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And when you choose to connect with others under stress, you can create resilience.

Now I wouldn't necessarily ask for more stressful experiences in my life, but this science has given me a whole new appreciation for stress. Stress gives us access to our hearts.

The compassionate heart that finds joy and meaning in connecting with others, and yes, your pounding physical heart, working so hard to give you strength and energy.

And when you choose to view stress in this way, you're not just getting better at stress, you're actually making a pretty profound statement.

You're saying that you can trust yourself to handle life's challenges.

And you're remembering that you don't have to face them alone.

Thank you.

Chris Anderson:

This is kind of amazing, what you're telling us.

It seems amazing to me that a belief about stress can make so much difference to someone's life expectancy.

How would that extend to advice, like, if someone is making a lifestyle choice between, say, a stressful job and a non-stressful job, does it matter which way they go?

It's equally wise to go for the stressful job so long as you believe that you can handle it, in some sense?

Yeah, and one thing we know for certain is that chasing meaning is better for your health than trying to avoid discomfort.

And so I would say that's really the best way to make decisions, is go after what it is that creates meaning in your life and then trust yourself to handle the stress that follows.

Thank you so much, Kelly. It's pretty cool.

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