A new approach is needed to meet the mental health crisis. Wong’s new resilience perspective is focused on transforming the worst things in life to the best.
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, April 28, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — All the good things in life are on the other side of suffering — this is the biggest story which can transform your life and mental health care/service, according to Dr. Paul Wong, President of the International Network on Personal Meaning.
“Be a corona warrior,” says Wong, “only then will you fondly remember the present struggle as the best time in your life, which laid an unshakable foundation for future success.”
Pandemic may not end soon, until we change our ways. If we want to survive and thrive in times of existential threat, we need to learn from Daoist wisdom — we need a shift in mindset from binary either-or thinking to the paradoxical both-and thinking. This will make all the difference.
This means a shift from seeking happiness to sacrificing self-interest for the greater good, from avoiding the horrors of human existence to confronting the Goliath with David’s five smooth stones: Faith, Hope, Love, Courage & Responsibility.
Nothing will change, until we have the courage to face the Goliaths in our lives with the above five virtues. “There is a lot of empirical and clinical evidence to support this conclusion,” says Wong.
As a personal example, Wong has overcome all kinds of suffering in his life (www.drpaulwong.com/autobiography) and experienced many rejections for his Daoist view of flourishing through suffering for 3 decades (http://www.drpaulwong.com/the-unheard-cry-of-a-successful-asian-psychologist /), but each failure only served to strengthen his resolve to succeed as a lone prophetic voice in the 21st century.
Ironically, the pandemic becomes a turning point for Wong’s career. His unpopular but much needed research on existential positive psychology (PP2.0) finally gains worldwide attention; he has been invited to give webinars in many countries, and interviewed by CEOs in Silicon Valley. Such change of fortune can happen to anyone who does not give up pursuing their ideals.
After publishing his latest book on how to cope with COVID-19( https://www.free-ebooks.net/science-textbooks/Made-for-Resilience-and-Happiness-Effective-Coping-with-Covid-19-According-to-Viktor-E-Frankl-and-Paul-T-P-Wong ), he has been invited by Harvard’s Human Flourishing Institute (https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/ ) to teach and do collaborative research; interviewed by BBC for his research on tragic optimism (https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210302-tragic-optimism-the-antidote-to-toxic-positivity?ocid=ww.social.link.facebook ); and by Scott Barry Kaufman’s Podcast (https://scottbarrykaufman.com/podcast /) for research on existential gratitude. He was also invited by Frontiers Journal (Psychology) to edit a special issue on the New Science of Self-transcendence ( https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/14988/covid-19-and-existential-positive-psychology-pp20-the-new-science-of-self-transcendence ) which covers a wide range of ground-breaking research and interventions in the second wave positive psychology (PP2.0).
The biggest news is the forthcoming 11th Biennial International Meaning Conference (https://www.meaning.ca/conferences-and-events/meaning-conference-2021 /), widely known for its social relevance, world-class speakers and Big-Tent approach to indigenous psychology and different disciplines related to meaning and flourishing. This virtual conference will be held August 6-8 2021.
The main theme of the conference is that we can transform Vulnerability to Resilience, and Suffering to Mature Happiness. This Daoist paradoxical approach can save millions of lives and have a greater likelihood of beating the global pandemic, if we combine Western positive psychology with Eastern existentialism. The conference will host the world’s first global summit on mental health beyond the medical model.
Keynote speakers include such influencers as Robert Emmons, Todd Kashdan, Scott Barry Kaufman, Tim Lomas, Robert Neimeyer, Kirk Schnieder, Scott Churchill, Farooq Naeem, Paul Wong and more. Numerous professional workshops will offer innovative interventions. Participants will have many opportunities to interact with the speakers.
This conference will be a rare opportunity for mental health professionals to learn how to harness the power of suffering into human flourishing based on cutting-edge research. For details of the conference, visit www.meaning.ca/conference. For media interviews, contact drpaulwong@gmail.com
drpaulwong
International Network on Personal Meaning
+1 416-546-5588
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
