I'm sitting around a beautiful dining room table with vibrant colors, flowers, incredible food and girlfriends. There's wine, laughter and storytelling. We are gathered for a birthday party which we've been celebrating together for over 30 years. We're getting older. 

For a few of us, like myself, the kids are launched, out of college, and on their own. Others have retired... some are thinking about it. These women are pilots, artists, teachers, medical professionals, managers, environmentalists, passionate, and caring. We've known each other a long time. This night we're celebrating my birthday along with a few others, and after dinner, before the dessert, the hostess asks us, "What makes you thrive?"

This is an interesting question as I'm in the middle of teaching a course on how to thrive. She has my full attention as the question makes it way around the table. We are all intelligent women with years of experience and as it turns out, it's not an easy question to answer -...