Bounce back from stress with a healthy-minded philosophy

Stress is a common experience for everyone, arising from various sources such as traffic, monthly bills, health issues, and relationship challenges. 

The close connection between the mind and body means that these persistent concerns can hurt health, potentially contributing to a range of diseases.

While it's impossible to eliminate all sources of stress, it is possible to acquire skills to diminish stress and enhance resilience, which refers to the ability to recover from stressful situations.

Healthy-minded; antifragile

According to an article by Harvard Health, William James was a notable Harvard philosopher-psychologist of the late 19th century and a graduate of Harvard Medical School. James was also a stressed-out melancholic. 

He admired individuals he labeled as "the healthy-minded"—those optimistic and positive individuals who seemed to lead happier and healthier lives. In the midst of the ordinary ups and downs that everyone faces, James noted that these healthy-minded individuals had a knack for transforming challenges and potential setbacks into opportunities and successes.

The qualities that James identified as "healthy-minded" were referred to by statistician and risk-management specialist Nassim Nicholas Taleb as "antifragile." In his book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, Taleb characterizes fragility as the inclination to be harmed by volatility and uncertainty—elements that frequently trigger a chronic stress response.

By contrast, says Taleb, the antifragile person realizes that stress is just the price we pay for being alive. Cultivating anti­fragility helps us use our strengths to overcome challenges and become stronger in the process.

A prime example of antifragility is the Navy Seals. The Seals can manage high degrees of stress and still function admirably. Faced with life-threatening situations, they can rapidly change the focus of their attention and address the issue at hand efficiently and flexibly.

Brain scans show that Seals have altered acti­vation in a prefrontal brain region called the insula, which is involved in managing stress signals. As a group, Navy Seals exhibit at least seven characteristics of resilient people:

• Calm, innovative, nondogmatic thinking
• The ability to act decisively
• Tenacity
• Inter­personal connectedness
• Honesty
• Self-control
• Optimism and a positive perspective on life

Whether embracing a "healthy-minded" perspective, nurturing antifragility, or adopting the mindset of a Navy Seal, fostering resilience is a potent tool against stress. 

While many perceive resilience as an inherent trait, it is, in fact, a capacity that can be cultivated through the appropriate approach.