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Taking Care of Ourselves & Each Other

Health & Well-Being

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What is Well-Being?

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Well-being is the integration of positive feelings, meaningful doing, and sustainable connecting. Well-being, including the lack of well-being in our lives, is something we’re all deeply familiar with, and yet it is still a complex, almost indescribable concept. Well-being is about flourishing in multiple domains of living, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. A Stanford community vision for well-being focuses on what we all need, both as individuals and communities, to function, feel, and be well.

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Farm Days, 2022. Credit: Micaela Go

Elements of Well-Being

Most elements of well-being can be linked to universal human needs and desires that evolved in our bodies and minds over millions of years. Whether its connection, comfort, agency, and safety — or belonging, meaning, purpose, and pleasurable emotions— all of these are important to us modern humans because they have roots in our history, and were essential to our ancestors. In the last two centuries our world has changed so drastically that our well-being has been challenged as we depart from ways of living that make up our histories.

But how can we skillfully navigate our complex, demanding lives, the challenges at Stanford, and the desire to belong in a fast-moving world? Stanford may be an academic institution, and you may be a student—but a life well-lived is more than productivity and academic accomplishment. Developing our well-being is an active, lifelong process of choices, skill-building, and introspection that lead toward your own visions of health, fulfillment, and meaning.

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What is Flourishing?

Flourishing is how we function well, feel well, and be well.

Flourishing is a common term used in the social sciences to encapsulate all the things that make up our well-being. In practical terms, well-being and flourishing are the same—one’s well-being is high when they are flourishing, and vice versa. Concepts like flourishing that attempt to describe the immense complexity of human experience differ across individuals and cultures as our deeply held values influence what it means for us to flourish.

Read more below to reflect on your current level of Flourishing, and what actions you can take to develop your well-being while at Stanford.

Explore the dimensions of flourishing. Reflect on your current level of flourishing, and discover what actions you can take to develop your well-being while at Stanford.

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The model of flourishing we explore at Stanford started with the foundational research from leaders in the various fields, but then, importantly, was customized by the Stanford community to fit the experiences of what it means to flourish at Stanford. As we learn more about ourselves, our communities, and what it means for us to be well, these models of well-being will, and should, change to reflect our current realities.

Nessarose Schear of Cambridge, Massachusetts, finds a place for her camping gear in her dorm room on move-in day. Credit Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

Foundations

Self Awareness
Environmental Stability
Growth Mindset
Agency/Autonomy
Spirituality

 Windhover Contemplative Center. Credit: newslibrary@stanford.edu

Psychological

Self-Acceptance
Self-Efficacy/Mastery
Purpose/Meaning
Engagement/Flow
Hope/Optimism

 ProFros run a gantlet of cheering students on their way in to Frost Amphitheater. Admit Weekend Credit:  Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

Social

Social Contribution
Social Support
Social Coherence
Social Acceptance
Social Hope
Belonging

 Students run through a rehearsal of the dance elements in the play Spring Awakening in the newly refurbished Roble Dance Studio. Credit:  Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

Physical

Sleep/Rest
Food/Eating
Movement/Exercise

 Seniors Cecilia Lang-Ree and Charlie Yang co-hosted the gathering for admits in Frost Amphitheater. Following tradition they call the audience to the stage in order to take a selfie with the entire class.

Emotional

Positive Emotion

Tree on the side of the road