Our Gemara in Amud Aleph extols the virtue of flexibility:

A person should always be soft like a reed, and he should not be stiff like a cedar.

What does psychology have to say about this important quality? According to researcher Todd Kashdan:

“Psychological flexibility spans a wide range of human abilities to: recognize and adapt to various situational demands; shift mindsets or behavioral repertoires when these strategies compromise personal or social functioning; maintain balance among important life domains; and be aware, open, and committed to behaviors that are congruent with deeply held values.”

Yet, he says, “In many forms of psychopathology, these flexibility processes are absent.”

Kashdan defines flexibility as:

“Psychological flexibility actually refers to a number of dynamic processes that unfold over time. This could be reflected by how a person: (1) adapts to fluctuating situational demands, (2) reconfigures mental resources, (3) shifts perspective, and (4) balances competing desires, needs, and life domains.”

Flexibility allows for the following healthier reactions:

 

• Acceptance, which allows a person to work with reality, learn from circumstances, instead of fighting them.

• Emotion regulation, which allows a person to not react in overly aggressive ways to self and others

• Curiosity toward others and self, instead of being stuck in fixed thought patterns

• Better social and communication skills

• Balance between life goals, personal needs, and the needs of others

• Reduction of obsessive And anxiety provoking thought patterns due to the ability to more appropriately adapt to circumstances

• And finally, confidence due to the experience of ego strength and management of self in the face of difficulties

Need I say more?

Source:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2998793/