Purposeful Resilience in Strengths & Mindfulness (PRISM): A Skill-Building Workbook to Increase Purpose-Oriented Resilience

Positive psychology aims to enhance well-being through research, theory, and practice. Both ancient philosophers and contemporary researchers identify positive personality traits – character strengths – as essential for human goodness and well-being (Melchert, 2002; Peterson & Seligman, 2004). To derive pleasure and satisfaction from strengths use, one must cultivate practical wisdom to know how to express strengths in a contextually-sensitive optimal balance (Schwartz & Sharpe, 2006; Niemiec, 2014). To help people leverage strengths for flourishing, I have created a skill-based curriculum for individuals to complete in consultation with a coach. In the Purposeful Resilience in Strengths & Mindfulness (PRISM) workbook, the user completes 5 sessions of reflection and experience-based exercises intended to enhance resilience competencies: mindful awareness, character strengths, sense of purpose, mental agility, and goal-setting skills. Although similar programs exist for augmenting purpose and resilience (Reivich, Seligman, & McBride, 2011; Reivich & Shatte, 2002; Cronlund, 2008), the PRISM curriculum is unique in orienting the aforementioned resilience skills using one’s sense of purpose. This will help the user establish an intrinsically motiving, comprehensive compass to direct practical wisdom. Therefore, PRISM will equip users with resilience skills and offer guidance on how to use them in service of one’s ultimate life goals.