ABSTRACT
People seek coaching for many reasons, but mostly their reasons relate to the achievement of success and/or happiness. Often coaches think that their objective is purely success, but rarely is this possible without consideration of the emotional impact of this pursuit. This chapter reviews the major positive psychology theories of well-being thriving and flourishing and discusses how they can inform both the agenda and the process of positive psychology coaching. All the theories authors examine propose slightly different ingredients and are needs-based theories of well-being. The terms thriving or flourishing are effectively interchangeable and refer to the satisfaction of these needs, particularly the need to pursue a life purpose and realise one's potential. The chapter uses the term thriving as a synonym of flourishing and restricts the term well-being to a narrower definition: need satisfaction and the outcomes or objectives humans seem to universally desire.
