Psychologies Magazine No.101 KATE WINSLET Back Issue

When you look up the word ‘fl ourish’ in the dictionary, it is defi ned as doing well, blossoming or succeeding. But for me, fl ourishing isn’t about success so much as growth. And, unfortunately, growth is not always easy. (They don’t call them growing pains for nothing.) I love the quote from French-born American author Anaïs Nin: ‘And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.’ If 2013 wasn’t the best of years for you, be comforted by the fact that pain can be a great motivator!
But I believe that in order to grow and fl ourish, you have to be willing to be brave and take a risk. That’s why I love Keris Stainton’s piece about bravery (page 38) in our dossier this month. ‘Courage is not something you have,’ she says. ‘It’s something you choose.’
Choice is a theme we explore throughout the issue; everything from the
friends we choose to surround ourselves with (see Clem Felix’s piece Best
friends forever? on page 46) to the food we choose to put into our mouths (page 69). In the post-Christmas dieting-to-lose-fi ve-stone-in-fi ve-minutes madness, we’ve focused our special report this month on comfort eating and ask how we can make 2014 the year we choose to create a healthy relationship with food. We’re not great believers in quick fi xes. (We would be if they worked.)
That’s why we’ve asked Amerley Ollennu, our beauty and wellbeing editor, to chart her attempts to establish that healthy relationship over the coming year in her new Brain Food column. I hope you’ll join us for that.
However, if it’s fl ourishing of a more general nature you’re after, turn to page 24 and start creating your 12-month ‘Flourish masterplan’, which was devised by inspirational life coach Cheryl Rickman and based on
the research of Martin Seligman, the godfather of positive psychology.
If this all sounds like too much work in the bleakest of bleak midwinter, we give you our full permission to do all of this from your bed.