Learning to learn from positive experiences

People draw on psychological resources such as gratitude to cope with adversity and maintain well-being. These resources must largely be acquired, and studies have identified environmental and behavioral factors of this learning. Yet little research has investigated how people can be active agents in this process by how they engage their experiences of psychological resources. Consequently, the HEAL framework was developed to organize numerous 'mental engagement factors,' and the Taking in the Good Course (TGC) was created to explore their use. In a multiple arm, pre-post intervention study, TGC participants reported significant increases in composite measures of Cognitive Resources, Positive Emotions, and Total Happiness, and decreases in a composite measure of Negative Emotions; these results persisted two months after the course ended. These findings suggest that people can learn how to heighten the internalization of beneficial experiences, with implications for improving responses to treatment and the development of psychological resources.