# Flourishing in a Complex World with Emiliya Zhivotovskaya

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/nine-to-thrive-the-well-being-podcast-6727471/flourishing-in-a-complex-world-with-emiliya-zhivotovskaya
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/nine-to-thrive-the-well-being-podcast-6727471/flourishing-in-a-complex-world-with-emiliya-zhivotovskaya.md
Podcast: [Nine to Thrive: The Well-Being Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/nine-to-thrive-the-well-being-podcast-6727471)
Published: 2026-05-26T08:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://ninetothrivewellbeingpodcast.podbean.com/e/flourishing-in-a-complex-world-with-emiliya-zhivotovskaya/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/yt3vrgbkycjw9hfj/5232026_positive_psycology_mixdown8j3g0.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/nine-to-thrive-the-well-being-podcast-6727471/episodes/flourishing-in-a-complex-world-with-emiliya-zhivotovskaya
Duration seconds: 3626

## Resource

What does it really mean to flourish — not just survive, not just keep up, but genuinely thrive from the inside out? In a world of political polarization, chronic stress, loneliness, and uncertainty, that question feels more urgent than ever. In this episode Julie sits down with Emiliya Zhivotovskaya — founder of The Flourishing Center, pioneer of the PERMA-V model, and one of the world's leading voices in the science of human flourishing — for a conversation that is equal parts practical, filled with tools and practices you can use today, and deeply human. What you'll hear in this episode: Emiliya's origin story — a deeply moving account of losing her brother at 14 and her mother to ovarian cancer a decade later, and how those experiences of grief and adversity became the foundation of her life's work in positive psychology. The PERMA-V model — Emiliya walks us through the evolution of positive psychology's foundational framework, from the original PEM model to PERMA, and explains why she pioneered the addition of Vitality — and why Martin Seligman ultimately endorsed it. The body is not separate from well-being. It is an integral part of it. What flourishing actually means — while some definitions might be setting the bar impossibly high, Emiliya offers a more accessible and deeply resonant definition: flourishing is being able to show up in the world the way that you want to. Flourishing in a poly-crisis — how do we define and pursue flourishing in a world of political polarization, loneliness, climate anxiety, AI disruption, and social media overwhelm? Emiliya and Julie explore why the answer lies not in bypassing the difficulty but in holding both the hardship and the possibility at the same time. The neuroscience of helplessness — one of the most surprising and i…

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