Chronic stress has been linked to many health disorders, including depression, heart disease, cancers, and Alzheimer’s disease. But the stress response engages a number of adaptive, complementary systems fine-tuned to find a balance between stress and solace. Take pleasure seriously, and sow it generously.

Since the theme of this month is stress and resilience I spent some time pondering ways to lighten my daily burden. I took a long hard look at my life and noticed that I place much undo stress and pressure upon myself. I coined a phrase that captures my daily life: I’m an overthinking anticipating maximizer.

My colleague John Buckley used to think of resilience as a suit of armour. Within the armour you feel invincible, safe in the knowledge that nothing can penetrate your defense system. It may be that resilience isn’t an extraordinary quality at all — that we all have the capacity to bounce back.

Growth occurs not through the suffering itself, but through the individual’s struggle and reconstruction of shattered assumptions. Many people then make dramatic life changes and shift priorities based on this new way of seeing the world. In doing so, they can also change the world.

Based on various research and studies, I summarize here the various research and studies into a 7-mechanism model of resilience that offers a comprehensive picture of a state of resilience that leads to optimal performance with manageable stress.

We tend to think of resilience as an individual quality — I or you, he or she. However if you are surrounded by happy, hopeful, optimistic, resilient individuals, you are also likely to manifest those qualities. In Joker One by Donovan Campbell, a Marine lieutenant led a platoon of 40 men in Ramadi, the site of some of the heaviest sustained fighting in Iraq.

Three major articles this week about positive psychology in The Atlantic — What Makes Us Happy? The New Yorker,–Don’t! The Science of Self-Control, and New Scientist –The Science of Voodoo: When Mind Attacks Body.

I was at Weaver Street Market, waiting for a friend who was a little bit late for lunch, and caught sight of an older gentleman sitting at an outdoor table with his white-tipped cane under his seat. Around his neck, he wore a sign that said, “I like company. How about a 5-minute conversation?”

The bright yellow book by Todd Kashdan peeks out at you and asks simply and provocatively, “Curious?” On the book’s spine, author Kashdan boldly volunteers that the reader might discover “the missing ingredient to a fulfilling life” inside. In fact, the book is testament to its subject matter – it excites and fuels curiosity which in turn creates new energy, inspires exploration and discovery, and facilitates the search and identification of meaning and purpose.

I’ve recently become aware an important question to many of my coaching clients: “What are the skills for resilience I can use throughout my life?” I’ve been thinking about this in the context of …