We have lots of strategies to deal with everyday stressors.  But what helps when our stress isn’t for today but for tomorrow?

Mindfulness suggests that we try to live in the here and now.  But how do we navigate seasons, like the current election season, that require us to think ahead into the near future?  We have lots of strategies to deal with everyday stressors.  But what helps when our stress isn’t for today but for tomorrow?

Perhaps the answer comes from our children.  One of my favorite new studies asks: How can a teenager grow into a resilient adult?  In this study, teens were asked to watch a video of a current teen in Pakistan talking about her current life issues, and then they were asked to chat.  The teens naturally started talking about their own current life issues. But as they chatted, some of the teens started drifting away from the here and now.  They shifted from talking about how a decision made today will directly affect tomorrow, and instead started chatting about how people’s decisions are influenced by their culture and their beliefs and how they change over time.  The teens moved away from talking about how in-the-moment emotions create in-the-moment reactions, and instead started chatting about how people’s lives are a giant cycle of ups and downs.  

In other words, these teenagers stopped focusing on their current corner and started thinking about the whole messy big picture.  

Five years later, the teens in the study who had this more transcendent way of thinking were the most resilient adults.  This big-picture way of thinking predicted their future happiness more than education, achievement or financial security.   

And here is the really crazy thing.  Their brains were bigger.  This growth wasn’t correlated to their SAT scores or their level of education achieved.  It was correlated to their transcendent way of thinking.

So as we navigate this stressful election season, for the sake of our own mental health we may need to step away from the present moment and remind ourselves of the big messy picture.  We may need to step back to see the big blurry historic world timeline instead of focusing on our scary current location on it.  

We may need to honor our far-away future happiness even more than honoring our views today.  

Until next time,

Laura

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/transcendent-thinking-teens-happiness_l_661001f5e4b083254eabf12a