The Little Blue Book

Behind this apparent strength is positivity: an ability to see and draw positives from negative experiences and events, to logically rationalise, to adapt to the circumstances and to see meaning. 2 Highly resilient people are not easily bruised by life. And the positive thinking and positive emotionality they carry not only assists them to cope with crisis, but buffers them against anxiety and depression on the other side. Others of us are more easily bruised. In times of crisis, of stressful events, we may be less well-equipped to ride it out without losing some ‘skin’ along the way. But while there may be gaps and weaknesses in our emotional and psychological resilience, we can train our way to healthier more-positive thinking, and a happier, more contented life. It’s a matter of exercise, of ‘exercising the mind’ to create habits of positive thinking. Much of our disposition comes from the quality and security of our upbringing - feeling love, connection, stability, purpose and recognition. (1) Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study; Felitti VJ, Anda RF, et al www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (2) Psychological Resilience and Positive Emotional Granularity: Examining the Benefits of Positive Emotions on Coping and Health; Tugade M.M., Fredrickson B.L., Feldman Barrett L., www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov PostScript Section 2 Section 3 Section 1 21 ADA Australia