In 1989, on a flight from Denver to Chicago, the rear engine exploded minutes after takeoff and the pilots made a mercy landing in Sioux City, Iowa. Jerry Schemmel was aboard that flight and miraculously survived. He was surprised to see his story was made into a movie, but chose not to sue.

David Pendlum says: "It is actually quite difficult to lay out any given step-by-step process of how I overcame what I like to call 'victimitis.' The nearest I can come to a 'step-by-step' process is by analogy, the grieving/recovery process one goes through in losing a loved one. The process actually began at a very early age, and it took a few decades of life to truly make headway in moving from 'victim' to 'survivor.' So, if I ramble in what follows, please forgive me...."

Gloria Nash writes: In July of 2002 you published my story on your website. I continue to receive positive feedback from individuals all over the country with regard to understanding resilience. So much has happend to me in the past couple of years. I can't really say that I have achieved all of my dreams yet, but I have made enormous leaps of growth in healing my mental and emotional attitudes. Read her updated story.

Rhona. Johnson shows directly how some of the principles in The Survivor Personality relate to everyday life and hopes her story will help others in their own journey to find contentment and peace of mind.

Meredith Murray experienced near-fatal car accident in 1995 and her life was changed forever. She thinks of her experience as a metamorphosis, like that of a caterpillar into a butterfly with her transformation taking five stages: the Egg, the Caterpillar, the Cocoon, Emerging From the Chrysalis, and the Butterfly.

Within a four-year period, twelve of Joanne Hill's family members died, beginning with husband and ending with her son. During that time, Joanne was frequently asked, "How do you get through it?" As she pondered the question, she discovered that the rough times she'd been through in the past had given her seven remedies for surviving the stormy times and finding the rainbows.

Gloria Nash, like many of us, has faced her ups and downs in life. Read how she overcame her own victim-thinking to create a life full of helping others.

Psychologists have lots of research evidence showing that problem-focused coping increases resiliency while emotion-focused coping impairs resiliency. This means that when faced with a setback, unexpected difficulty, or challenge, it is smart to focus outward on the challenges that must be handled. A real-life example of creative problem solving.

On May 14-15, 2001, I was part of an intimate group of 4300 at the University of Portland for two mornings, to hear Buddhist teachings by the Dalai Lama. I came away impressed with him as a teacher and as a living example of what he believes. Although I have had some familiarity with Buddhism for many years, for the first time I experienced profound wisdom in Buddhism. I can understand why the name "Dalai Lama" means "Ocean of Wisdom."

In 1982, at age 30, Marion Luna Brem was a very busy woman. Married, with two sons, she was a full-time mother and homemaker, worked part-time as a switch-board operator for an auto dealership, and was taking college classes in Dallas, Texas. When Marion discovered a lump in her left breast, she went for a medical examination. She was told it was benign, but in the months that followed the lump kept getting larger. This story of resiliency has two messages. One is to show what a determined woman can do when she chooses to overcome life's adversities. The other is to emphasize how many times people who develop cancer have worked at an exhausting pace without let up.