Building Resilience skills

 

An ability to recover from or adjust easily to change is called RESILIENCE. All of us unconsciously use various ways to recover or cope from a problem. But as it is unconscious, we do not know when they work and we are confused when the ways fail and we find it difficult to cope with situations.

So becoming aware of what methods our brain is using to adjust to change will help us to build effective resilience skills.

The first step in building resilience is identifying the thinking traps or cognitive distortions our minds are falling into. The most common traps are:

·         MIND READING: Assuming you know what other person is thinking or expecting others to know what you are thinking.

·         ME: You are the sole cause of your setbacks and problems.

·         THEM: Other people are sole cause of your setbacks and problems

·         CASTROPHISIZING: Ruminating about the irrational worst case outcomes of a situation.

·         HELPLESSNESS: Negative events are going to impact all areas of your life and you have no control.

 

Once we identify what TRAPS are we falling into when negative events happen in our life, we can work on them and with PRACTICE, come out of those traps.

The next step to build resilience is to check where we fall in the given dimensions of resilience:

1.      SELF-BELIEF: The extent to which an individual has confidence in their ability to address problems and obstacles that they encounter.

2.      Optimism: The extent to which the individual believes that they will experience good outcomes in life, and the way in which they explain setbacks they experience.

3.      PURPOSEFUL DIRECTION: The extent to which the individual has clear goals that they are committed to achieve.

4.      ADAPTABILITY: The extent to which the individual is willing to adapt their behaviour and approach in response to changing circumstances.

5.      INGENUITY:  The extent to which the individual perceives they are capable of finding solutions to problems that they encounter.

6.      CHALLENGE ORIENTATION: The extent to which the individual enjoys experiences which challenge them, and perceives stretching situations as opportunities to learn and develop.

7.      EMOTION REGULATION: The extent to which an individual is able to remain calm and in control of their emotions in stressful situations.

8.      SUPPORT SEEKING: The extent to which an individual is willing to ask others for help and support while dealing with difficult situations.

 

 

By being aware of THINKING TRAPS and balancing all these dimensions of the Resilience, we can have an effective way to cope with our life stressors.