I am currently working on my next book entitled Flourishing (forthcoming from Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishing, 2012). In it, I bring together the fields of evolutionary neuroscience, psychology, and theology to consider what we mean by a life well lived. Taking a holistic view of our embodied, yet spiritual selves, I am addressing the following questions as I write: Why do some flourish, even to the end of life, even in the face of waning physical power? If we can answer that question with any certainty, then it seems to me that the following question becomes crucial: Are there behaviors that can be changed, practices that can be carried out prior to old age, that enhance such flourishing – even in the face of trauma, loss, or sickness? These are the overriding concerns that are guiding my writing at present.

I have posted the outline for this new book below. As always, I welcome comments from my readers, and this book is no exception. You can contact me by clicking here.

Flourishing (outline)
By Sandra M. Levy, Ph.D.

(Foreword)

Prologue I:   The Coherent Life and Human Flourishing: Evolution and the Human Journey Toward Transcendence

Chapter One:   The Embodied Self and the Flourishing  Life

    A.  Brains and Traits (or how you are like everyone else)

    B.  Adaptations and Goals (or how you are like some other people)

    C.  Stories and Culture (or how you are like nobody else)

Chapter Two:  Embodied Practices and the Flourishing Life

    A.  Embodied Prayer Practices: In Community with God

    B.  Embodied Practice in Ritual, Dance, and Song: The Community at Worship

    C.  Telling Stories and the Creation of Meaning: Embodied Practice in Community

    D.  Flourishing and Acts of Compassion: Embodied Gratitude

Prologue II:  Three Lives

Chapter Three: Creating a Flourishing Life through Suffering and Loss

    A.  Changing the Elephant: Life’s Losses and Positive Emotion: Gratitude, Hope, and Joy

     a.  Gratitude
     b.  Hope
     c.  Joy

    B.  Changing the Rider: Life’s Losses and Meaning-Making through Goal Adaptations and Stories
    
Chapter Four:  The Ultimate Flourishing: Resurrected Life and Kingdom Living

    A.  Resurrection in the Bible and Tradition: The Flourishing Life after Life
 
    B.  The Flourishing Life Now: Dancing Before the Face of God