Resilience: the art of bouncing back from adversity
Dr Ottilia Brown, clinical psychologist, with The Lighthouse Arabia, looks at how to bounce back from adversity whether in the work place or in our personal lives
Dr Ottilia Brown, clinical psychologist, with The Lighthouse Arabia.
Resilience in essence is the ability to bounce back from adversity, trauma or stress. It presupposes an adaptation to crisis, an emotional agility or flexibility and toughness that allows us to come through adversity.
I would argue that one can actually bounce forward from adversity if we approach these difficult times with the necessary competencies. Resilience can be learned. How can you nurture and develop your resilience?
1. Boost your BIOLOGY by ensuring good quality and sufficient sleep, and nutrition that supports immune functioning and energy supply. Take supplements if needed and exercise to build stamina, strength and flexibility. Practice breathing correctly.
2. Learn to REFLECT by noticing your thoughts, feelings and actions. Notice your responses and your healthy and maladaptive coping strategies when in stressful situations. Uncover unhelpful patterns and tendencies. Journaling can be helpful.
3. Learn the skill of PERSPECTIVE TAKING by taking a realistic view of the challenge and being mindful of minimising the adversity or on the other extreme, catastrophising it. Framing the adversity as insurmountable will make it more difficult for you to manage it effectively and minimising its impact will leave you underprepared for the fallout.
4. Seek out POSITIVE moments by acknowledging positive experiences amidst a crisis. These can seem insignificant in difficult times and therefore have to be sought out. Create a space for positive emotions to emerge despite the difficulty of the adversity. Remember that the uncomfortable can live alongside the positive.
5. Practice the art of GRATITUDE all the time. Be specific about the object of your gratitude, meditate on how that thing, person, place adds meaning to your life, and allow the warm feeling of gratitude to spread through your being. This practice offers respite from and moderates the effects of the adversity.
6. Engage in acts of KINDNESS without the expectation of receiving gratitude from the recipient of the act. Acts of kindness can be organised activities or random. The purpose is to experience the joy of giving, as the act of giving denotes an abundance mindset. This mindset will steel you during times of adversity.
7. Build positive and resourceful SOCIAL SUPPORT SYSTEMS and access them when the need arises. These systems may include, but are not limited to, family members, friends, religious organisations, colleagues or mental health professionals and mentors who have navigated the territory of adversity with aplomb.
8. Nurture a VIEW OF YOURSELF that mirrors confidence and capability. Acquire skills like communication, decision-making and problem-solving if you identify these as lacking. Be proactive about building your coping arsenal so that your view of self can be grounded in reality.
9. Learn how to effectively manage EMOTIONS and IMPULSES. Healthy expression of emotion prevents mental health issues. Learn emotional regulation skills that can assist you with dealing with the uncomfortable emotions that are likely to arise during adversity. Mental health professionals and mental health websites are useful resources in this regard.
10. Consistently invest in your RESILIENCE by building your resilience mindset and skillset even when things are going well. Engage in the above practices as a way of life so that there is always a sense of preparedness and an ease of knowing that adversity presents opportunities for bouncing forward, for thriving, for advancing.
Dr Ottilia Brown, clinical psychologist, with The Lighthouse Arabia
Follow us on
For all the latest business news from the UAE and Gulf countries, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page, which is updated daily.
by Staff Writer
More of this topic
Resilience: the art of bouncing back from adversity
Dr Ottilia Brown, clinical psychologist, with The Lighthouse Arabia, looks at how to bounce back from adversity whether in the work place or in our personal lives
Dr Ottilia Brown, clinical psychologist, with The Lighthouse Arabia.
Resilience in essence is the ability to bounce back from adversity, trauma or stress. It presupposes an adaptation to crisis, an emotional agility or flexibility and toughness that allows us to come through adversity.
I would argue that one can actually bounce forward from adversity if we approach these difficult times with the necessary competencies. Resilience can be learned. How can you nurture and develop your resilience?
1. Boost your BIOLOGY by ensuring good quality and sufficient sleep, and nutrition that supports immune functioning and energy supply. Take supplements if needed and exercise to build stamina, strength and flexibility. Practice breathing correctly.
2. Learn to REFLECT by noticing your thoughts, feelings and actions. Notice your responses and your healthy and maladaptive coping strategies when in stressful situations. Uncover unhelpful patterns and tendencies. Journaling can be helpful.
3. Learn the skill of PERSPECTIVE TAKING by taking a realistic view of the challenge and being mindful of minimising the adversity or on the other extreme, catastrophising it. Framing the adversity as insurmountable will make it more difficult for you to manage it effectively and minimising its impact will leave you underprepared for the fallout.
4. Seek out POSITIVE moments by acknowledging positive experiences amidst a crisis. These can seem insignificant in difficult times and therefore have to be sought out. Create a space for positive emotions to emerge despite the difficulty of the adversity. Remember that the uncomfortable can live alongside the positive.
5. Practice the art of GRATITUDE all the time. Be specific about the object of your gratitude, meditate on how that thing, person, place adds meaning to your life, and allow the warm feeling of gratitude to spread through your being. This practice offers respite from and moderates the effects of the adversity.
6. Engage in acts of KINDNESS without the expectation of receiving gratitude from the recipient of the act. Acts of kindness can be organised activities or random. The purpose is to experience the joy of giving, as the act of giving denotes an abundance mindset. This mindset will steel you during times of adversity.
7. Build positive and resourceful SOCIAL SUPPORT SYSTEMS and access them when the need arises. These systems may include, but are not limited to, family members, friends, religious organisations, colleagues or mental health professionals and mentors who have navigated the territory of adversity with aplomb.
8. Nurture a VIEW OF YOURSELF that mirrors confidence and capability. Acquire skills like communication, decision-making and problem-solving if you identify these as lacking. Be proactive about building your coping arsenal so that your view of self can be grounded in reality.
9. Learn how to effectively manage EMOTIONS and IMPULSES. Healthy expression of emotion prevents mental health issues. Learn emotional regulation skills that can assist you with dealing with the uncomfortable emotions that are likely to arise during adversity. Mental health professionals and mental health websites are useful resources in this regard.
10. Consistently invest in your RESILIENCE by building your resilience mindset and skillset even when things are going well. Engage in the above practices as a way of life so that there is always a sense of preparedness and an ease of knowing that adversity presents opportunities for bouncing forward, for thriving, for advancing.
Dr Ottilia Brown, clinical psychologist, with The Lighthouse Arabia
Follow us on
Latest News