Transcending Trauma Using Tough Experiences

Whether you are grieving or processing a traumatic experience, the ability to adapt your thinking and process the emotions determines success or failure. Steve Magness writes in Do Hard Things: Why we get resilience wrong and the surprising science of real toughness “The best performers [athletic and otherwise] tend to have a flexible and adaptive coping ability. They can bounce between different strategies, depending on the demands of the situation.” This makes sense to me. From nine years of living on the road, I can attest that creativity is an excellent companion to moving through adverse conditions. It is a far better choice than desperation or depression.

Since 70% of the world’s population has experienced at least one episode of life-changing trauma, it makes sense to work with it more directly. To do so, I spoke with Ukrainian scholar, and scientist, Ihor Kozlovsky.

But let’s back up a bit. On July 4th, 2023, HR specialist Liliya Sayvch put together a panel for the metro of Lviv, Ukraine to discuss how to be Unbroken in Tradition. On the panel was a well-known Ukrainian psychotherapist, a Ukrainian journalist living in Paris, a mental health specialist based in the US, the above-mentioned Ukrainian scientist and religious scholar, and myself bringing experience and expertise in transcending tough conditions while maintaining emotional health. Liliya Sayvch moderated. The discussion was held entirely in Ukrainian with the assistance of a translator for the two North Americans, myself and John Arden.