When I was in college I studied the Hindu religion for a short period of time. In their belief system they have more than one god. One of their gods is related to destruction and her name is Shiva. They do not view this god as evil but just a part of life. They believe that everything is a cycle and everything is born, dies, reborn and this is repeated. Another way to look at it is when something is destroyed it is a chance for it to be rebuilt stronger. When a earthquake destroys a building the building that replaces it will be built stronger than the last and to better withstand earthquakes.
We all have negative things happen in our life and some of them are very painful. One of the techniques I use to make it through these situations is to find the benefits and learning that I will gain from a down cycle in my life. As an example: if I was to lose my business I will have gained the knowledge of what does not work and I know I will never do it again. It was a learning experience.
Another place where destruction brings growth is in the arena of improving your body with exercise. When you do an activity like running or lifting weights and you push your body to the limit your body reacts by compensating for what you just did to it. Either by increasing your cardio vascular system or rebuilding the muscles stronger (lifting weights actually creates microscopic tears in the muscle that need to be repaired). The damage you have done to your body makes it stronger.
These explanations were all brought on by the state of the economy and there is an opportunity for us to create an even stronger economy by learning from our mistakes. Not only will this work with the economy but it will work with financial life. Now that you have lost your job, cannot afford your debt, etc you are learning that this situation is painful. Use this pain to help you to come up with a solution to avoid ending up in this situation again. Is it starting your own business, paying off all of your debt, and/or creating an emergency fund? The important thing is not what happens to you but how you react to it. If you control your reactions to benefit you then you will be in control of creating success in your future.
If you keep your eyes open you can also learn from others mistakes. This is what I like to do because it keeps me from having to learn the lesson the hard way and dealing with much of the pain described above.
This technique is one you should use in your life when you reach a down turn. It is part of your continual growth which you need to become successful.