Can going through a tragedy or a disaster be used to awaken and transform us? Is there an upside to major trauma? Is there an art to survival?

International bestseller Mark Matousek interviewed hundreds of well-known survivors of trauma and loss to find those answers to those questions for his new book, “When You’re Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living.”

He said his own life and the lessons of others has taught him that the less you fight a traumatic situation, the faster you’ll go through it and it will cause less damage. So, he said he found the diving metaphor appropriate to the best practices for handling life’s hardest tests.

He said it’s a topic that’s extremely personal. In his late 20s, he was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. It caused him to reexamine his whole life, and led to him quitting his glitzy publishing job with Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine and sent him on a journey of self-discovery around the world.

Find out what themes emerged when he started interviewing survivors from all walks of life and how you can use those lessons in your life today.