As noted by the Canadian Mental Health Association, we need 6 things to help us thrive. So far in our series, we have explored sense of self, purpose, contribution and hope. Today, we look at resilience.
Resilience is our ability to adapt and bounce back from adversity. Although there are certain factors that can lead a person to be more resilient, such as having a positive attitude and being able to regulate emotions, resilience is also something that can be cultivated. Two areas that we can work on in this area include:
- Addressing what we do have control over. We can’t get through life without some adversity; difficulties tend to come with a sense that we don’t have any choices. But we do have control over how we react, on how we choose to process the adversity, on making decisions as to how we heal from our troubles.
- Seeing adversity as a challenge and not something that is paralyzing. Failures are viewed as mistakes, grief is viewed as a part of life, growth can come out of trauma.
Resilient people tend to set goals, they see the value in self-care, they lean into their support circle for guidance and love. Like the other senses we have touched upon, resilience can be developed with attention and time.
Tomorrow we will conclude our series with a sense of belonging.
To visit the Canadian Mental Health Association website: https://cmha.ca/
Photo credit: http://Photo by Tina Rolf on Unsplash
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Kristine this post has me thinking of your consistently wise advice to shift anxiety and fear into curiosity. I think that stance would help ground knowing what we have control over, and in creating a sense of challenge.
Hi Gurlie, Great thoughts on the topic of resilience! There is honestly so much to write on that subject. But I agree about being curious – it often helps temper fears long enough for us to move forward; building our little army of resilience along the way. Happy Thanksgiving my friend! 🙂