"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
―
For centuries, philosophy, religion, and art have emphasized the potentially transformational power of suffering. The ancient Greeks, Hebrews, and early Christians, and the teachings of Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism all describe how hardship can shape and strengthen us.
Over the last four decades, a body of research has produced an emerging picture of how ansd why we grow from life's most painful experiences.
Our worst, most overwhelming, and painful experiences can leave us feeling powerless and pessimistic.
These experiences can shake the foundations of our worldviews and personal narratives. We can feel disoriented, unmoored from a way of seeing the world that worked for us before but no longer seems to make sense. At times, distressing thoughts intruede, and we might have difficulty focusing on anything else.
We discover strengths we didn’t know we possessed, love more fully, appreciate what really matters, and live with greater purpose, connection, and spiritual awareness.
We find we love what we are becoming even though we grieve for the "before times," and we can flourish even though parts of our life have felt overwhelming or beyond our capacity to cope.
- New Possibilities. We may experience ideas about New Possibilities and opportunities in our lives, like pursuing a new goal, travelling, or being of service to others.
- Appreciation of Life. We may experience greater appreciation of life as well as changes in our priorities, taking time to savor the small things and value what may have previously been taken for granted.
- Relating to Others. We may find ourselves connecting in ways that are warmer and more intimate, identifying with the suffering of others, and feeling we can help.
- Personal Strength. We may find we have a greater sense of strength and preparedness for the next crisis and that some things we used to worry about are not as big of a deal.
- Spiritual Change. We may find we change spiritually within a religious practice or in our relationship with or understanding of God, a higher power, nature, or existence.
"What is to give light must endure burning.”
- Viktor Frankl
Some people find new purpose, engaging in altruistic pursuits that arise from their suffering, helping others, advocating for change, raising awareness, or finding their own ways to live in servic.
Hi, I'm Mark.
Helping people grow and find meaning when they've faced trauma and other life crises is my passion and purpose. I got into this work because of my own experience with tragedy and my observations of others whose lives and purpose have been reshaped by hardship.
After years studying the science of wellbeing under top researchers and building on lessons I learned spending time with others who've faced and been forged by the unthinkable, I developed the GROWTH Journey to share a set of tools, ideas, and ways of thinking for people who are seeking meaning after trauma or tragedy, who feel compelled to make something good out of experiences that have been painful, scary, or heartbreaking, or who are hurting but hopeful and a maybe even a little suprised that they have grown stronger and deeper in the midst of despair.
INTRODUCING
The GROWTH Journey
The Growth- and Resilience-Oriented Wellbeing and Transformational Healing (GROWTH) Journey is a 16-week virtual coaching program applying the science of positive psychology, resilience, and posttraumatic growth to help you grow and thrive amidst trauma, loss, and other life-changing adversity.
Prepare for Your Journey
You’ll explore the science of wellbeing and posttraumatic growth, and we’ll take the first steps on your journey to greater wellbeing, resilience and transformation. You’ll prepare a journal to reflect and reinforce what you learn about yourself and complete foundational reflections to guide your practice and vision.
Generate Good Feelings and Experiences
You’ll examine the role of emotional intelligence, positive emotions and pleasant experiences in times of distress. You’ll engage in exercises to intentionally cultivate good feelings and experiences because you’re worthy of feeling good and because feeling good helps us see more clearly and build momentum to achieve our goals.
Envision a Good Future
You’ll explore the concepts of optimism and hope to understand how envisioning a good future can guide our present thinking and actions to make growth more likely and prepare us to face adversity in the future.
See the Good in Yourself and Others
You’ll learn about the VIA inventory of character strengths and virtues to understand and reflect on the best qualities of humanity. You’ll practice using your strengths to make resilience and growth feel natural while looking to the strengths of others for inspiration and connection.
See More Good in the World
You’ll explore how our assumptions about the world and our place in it can be shaped by trauma and hardship and practice strategies for intentionally cultivating awareness of what’s good in the world for wellbeing, growth, and resilience.
Grow in Wise Responding
You’ll examine the cognitive shortcuts our brains like to take that can sometimes lead us astray. You’ll learn and practice strategies for building resilience by identifying and avoiding these thinking traps in times of distress or conflict.
Grow in Connection to Others
You’ll learn about the role that relationships play in wellbeing and how trauma and adversity can lead us to warmer relationships with the people around us. You’ll explore the ways that people helped get us through the tough experiences in our past and how we can use what we learned to be there for others.
Grow in Gratitude
You’ll explore how gratitude supports wellbeing and resilience, and you’ll practice exercises to make gratitude a habit and emphasize the things you appreciate most in your life, a key domain for posttraumatic growth.
Grow in Purpose and Forgiveness
You’ll not only explore new possibilities for the future, you’ll take action to try something new and meaningful for the future while practicing forgiveness to let go of past hurts and failures, and you’ll consider alignments that make the pursuit of purpose sustainable.
Crystallize Your New Narrative
You’ll consolidate what we’ve learned about ourselves, our past, and the people and world around us to craft a new narrative of growth, and, recognizing the wisdom that our experiences and intentional efforts have endowed us with, you’ll plan to share what’s valuable for our own benefit and that of those around us.
Who is the GROWTH Journey For?
The GROWTH Journey is for adults who have had a painful or highly distressing life experience like trauma, grief, or betrayal, a major setback or personal failing, or other substantial adversity that feels like a personal turning point.
- You may benefit from the program if you're interested in exploring both painful and positive aspects of your experiences with an eye toward identifying and building your strengths, developing habits of thought and action that support personal thriving, and engaging in good and meaningful ways with the people and world around you.
- Most of the exercises and reflections in the GROWTH Journey have been adapted from activities to support flourishing in a wide range of groups or use positive psychology concepts that apply to lots of people. But this journey is about examining and integrating the really difficult experiences you've had to live a more meaningful life for yourself and others.
- Not everyone is ready for the GROWTH Journey (and that doesn't mean they won't be at some point in the future). This program is intended for people who are not in need of clinical care or therapy for PTSD or other mental health disorders, or, if they are in need of such care, they are receiving it, and they have informed their clinician of their plan to participate embark on this journey.
LOOKING FOR A PATH TO MEANING IN A PAINFUL TIME?
I built this with you in mind.
I wish you didn't have the painful or difficult experience that brought you to this transformative moment in your life. But I'm honored you'd consider having me join you on your journey.
My love for helping others grow and thrive comes from a personal experience of tragedy and time spent with others who've suffered and changed in remarkable ways, but the GROWTH Journey is based on more than my personal experiences and observations.
Before developing the GROWTH Journey, I spent years studying positive psychology, wellbeing, resilience, and posttraumatic growth and supporting people on their journeys to find meaning, purpose, and personal growth in the aftermath of the worst experiences in their lives.
After earning a master's degree in applied positive psychology, I now serve on the instructional team at the University of Pennsylvania's Positive Psychology Center, helping teach courses on positive psychology applications and research methods to undergraduate and graduate students.
I've filled the GROWTH Journey with what I learned directly from top researchers and thinkers in these fields, hoping to equip you with the most promising tools to experience more of the potential good outcomes of the difficult things you've faced.