Thursday, November 7, 2013

What are the ingredients that make some families resilient and happy? Part 3

Decades of research have shown that most happy families also communicate effectively, but it's not simply a matter of talking through problems. Talking also means telling a positive story about yourselves. When faced with a challenge, happy families, like happy people, just add a new chapter to their life story that shows them overcoming the hardship. This skill is particularly important for children, whose identities tend to solidify during adolescence.

The bottom line: if you want a happier family, create, refine, and retell the story of your family's best moments and your relations' ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come.

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