One of my favorite research pieces examines a Tuesday in the life of a flourisher. I highly encourage you to read it. It demonstrates how, when living in a flourishing state, positively enjoying common daily things (helping, interacting, learning, etc.) essentially builds the bank of positive emotion and resiliency for when we next need it.

Pretty smart stuff. And, straightforward. When we genuinely enjoy our daily activities, it’s like building a savings account of good, positive energy. It’s there when we need it. Think of it as a positive emotion rainy day fund. Anytime you need to overcome something tough or unexpected, you have a reserve tank you can tap.

I get that on a personal level for sure. It’s amazing the boost I get from some of my simple yet powerful activities – from simple moments of helping others, volunteering, learning something new or connecting new dots… It’s kept me resilient in the face of some pretty tough stuff through the years. And, it adds joy to being part of my community rather than just living in it.

If you’ve ever felt this kind of connection, you know what I’m talking about. It’s an interesting concept on several levels. It’s all up to you. Only you can make a deposit and only you can make a withdrawal.

If you’ve not felt that before, or it’s just been a long time since, with focus you can return to that state. Yes, it takes effort and it takes changing something, sometimes more than one thing.

What changes do you need to make to “broaden-and-build” as Dr. Fredrickson has shown? What do you need to do differently to build your resiliency bank?