Resilience Through Change - Part 2

This article continues our series on understanding how we can achieve resilience through change. The final step is to learn how we can use change to build our personal resilience.

1 - Identify thinking traps and reframe them

It is normal to fall into common thinking traps from time to time. Being aware of what errors we may be making gives us the opportunity to challenge these thoughts and break the stress cycle.

2 - Identify your personal values

Identify your values and work towards living in alignment with them.

Values are what we stand for, what is important to us. They define the core of our identity. When we act on our values, we achieve optimal life satisfaction and meaningful life. When we ignore what is important to us, we create psychological pain. The wider the gap, the more distress we experience.

3 - Focus on what you can control

Redirect your energy into what you can control and let go of what you cannot control.

There is a broad body of research that shows that resilient people have an internal locus of control. This means that they tend not to feel victim to their external circumstances, but feel a sense of self responsibility for their reactions to their environment. They conserve energy by knowing what is within their influence and control, and focus their energy there.

4 - Boosting positive experiences

We have a choice as to what we focus on. But we often have negative thinking habits where we focus on negative experiences rather than positive ones. We spend a lot of time thinking about what went wrong, what we could have done to fix it and what if it happens again.

By redirecting our attention towards positive experiences, we can increase our perception of what we are capable of and tune us in to different ways we can cope.

5 - Healthy body

There is growing evidence supporting the linkages between movement, nutrition, and mental well-being. Regular engagement in physical exercise, eating foods that are shown to boost mental function and mood, as well as being mindful of our posture and facial expression all add up to increase our resistance to stress, illness, and burn out. Goals are more likely to be achieved when we set our environment up to support our success.

Moving forward

At the end of the day, change is here to stay (or at least until the next change!). But we are in the driver's seat as to how we want to deal with it. That is our choice.

How can Myndful help you?

If you would like support for navigating changes in your life Dr Beulah Joseph and the Myndful team can help you to master navigating these situations and feelings.