Fundamentals of Person-Centred Healthcare Practice. Группа авторов

a focus on busyness? What strategies do you use to reduce the clutter and busyness? Embodying contrasts When we are flourishing we bring all aspects of ourselves as we develop our potential. Being attuned to all that is good, beautiful and harmonious brings us closer to recognising the sanctity of person‐centred human relationships. It helps us to experience our greater selves, the person we are when we are at our best (as opposed to languishing when we are at our worst). Connecting with what we consider to be ‘sacred’ is important here. The sacred is not the same as having a religious faith or belief or living a life shaped by doctrines. Whilst some of us may have such a faith, what we are concerned with here is more related to a sense of awe and wonderment at goodness, beauty, harmony, compassion and loving kindness – and with honouring them. Do you pay attention to issues/ideas/actions that might seem to be insignificant to you or others, but which have the potential for deep learning and development? What strategies do you use in your everyday work and life to create ‘wonderment’ at the ordinary things of life? Do you appreciate contrasts that exist between you and your co‐workers? If so, in what way and how do you make use of these contrasts? Harmony There is no beginning and no end to flourishing. Each element of our life melds and blends with the whole and with each other element. Another way of looking at this is to see each element as bounding and framing the whole of human flourishing. This realisation and acknowledgement of a continuous and connected journey of flourishing rather than a prescribed structure resonates with the need to respond to the wisdom of our bodies in decision making. No matter how much control we may feel over our lives, many internal and external influences shape us and the conditions that enable us to flourish as persons (or not). This is not to suggest a fatalistic perspective but is instead an understanding and position that recognises the interconnectedness of persons, the environment and the universe. Without an appreciation of these deep connections and an understanding of the need to actively shape our being in the world, then our potential for flourishing may not be realised. How do you develop your preparedness for a continuous approach to self‐growth and development? How do you show loving kindness for yourself and others? What mindful practices do you use to build loving kindness for yourself and others?

A resting place

      Source: Ilona Krex

      You may have experienced engaging with the conditions for human flourishing as both a cognitive, creative and embodied experience. You will have identified how we have focused on using both cognitive and creative approaches to writing and reflecting on our flourishing as persons. There is a growing literature on ‘critical creative practices’ (cf. Titchen 2013; Titchen and Horsfall 2011; Titchen and McCormack 2008, 2010; Titchen and McMahon 2013) that enables an opening up of our senses and capacity for embodied holistic learning, growth, development and ultimately to transform as persons. Many of these practices are well known and essentially ask us to (re)engage with our innate creative qualities as persons – qualities that expand and extend the horizon of our potentials to flourish, our humanness and capacity as spiritual beings. It is these qualities that surface our moral virtues as persons, bring our personhood to our and others consciousness, create meaning and ultimately build commuinities that are inherently person‐centred.

      To be truly happy in this world is a revolutionary act because true happiness depends on a revolution in ourselves.

      (Salzberg 2002)

      Activity

      Create an image (poem, painting, etc.) that will act as a ‘holder’ of your understanding of you as a flourishing person.

Summary

       The term ‘human flourishing’ has existed for thousands of years, originally coined as eudaimonia (meaning human flourishing or happiness) by the philosopher Aristotle.

       Spirituality and human flourishing are inextricably linked and to flourish is an active process of living out the virtues that guide our moral agency.

       Positive psychologists argue that human flourishing embraces a wide range of psychological constructs that offer insights into what it means to be happy and to feel well. The PERMA model is one way of operationalising this approach.

       Considering ‘the conditions for human flourishing’ enables us to think about the broader landscape of life and how our embodied engagement with all aspects of living provides opportunities for growth, development and transformation.

       Using all our senses in a holistic embodied engagement attunes our senses to the richness of the universe and the riches available to us for our own flourishing and that of others.

References

      1 Dewing, J. and McCormack, B. (2015). A critique of the concept of engagement and its application in person‐centred practice. International Practice Development Journal 5 article 6.

      2 Gaffney, M. (2011). Flourishing: How to Achieve a Deeper Sense of Well‐Being, Meaning and Purpose – Even When Facing Adversity. Dublin: Penguin Ireland.

      3 MacIntyre, A. (1992). After Virtue – A Study in Moral Theory. London: Duckworth.

      4 McCormack, B. and Titchen, A. (2014). No beginning, no end: an ecology of human flourishing. International Practice Development Journal 4 (2): 2.

      5 O'Donohue, J. (1997). Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World. London: Bantam Press.

      6 Saltzberg, S. (2002). Loving‐Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

      7 Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. New York: Free Press.

      8 Titchen, A. (2013). Writing with flow: publish and flourish through whole‐self writing. International Practice Development Journal 3 (1): 10.

      9 Titchen, A. and Horsfall, D. (2011). Embodying creative imagination and expression in qualitative research. In: Creative Spaces for Qualitative Researching: Living Research (eds. J. Higgs, A. Titchen, D. Horsfall and D. Bridges), 179–190. Rotterdam: Sense.

      10 Titchen, A. and McCormack, B. (2008). A methodological walk in the forest: critical creativity and human flourishing. In: International Practice Development in Nursing and Healthcare (eds. K. Manley, B. McCormack and V. Wilson), 59–83. Oxford: Blackwell.

      11 Titchen, A. and McCormack, B. (2010). Dancing with stones: critical creativity as methodology for human flourishing. Educational Action Research 18 (4): 531–554.

      12 Titchen, A. and McMahon, A. (2013). Practice development as radical gardening: enabling creativity and innovation. In: Practice Development in Nursing and Healthcare (eds. B. McCormack, K. Manley and A. Titchen), 212–232. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

      13 Titchen, A., McCormack, B., Wilson, V., and Solman, A. (2011). Human flourishing through body, creative imagination and reflection. International Practice Development Journal 1 (1): 1.

Further reading

      1 O'Donohue, J. (2010). The Four Elements: Reflections on Nature. London: Transworld Ireland.

      2 McIntosh, P. (2008). Poetics and space: developing a reflective landscape through imagery and human geography. Reflective Practice 9 (1):