57. Resilience, Hope, & Mental Health (pessimist approved!)

In this episode, we're working on our element Hope... and resilience as well! As you may know, we're still adventuring through The Roots of Resilience (laid out in one of Dr. Emmons book, The Chemistry of Calm). We're adding this element of Hope because working on our resilience skills is something that can actually feed hope, which then boosts our resilience… which then fuels our hope. It's the upward spiral we love here.

And, just to be clear, you don't need to be an optimist to be hopeful. Or joyful. We'll discuss a bit more about that in this episode.

One more reason why we like to talk about hope and resilience together: Working with these elements together creates more opportunities to tap into our resilient self, particularly if we're feeling at odds with our body (for whatever reason). We'll discuss how we can tap into our resilience and hope through our mind and heart space, and in a way that also nourishes the body. 

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Joy Lab Podcast #13 (The Roots of Resilience) This episode is a broad overview of what we'll be talking about over the next 9 episodes. It's a really helpful summary!
• Joy Lab Podcast #2 (The Handle of Hope). This is a great summary for our element of Hope.
• Chemistry of Calm (Dr. Emmons' book referenced in this series)
• Resilience definitions, theory, and challenges: interdisciplinary perspectives
• Annual Research Review: Positive adjustment to adversity -Trajectories of minimal-impact resilience and emergent resilience
• The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Hope and Stress
• The role of Hope in subsequent health and well-being for older adults: An outcome-wide longitudinal approach (Long & Colleagues)
• On the promotion of human flourishing (VanderWeele article)
• Hopelessness and Risk of Mortality and Incidence of Myocardial Infarction and Cancer
• Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind (this is the study of people shocking themselves out of boredom)
• Emotion Suppression and Mortality Risk Over a 12-Year Follow-up
• Cumulative Stress and Health

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147906626