There’s this phase on healing that happens at a point after you start to feel safe in your own body again. Once the hypervigilance dies down. You start to think… How can I grow from this? How do I stop old patterns? What does it mean to live well, no in spite of what happened to you, but with it as part of who you are?
I started The Resilient Blueprint as a survivor, for those who, like me, are rebuilding on the other side of an abusive relationship.
What it is
Greater Good Magazine is the online publication of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. This is a research centre dedicated to the scientific study of human flourishing.
The magazine translates peer-reviewed psychology, neuroscience, and social science research into readable articles, and publishes alongside a podcast (The Science of Happiness), a video library, a quiz suite, and a companion site, Greater Good in Action, that distils specific research findings into step-by-step practices anyone can try.
All of this information is 100% free to access with no account required, and accessible globally.
Why it’s here
Healing is actively learning new ways to relate. This is essentially what growing is. To grow we’re required to relate to yourself, to other people, to the idea of your own future. The Greater Good Magazine gives you that data steeped in scientific evidence. Everything published on the site is grounded in research.
When you read their work on self-compassion, forgiveness, social connection, or resilience, you’re reading research translated. When you’ve had your reality challenged and distorted during abuse, the groundnig of facts matters a lot.
The companion site, Greater Good in Action, takes this further. Rather than just explaining what the research says, it walks you through specific practices, step by step, with the science behind each one.
Self-compassion exercises. Gratitude practices. Structured approaches to forgiveness, if you are interested, that don’t require you to minimise what happened. These are tools you can use in your own time, at your own pace, with no account and no cost.
How it works
- Visit greatergood.berkeley.edu via any browser: no account, no sign-up required for full access to articles, podcasts, and videos.
- Browse by topic (Mind & Body, Relationships, Social Connection, Forgiveness, Self-Compassion, Resilience to Stress are all directly relevant) or follow the podcast episodes from The Science of Happiness.
- The Science of Happiness, an 8-week online course offered through the Greater Good Science Center and edX, is also available for self-paced completion; free to audit, with a certificate option available for a fee.
- The Big Joy Project on Greater Good in Action is a participatory study inviting you to try seven micro-acts of joy and track what changes. It’s science-backed way to start building new habits
- No app is available, browser only
Who this is for and who it might not be for
This might resonate if you:
- Are past the early survival phase and actively thinking about how to build something better, how to connect more honestly, trust more carefully, live more intentionally.
- Want to understand the evidence behind things like self-compassion, or gratitude without being told to feel something you don’t yet feel. Greater Good explains the research and lets you engage on your own terms.
- Learn best through reading and listening, and want a reliable resource you can return to at your own pace without pressure.
It might not be the right fit if:
- You’re looking for interactive or human support. Greater Good is a passive resource. The articles and practices are well-designed, but there is no community, no feedback, and no one on the other end.
- The positive psychology framing feels premature. If gratitude and happiness as concepts feel inaccessible or even irritating right now, that’s a completely valid signal about where you are. This resource will still be here when that shifts.
