The Key to Resilience? A Positive Outlook

"Researchers find that people who are resilient tend to be more positive and optimistic compared to those who are less-resilient. They are better able to regulate their emotions. And they are able to maintain their optimism through the most challenging situations.Resilience, a positive outlook, and optimism are connected. So, is having a positive outlook something you are born with, or can it be developed?Good news. A positive outlook can be cultivated with mindfulness. You can learn to choose your mindset and to shift how you relate to your experience, so that you have less stress and more joy. Mindfulness is a capacity that allows you to deliberately direct your attention towards the positive instead of being tossed around by random thoughts and turbulent emotions. What we see in stories of positive outlook and resilience is that the protagonists learn to 'choose their story'—they develop the skill of directing their attention to the positive and making meaning of what happens by filtering through a positive lens."