Example/study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3126102/

“Happiness Unpacked: Positive Emotions Increase Life Satisfaction by Building Resilience”

“Positive emotions lead to higher levels of ego-resilience in the future (Fredrickson et al., in press; Cohn & Fredrickson, in preparation; Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002). Ego-resilience also achieves its effects partly by generating positive emotions. When faced with a stressor, people high on ego-resilience experience more positive emotions than their less resilient peers, even though they experience negative emotions at comparable levels. The difference in positive emotions accounts for their better ability to rebound from adversity and stress, ward off depression, and continue to grow “

“As the broaden-and-build theory predicts, participants who experienced frequent positive emotions became more satisfied not simply because they were enjoying themselves, but because they built resources that help deal with a wide range of life’s challenges.”

“improvements in material wealth and living circumstances – which increase life satisfaction, but produce relatively few positive emotions (Diener, 2007) – will not have these beneficial effects.”

“lived experiences like joy and interest are what start the process of exploring, learning, connecting, and ultimately building new resources. Those resources can later improve one’s life, offering up new opportunities for enjoyment and resource-building.”

Let’s give our players positive lived experiences. Let’s hold our standard, and support them in their struggle to rise to that standard and help them build ego resilience.