What does it mean to 'hunt the good stuff?' Published Oct. 30, 2012 By Airman 1st Class Charles V. Rivezzo 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Editor's note: This is part one in a 12-part series highlighting the twelve master resiliency skills as part of Comprehensive Airman Fitness. Comprehensive Airman Fitness, an Air Force-wide initiative, creates a culture that gives Airmen the skills they need to overcome adverse or traumatic events in their lives. CAF consists of four main pillars: mental, physical, social and spiritual fitness. "Comprehensive Airman Fitness is not a program," said David Guidera, master resiliency trainer at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. "It's a culture that revolves around the power of positive psychology." CAF consists of 12 master resiliency skills that serve as tools service members can use on a daily basis to help maintain resiliency. During Dyess' quarterly CAF Day Sept. 28, Airmen learned three of the 12 skills; hunt the good stuff, thinking traps and assertive communication. "Think of each one of these skills as a tool in your toolbox," Guidera said. "It won't matter what type of adversity occurs in your life because you will have these skills at your disposal to ensure you remain resilient." The other nine skills are activating events, thoughts and consequences, detect icebergs, energy management, problem solving, put it in perspective, real-time resilience, character strengths, active constructive responding, and praise and goal setting. So, what does it mean to hunt the good stuff? "Hunting the good stuff is simply learning to recognize positive things that happen throughout your day on a regular basis," Guidera said. "The reason for a skill like this is because we tend to recognize and think about more negative things than positive things, which is called negativity bias." Furthermore, Guidera said that when you begin to hunt the good stuff on a daily basis, you begin to build on the tool's primary competency - optimism. "Optimism is the primary competency that hunt the good stuff is linked too," he said. "If you're more optimistic in your observance and thinking, you tend to be more productive, have better relationships, get a better night's rest; the list is truly endless." Guidera explained that the beauty of using this tool is you only need to find three positive things throughout your day. "It could be anything as small as your wife making you breakfast or your daughter giving you a kiss when you got home from work," Guidera said. "Anything that made you feel good that day. "When people first start out, they sometimes can't think of anything and the reason that happens is because we are constantly bombarded with negative information every day," he said. "You watch the news in morning and it's what's going wrong with the world, come to work and people are complaining about this and that, it's all about what's going wrong instead of what's going right. We need to help ourselves identify what's going right in our lives." According to Guidera, it is scientifically proven that using this skill on a regular basis will increase the number amount of times people start noticing more positive things than negative things, as well as reduce stress, depression, anxiety, etc... Dyess continues to hold quarterly CAF Days, where three new master resiliency skills will be taught. Next week's article focuses on assertive communication and how to utilize it.