Resilience 101 - Five Ways to Recharge Your Wellness Batteries
by Michelle Atlas, Certified Resiliency Facilitator
At age 13 my best friend and I, asked each other over and over, why many of our peers and family members who experienced hardships (related to work, health, relationships...) reacted with resentment, pessimism and a victim mindset. We observed that a rare few expected things to work out well, sought ways of problem-solving that would benefit everyone and became stronger, wiser and kinder versions of themselves, through adversity.
Resilience is a capacity.
Resilience includes a mindset, attitudes, skills and behavior that empower a person to tolerate ongoing change and stress without collapsing into dysfunctional behavior or automatic limiting beliefs.
Resilience is an inside job.
Resilient people and organizations navigate from an "internal locus of control ". They know that, although they may not be able to control external circumstances or events, they are ultimately, 100% responsible for their response.
Can Resilience Be Learned?
The great news is that both the emerging neuroscience and resiliency psychology confirm that we are all innately wired to be resilient and change proficient!
The most powerful teacher of resilience is the learning available to us, through the living experience of trial and error, risk, loss and reward.
Resilient people choose to learn valuable lessons through life's challenges, resulting in increased fulfillment and effectiveness in their well-being, relationships, work and creativity.
How Do We Begin Strengthening Resilience?
A plan for optimal well-being is a great place to start.
5 Ways to Recharge Your Wellness Batteries
- Gift yourself a new experience in place of a new possession.
- Catch up on reading, audiotapes or new learning that has been calling to you for some time. Visualize or brainstorm new personal or professional initiatives and intentions you wish to actualize this fall.
- Spend an entire day with absolutely no "doing" agenda. Allow yourself a break from " accomplishing" anything. (as one of the European characters in the movie Eat, Pray, Love proudly states, we "Are Masters of the Art of Doing Nothing."
- Spend quality time with people you care about with no agenda, other than to be together.
- Identify a practice to support your Well-being that can be embedded within your day (i.e. a 3 minute breathing practice, a short walk around the block or building, a quick call to a trusted friend)
Remember, although we cannot always influence external events, we are ultimately responsible for our response to them. By choosing this mindset, we catalyze our own growth and development and we create lives and workplaces that nurture our greatest potential!
To schedule a complimentary strategy session with Michelle, please visit Trust-Change.com
Michelle Atlas, is an ICF Credentialed Coach, a Newfield Certified Coach and a Certified Resiliency Facilitator with over 20 years of experience helping people successfully navigate transition and stand in their value, so they can live lives that reflect what they care about most. With clients including the US Military, the Food & Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and many private individuals, she is recognized for her ability to help people strengthen their innate resilience and bring their heartfelt desires to fruition in the domains of work, relationships and money.
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