Cultivating Resilience
The aim of this short article is to initiate thinking of what resilience means to you in the hope that you recognise your own resilience and cultivate it. This is because resilience can be needed in all areas of life.
Resilience is important because it can help you live your best life and you deserve that!
And once you become more resilient you could inspire others in your social network to do the same.
Some questions to consider;
Do you think you are resilient?
Does ‘slow and steady' win the race?
Do you associate resilience with strategy (planning) or spontaneity or is resilience flexible?
Do you need to be logically or creatively driven to be resilient?
What happens when you fail?
What happens when you succeed?
“DON’T BE DOWNCAST BY YOUR FAILURES. INSTEAD, EMBRACE THEM: SEEK THIRD-PARTY ANALYSIS, LEARN THE LESSONS AND PUT THOSE LESSONS TO WORK IN THE FUTURE.”
— "A BRIEF GUIDE TO SMART THINKING," JAMES M RUSSELL
Computer science professor and the New York Times bestselling author of ‘Deep Work’ Cal Newport writes on his Cultivating a Deep Life blog post that “the difference between resilience and anxiety; satisfaction and distraction” is to “know why” you are doing something. According to Cal, the key to a deep and satisfying life is to “do less, do better, and know why”.
“The deep life is not an ambitious one-shot goal, like completing a marathon, that you work hard at until you one day obtain it all at once. It’s a state of being with which you become increasingly comfortable. A process that starts with your mind”, Cal Newport, Study Hacks Blog, April 20th 2020, www.calnewport.com.
On his recent podcast (episode 125) entitled “What is Discipline (and How Do I Get It?)” he discusses how discipline is necessary to be resilient and that both equal freedom.
So if freedom is the aim and resilience and discipline are key components of a strategy to achieve this; it is important to look at how we can become more disciplined and achieve increased resilience to solve life’s challenges and achieve our goals such as; a long term and satisfying relationship, your own home, financial stability and whatever “freedom” means to you.
Resilience can be associated with emotional intelligence; being able to manage your own emotions and therefore able to be disciplined to achieve small tasks that can lead you to achieve your overall goal. Another point that could interest you is how Newport states working from a goal backwards and identifying the steps needed to achieve that goal can help a resilient mindset: it gives you focus and purpose when progress becomes tedious.
He also notes the importance of creativity needed to solve problems such as fitting in work around raising a baby. If you are not naturally a creative person and find using your imagination tricky you could start small with board games. Games such as Chess involve creative strategy and could develop a more creative cognitive ability and therefore encourage an increased aptitude for problem-solving: therefore increasing resilience.
Author of The Happiness Advantage, Shaun Achor writes that
“Your brain at positive is 31% more productive than your brain at negative, neutral or stressed” and that “ you have to train your brain to be positive just like you work out your body”. Because of this,
it is important to relax and find time for enjoyment in life
There is research developing over how breathwork, bodywork (such as yoga, pilates, somatics, martial arts), nutrition and faith, spirituality, and/or community of people you feel you belong to can help you to become mentally and physically fitter; increasing the feel-good hormones that increase resilience.
“Joy, collected over time, fuels resilience”, Brene Brown author of many popular books with “Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience” due November 2021.
~ SAM BARKER
Sam’s words have really given me some more food for thought and I hope it has for you, too. Has it prompted any self-inquiry? I’d love to know. Use the comment section below to tell me your thoughts and of course, please check out the handy resources that the author has included here.
DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SHARE?
I would love for you to contribute to my blog so that I and the whole world can learn how wonderful your thoughts are. Submissions of guest blogs can be anywhere between 400 and 800 words, but don’t let the numbers worry you. Let me know how you want to be credited as the author of your story; “Lee-ann, Nottingham”, “LC, United Kingdom” etc. Of course, if you would rather not be identified that’s fine too, we can call you Anonymous, because hiding can be fun too, right?
I’m really grateful that you’ve taken the time to read this post and I’d love to know what you thought. I hope it has offered some value to you.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this - perhaps you might like these articles as well?
