What accounts for the differencein resilience from one person to another, and from one moment toanother in one person? Is resilience something we're born with, orcan it be learned? (Image: Shutterstock)

I once saw a patient in my primary care clinic for a persistent nasaldrip. Though a common symptom, the degree of misery it was causinghim was decidedly uncommon. According to him, it had nearly stoppedhis life in its tracks. He couldn't go out or concentrate. He waseven having trouble doing his job. I prescribed a simple steroidnasal spray and went to see my next patient, an elderly woman dyingof metastatic breast cancer.

In stark contrast to my first patient, she was the picture ofequipoise, seemingly fearless in the face of her impending death.What I remember most from my visit with her was that she had a lotto teach me about how to die well.

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