We all face tough times in life, but what makes us able to overcome those challenges and thrive in spite of them?

It's all about resilience.

Resilience is really drawing on internal and external resources that enable you to adapt to adversity.

Hello, this is Jeff Sanders, and welcome back to another episode of the Live Happy Now podcast.

Today we're talking about a topic that's become increasingly important in today's world.

Resilience, or our ability to bounce back from tough times, is crucial for flourishing and thriving.

As director of the Resilience and Positive Psychology Training Program at the Psychology Center

of the University of Pennsylvania, Karen Rivich specializes in what makes us able to recover

from adversity.

Join us as she talks with Live Happy Science Editor Paula Phelps about how to create more

resilience in our lives

and how we can teach our children to become more resilient too.

Karen, I'm excited to have you on our show today.

This is an important topic for us and really timely, so I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us.

Thank you so much. I'm delighted to do it.

Well, you know, I've seen a lot more of resilience lately, and I wondered why it is that

there's an increased interest in and awareness of the topic of resilience.

When I first started doing this work a few decades ago, it was not a word or I think even a concept that was top of mind for most people.

I think, as I've understood it, in some ways since 9-11, the word resilience has become a word that more people sort of think about. So I think

that's one sort of cultural phenomenon. And then also I think the research on resilience has

grown in leaps and bounds. And so we now understand so much more about what it is and what it isn't and how to teach

it.

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