sense that What You Do has a Higher Purpose
   5. Accomplishment and the Feeling of Growing Competency

Flourishing is the state we derive from a life that is built upon the ongoing evolutionary drive towards meaning, engagement, and accomplishment.  Flourishing is not achieved through the acquisition of fame or physical means.  Instead, this multifocal concept seeks to help us understand why hard work is rewarding despite its difficulty.  It is the pursuit of, and engagement with, a salient life which results in a passion one can relish no matter their stage of life.