Ellis' rational emotive therapy illustrates the important point that most of the events that we encounter are inherently neutral to which we then apply rational or irrational beliefs to determine how we feel about what's happened.
Researchers find that "in healthy people, new [personal] constructs are constantly generated to replace old, inadequate ones," leading to fast adaptation in a changing environment (Burger, 2008, p. 432).
To be human is to be imperfect, giving rise to disparate real and ideal selves, but "for a psychologically healthy person, the real and ideal selves are very similar" and "real-ideal self correlations increase as clients move through client-centered psychotherapy" (Burger, 2008, p. 314).
healthy personality
best defense mechs (maximize problem-solving effectiveness, minimize mental stress) + rational beliefs + fast adaptation + reaching for ideal self