Post Traumatic Growth

Plenty of people have heard about post traumatic stress disorder. But did you know that stress is not the only possible side-effect of adversity and trauma? It turns out that some (roughly 50 - 70 percent of people, in fact) go through trauma and walk away from it stronger than before. 

There are a couple of questions I had. First...do we have to experience trauma to gleam these benefits? Could we, for example, create a deliberate exercise to help us grow and increase our capacity even if we haven't endured a horrific event? Second - let's say I have endured a traumatic event...are there TOOLS I can use to optimize my chance of growing (rather than forever being a victim of the whims of my stress)? What are those tools? 

These are the elements I cover in today's podcast.