The concepts of building resilience and self-care have been talked about and encouraged since I can remember. Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity and the ability to bounce back and recover quickly whether it is dealing with a trauma, tragedy/loss, health or financial issue. How do we deal with daily stress in a fast paced complicated society?
Some tips at boosting resilience include: Allowing yourself to feel your emotions. Don’t bottle up what you are feeling and get hijacked by frustrations and stress. Share your thoughts with someone you trust. Carve out a daily self care routine. Find a release; for example exercise, mediate, take a walk and be aware of your surroundings. Create a Gratitude Journal where each day you write down three to five things you are grateful for, preferably at the end of the day. This helps you think about your day and fosters a positive attitude. It is important to remember a time when you were resilient in the past. Tap into and translate that experience to what you are currently experiencing.
Another important tool is meditation. Over 40 years of research supports the use of meditation as a form of promoting positive physiological, emotional and behavioral change. Mediation helps with orderliness of brain function, comprehension and ability to focus. Perception and memory skills are sharpened. Meditation can also contribute to natural changes in breathing, a deeper level of relaxation, decrease in stress hormones, lower blood pressure and when regularly practiced, a decrease in cholesterol. Additional studies indicated that subjects practicing meditation showed significant improvement in job performance and satisfaction often leading to a decreased desire to change jobs.
Meditation can also help in developing a more strongly defined self-concept and assists in helping one perceive their “actual self” which can be significantly closer to their “ideal self”.
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