In the early 1990s, Waterman proposed a description of eudaimonia that he called personal expressiveness. It is characterized by six feelings about one’s most representative activities, assessed at the trait level using the Personally Expressive Activities Questionnaire: that these activities make one feel alive, that they express who one really is, that one is intensely involved in them, that they are what one was meant to do, that they make one particularly complete or fulfilled, and that one has a special fit or meshing with them.

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Eudaimonia, the ultimate goal or aim of human life, was the central focus of ancient philosophy. Eudaimonia differs from some now mainstream understandings of happiness or well-being in three important ways. First, eudaimonia represents an all-encompassing goal of life as opposed to one goal among many that a human life might have. It is, in this sense, a “perfect,” “complete,” or “final” aim for us, and there is not an open question about whether it is something we ought to pursue. Second, eudaimonia is much less subjective and less psychological than current notions of happiness or well-being. This is so in two senses. Subjective experiences, such as pleasure and satisfaction, though they may matter for eudaimonia, are not typically the only things that matter. Third, the ancient Greeks tended to agree that eudaimonia is attributed to a person’s life as a whole, not to some distinct part of it. It is difficult to understand the ancient Greeks’ claims that virtue is necessary for eudaimonia without understanding this point. Eudaimonia is often translated as happiness, but it is more accurate to describe it as striving toward one’s true potential. Rather than viewing eudaimonia as the presence of positive emotion, emphasis should be placed on the degree to which a person is fully functioning and flourishing.

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Ryff (1989) introduced her conception of eudaimonia. She argued that well-being is better defined by objectively realizing one’s potential and flourishing in the face of life’s existential challenges, than by subjectively feeling good. More specifically, Ryff proposed that eudaimonia consists of what she called psychological well-being: personal growth, purpose in life, autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relations with others, and self-acceptance.

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Early Western philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle wrote of eudaimonia, a condition in which a person reaches a better state of being by use of knowledge and virtue. “The eudaimonic approach views well-being in terms of self-realization and growth (which includes pleasure but is not focused primarily on it). Well-being increases as one becomes increasingly more capable of living out particularly, universally beneficial human qualities”.

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Eudaimonia is the pursuit, manifestation, and/or experience of virtue, personal growth, self-actualization, flourishing, excellence, and meaning. Eudaimonia includes states and/or pursuits associated with using and developing the best in oneself, in accordance with one’s true self and one’s deeper principles. Eudaimonia is often translated as “happiness,” and thus might be mistaken for enjoyment or pleasure; however, it is better translated as flourishing or excellence.

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In our own work, we have defined eudaimonia and hedonia as motives for activities, i.e., as seeking to use and develop the best in oneself, and seeking to experience pleasure and comfort. Eudaimonia as a way of acting includes the following themes:

* Excellence: The concept that one is striving for something good/better or high/higher.
* Authenticity/Autonomy: Acting in line with one’s true self and deep values, and striving to integrate the different aspects of oneself.
* Development: Following a purpose that promotes personal evolution and realization of one’s potential.
* Full Functioning: Using the full range of what one is, as appropriate, including unpleasant emotions.
* Broad Scope of Concern: Striving to serve a greater good, whether it be the welfare of entities beyond oneself, or some long-term goal for the self or others that transcends the immediate moment.
* Engagement: Actively applying oneself, rising to the challenge, and being deeply immersed.
* Autotelism: Focusing on the quality of the means to an end, or seeing the means or process as an end in itself.
* Contemplation: Thinking about the meaning of one’s actions, and being guided by abstract principles.
* Acceptance: While striving for excellence, simultaneously embracing and working with reality, oneself, and others as they are.

Eudaimonia as a form of well-being includes the following themes:

* Meaning: Feeling that one’s activities and experiences are meaningful and valuable.
* Elevation: A sense of being inspired, enriched, and raised to a higher or broader level of functioning.
* Awe: Feelings of awe, wonder, and being deeply moved, i.e., experiencing life’s events on a deeper level.
* Connection: Feelings of connection with, awareness of, and harmony with oneself, one’s activities, or a broader or longer-term context.
* Aliveness: Feeling alive and present.
* Fulfillment: Feeling fulfilled and complete, and that one does not wish anything more.
* Competence: Competence and mastery in life’s important domains. While some researchers define this more as a subjective feeling, others define it more as a quality that could be judged objectively.

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In 2002, Seligman discussed eudaimonia as a life of meaning, i.e., a life where one considers the broader implications of one’s actions and serves the greater good.

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The concept of eudaimonia, a key term in ancient Greek moral philosophy, is standardly translated as “happiness” or “flourishing” and occasionally as “well-being.” Each translation has its disadvantages. The trouble with “flourishing” is that animals and even plants can flourish but eudaimonia is possible only for rational beings.

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Eudaimonia is, avowedly, a moralized or value-laden concept of happiness, something like “true” or “real” happiness or “the sort of happiness worth seeking or having.” It is thereby the sort of concept about which there can be substantial disagreement between people with different views about human life that cannot be resolved by appeal to some external standard on which, despite their different views, the parties to the disagreement concur.

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Ryan, Huta, and Deci (2008) - Eudaimonia is sometimes conceptualized as a form of well-being, sometimes as a way of acting/thinking, and sometimes as both. Ryan and colleagues (2008) proposed that eudaimonia includes three additional characteristics: acting with awareness; acting in line with objectively valid and enduring psychological needs rather than momentary impulses; and pursuing goals that are ends in themselves (e.g., personal growth, community contribution) rather than means to an end (e.g., money, image, power).

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Aristotle believed that eudaimonia was the ultimate goal of human existence. The path to eudaimonia required a balance in life. Aristotle maintained that eudaimonia comes from identifying one’s virtues, cultivating them, and living life in accord. Happiness is beyond feeling good; it is about doing good. Therefore, to live a life of eudaimonia, an individual high in dispositional gratitude may embark on a gratitude visit of count their blessings.

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