Human Flourishing is honored to announce that we are partnering with Jason Viyar to bring his forthcoming book, The Psychological Millionaire, into the world.

The book began as Jason’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology capstone at the University of Pennsylvania and grew from a question that has shaped much of his life: who is truly rich, and what makes a life truly rich?

Most people know the feeling of believing that more money would make life’s problems disappear. Most have also met someone with millions of dollars who sacrificed health, relationships, and happiness along the way. Those two observations point toward a different understanding of wealth.

Jason’s argument is that the truest form of prosperity is not merely financial freedom but psychological wealth: the inner assets that allow a person to flourish no matter the market. The Psychological Millionaire identifies three essential assets available to anyone — relationships, appreciation, and present moments — and the invitation is to invest time, energy, and attention in what makes life feel connected, abundant, and alive.

Three ideas from this work feel especially important for Human Flourishing.

1. Our relationships may be our greatest form of wealth

One of positive psychology’s clearest conclusions can be expressed in three words: other people matter. The good life is not a solitary achievement. Flourishing alone is difficult because well-being is shaped and sustained through relationships with friends, family, communities, and mentors.

The myth of the self-made person collapses under scrutiny. Every meaningful life is built within an ecosystem of love, trust, encouragement, opportunity, and service. Nothing compounds in isolation.

Appreciative inquiry offers a powerful way to enrich those relationships. Rather than continually scanning for deficiencies, it directs attention toward what is working, what is possible, and what gives life to people at their best. The questions it asks: What is already good? What strengths made this possible?

This is the movement from asking “What’s wrong?” to asking “What’s strong?” Noticing and naming the goodness in another person does more than recognize their value. It helps that value grow.

2. We do not have to keep moving the goalpost on flourishing

Many people delay feeling rich until they see a certain number in a bank account. Others postpone happiness until the promotion, retirement, finished project, perfect relationship, or next distant milestone. Yet every time one marker is reached, the goalpost has a way of moving again.

This deferred living mindset can cost a person vitality, presence, and joy, traded away for a vague future promise that money or achievement was never meant to fulfill. The very things that make life feel rich get given up while waiting for permission to begin living.

The Psychological Millionaire offers another way. Unlike becoming a financial millionaire, becoming psychologically wealthy does not require waiting. This does not mean abandoning ambition. It means refusing to make flourishing conditional upon yet another achievement.

3. Love-based optimism helps us invest in what could be

Optimism is not wishful thinking or the denial of hardship. It is a grounded belief that favorable outcomes are possible and that adversity can be met with growth, choice, and meaningful action.

Love-based optimism begins with the courage to imagine a better future and enough care to invest in it. Deliberately noticing beauty, progress, and goodness expands a person’s belief in what may still be possible. Appreciation trains the eye to recognize value in the present, while optimism extends that perception through time. Appreciation anchors optimism in daily experience, and love supplies the reason to invest in what could be.

This kind of optimism helps a person see setbacks as temporary and specific, while asking what is still good, what remains possible, and how to find the gold within even the most difficult experiences.

At Human Flourishing, we are building a community of honest inquirers willing to ask the questions that matter most about the conditions and choices that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The Psychological Millionairebelongs squarely within that inquiry.

We are deeply grateful to partner with Jason as he develops this work into a book and invites more people to invest in their inner wealth, experience life as a gift, and discover extraordinary abundance in ordinary moments.

Jason will be with us at our founding gathering on October 16 in Phoenix, AZ, where you can hear this work well before the book reaches shelves.

→ humanflourishing.us/gatherings/founding

We invite you to follow the journey, share the ideas that resonate most, and become an advocate for Human Flourishing.

Human Flourishing is a partner in the upcoming publication of The Psychological Millionaire. Jason Viyar serves on our board of directors.