Resilience

Resilience: the second of four key pillars to living a good life

… Resilience is the capacity to deal with life’s ups and downs – both the important events and the day-to-day.

Perhaps think of the resilience a tree develops against strong winds by putting down deep roots. Or a baby learning to walk, who falls and gets up again countless times. Resilience is a vital factor in preparedness for life.

The great news is that Resilience, rather than being something that is set from birth, can be developed. Recent research points toward 5 important factors for being resilient:

1. Having a Growth Mindset – paying attention to what we can change rather than what we cannot, and reframing unpleasant experiences and adversity into opportunities for learning and growth, help us see how we can make progress during difficult times.

2.   Emotional Intelligence – being aware of and able to regulate our emotions without becoming overwhemed is key to resilience – an ability developed through increased mindfulness. Greater empathy and care for others is linked to resilience too.

3. Having Meaning and Purpose in our work and lives makes a difference when facing tough times. Taking stock of what is important for us and acting according to those values will help us keep on track.

4. The range and quality of Connections we have can make a big difference to our resilience. Having a supportive network of family, friends and colleagues is central to coping when times get tough.

5. Finally our physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual Wellbeing can play a part in our ability to respond to the unexpected events that we all encounter from time to time in our work and in our lives.

Being flexible and adaptable, recognising and accepting events with a self-belief and an understanding of life’s purpose, with the support of others, and with access to personal and emotional energy too, can all help build our Resilience.

With the right support you can learn resilience: the habits and techniques which build it and how to use it.

So if you’d like to take the first steps to finding out more, contact us.

Some questions to get you started on the road to resilience…

Q. Remember a time when something was difficult and you dealt with it. What strengths, skills and attitudes made this possible for you to achieve?
Q. Look at a current problem. Now step back from it and look at it from a different perspective and with curiosity. Imagine moving further and further away from the problem until you are seeing it from space. How does it look now?
Q. Try re-framing. Imagine a situation which affects you negatively and how it makes you feel. What do you know is ‘true’ about this situation and how do you know it’s true? What else might be going on that you don’t yet recognise?

“You can’t stop the waves but you can learn to surf.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn