Face light, stand tall 🌻
Helping Friendly Newsletter, 05.09.25
Every other Friday, I share 5 things to consider. On the Fridays between, I mix things up. This is a 5 Things Friday.
Happy mother’s day to 🌻my mom🌻 , to all the wonderful women in my life, and to mother figures everywhere. Even as we celebrate, I know this holiday can be complicated for folks who are grieving, longing, or healing family wounds. Whichever way this Sunday finds you, I hope it treats you well.
GM! ☕️
Here are this fortnight’s 5 things to consider:
A longitudinal study led by Harvard and Baylor universities is attempting to track global flourishing across 5 years, 200,000+ people, and 23 countries and territories (so far). The project has an interesting methodological challenge: In order to measure flourishing, researchers first have to define it without imposing their concept of a good life on others. The initial report proposes a framework that gives the idea shape, while also allowing difference and flux:
Notes from the Wave One report of the Global Flourishing Study.. I especially like the emphasis on flourishing as a process, rather than a fixed state.
Using examples that range from family dysfunction to international conflict, Adam Kahane argues that “stretch collaboration,” which does not make harmony a precondition or a priority, is more honest and effective than conventional collaboration. The framework is pushing me forward in my work with teams, is a nice complement to emergent strategy, and is all too relevant in our polarized world. This little book thinks big.
Table from Collaborating with the Enemy.
A helpful share on making the transition away from a career that’s come to define you: “What happens when you leave your career (and identity) behind.” If you’ve recently gotten out of the race or are contemplating a major change, this is for you.
A friend asked me for resources around end-of-life and grief support this week, and I offered my Death for Dummies series as a starting point. 🖤
Speaking of which, I fell in television love: Dying for Sex is an exquisitely tender, funny, and spicy story of loving, living loud, and letting go. Incredibly, this mini-series was inspired by a true story. Think Wit, but trauma-informed and sex-positive. Just wow. (I wept!)
ICYMI, last week I considered what it means to take it slow:
Thank you for reading! This newsletter is a labor of love. 💌 To support it, you can upgrade to a paid subscription, share this post, or engage my services. You can learn more about my work at jenniferlphillips.com.
Peace,
Jenny
P.S. and yet!👇
