The impact of temporal dynamics on human thriving is increasingly acknowledged within sociology, anthropology, philosophy and psychiatry. Within psychiatry increasing evidence shows that mental problems such as ADHD, depression, dementia and PTSD are related to experiences of time. ADHD, for example, include hyperactivity, slow movement and apathy, while depression manifests as slowing down of experienced time. Also, studies of temporality and thriving in everyday interaction in institutions, families, homes and neighborhoods, suggest that the impact intersubjective temporality, mediated though social and cultural institutions may be crucial for human thriving. Lastly, researchers that focus on general societal temporal changes (e.g. Hartmut Rosa), argue that acceleration is a structuring dynamic of our contemporary, creating individual feelings of lagging behind and loss of resonance. For example, developments in technology, communication, and social possibilities have produced escalating demands for acceleration to keep pace, sometimes with detrimental consequences for human thriving.

We believe that examining relations between temporality and human thriving has the potential to redefine our understanding of human well-being and care, ontologically and practically. By integrating temporal considerations into our ontological understandings of and practical approaches to thriving we can cultivate a more dynamic understanding of what it means ‘to thrive’ and what it means ‘to care’.

Also, by embracing temporality as an essential aspect of human thriving, we move beyond a static view on thriving and care, recognizing that thriving is an ongoing process. This perspective, we suggest, fosters a deeper appreciation of the ebb and flow of life, and the impermanence and situated nature of human experience and care.

We would like to discuss (and be challenged) on these perspectives, and we would like to discuss how to design studies/conduct research on these matters.

Other questions of interest are:

• Is human experience of temporality the same across cultures or socialities?
• How does temporality and thriving intersect in different cultures and/or socialities? (Is it a situated relation?)
• How does an understanding of the human as temporal impact our understanding of care?
• How can we develop knowledge of relevance for creating responsive care strategies that address (potentially situated) relations between temporality and thriving?