21 April 2009
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
Feeling a little tense lately?
There's plenty to be worried about!
But why do some people run around like the sky is falling while others seem to take it in their stride? It's all about resilience.
Resilience means to jump back to the original shape after compression. From the Latin re-salire 'jump'. Some people can cope with extreme compression in life while others seem to have run out of elastic.
How resilient are you ? Here are seven resilience abilities for overcoming obstacles in tough times:
- Emotion Regulation: Research shows people who lack the ability to regulate their emotions have a hard time building and maintaining friendships. Resilience ability is knowing how to calm yourself when you're angry, or lift your mood when you're sad.
- Impulse Control: Children who control their impulses and demonstrate delayed gratification have been shown to do significantly better socially and academically. How good are you at telling yourself "No"?
- Optimism: Compared to pessimists, optimists are physically healthier, are less likely to suffer depression, do better at school, are more productive at work, and win more in sports. The key to resilience is realistic optimism.
- Causal Analysis: How do you explain the good and bad things that happen to you? If you see problems in terms of me ("it's my fault"), always ("this always happens"), and everything ("this affects everything"), you'll tend to become helpless and hopeless! The most resilient people tend to see problems in terms of not me ("I'm not the cause"), not always ("this particular event"), and not everything ("this time").
- Empathy: The ability to place yourself in the other person's shoes, estimate what they're feeling, and predict how they might act is a significant component of successful relationships and resilience.
- Self-Efficacy: The sense of how effective we are in the world. People who have faith in their ability to solve problems emerge as leaders. Those who aren't confident about their efficacy feel lost in the crowd.
- Reaching Out: People with a self-handicapping thinking style subconsciously place limits on themselves and never really discover their true abilities. Resilient people are prepared to risk failure in taking on new challenges and reaching out for intimacy.
, find out how to build resilience in yourself and others through the Phronetic Leadership Program.
And find out what your family heritage has to do with Star Trek on my "Wisdom Circle" blog!
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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