Resilience: How to build emotional strength

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity.

Resilience is an inner strength that helps us overcome trauma and extremely stressful situations.

Resilience is a term used in positive psychology that refers to the ability to overcome from setbacks. What makes resilience different is that the individual usually emerges from the setback or adverse circumstance in much better shape than they were before. Some individuals can get knocked down, but they emerge stronger than they were beforehand. These people are called resilient individuals.

A resilient person will work through challenges drawing on personal resources such as inner strength and other psychological capital such as hope, optimism, and self-efficacy, which is the belief in our ability to succeed.

Relationships play a vital role in harnessing and building resilience. Children that were raised by parents with an authoritative parent style are said to be the most resilient. However, resilience can be developed through life experiences. Authoritative parenting styles display qualities such as warmth and affection, and also give the child the structure and support they need. This is said to create well-rounded individuals. Protective factors that make way for the development of resilience include parental educational levels, socio-economic status, and home environment (organised versus disorganised) etc. While these factors may play a fundamental role, there are also occasions where a child has experienced such hardship and adverse poverty and abuse, but have managed to overcome and succeed in life too. Some children are easily able to bounce back from these situations, while other children are not. These children are known to be resilient.

Family plays a fundamental role in the ability to bounce back from adversary. If a child has autonomy and is shown empathy, he or she is more able to recover from the trauma. They have been given the inner resources needed to be resilient. Lack of autonomy and empathy can lead to the child feeling helpless. Children who possess the following traits are more likely to be resilient:

· Good self-image

· Ability to problem-solve

· Self-regulation

· Adaptability

· Faith

· Positive outlook on life

· Useful skills and talents

· Acceptance by others

Those that are deemed to be resilient tend to have more of a positive attitude and see failure as a learning process.

“Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”

– Joshua J. Marine

Mindfulness, Neuroplasticity and Resilience

Mindfulness and positive psychology also encompasses the notion that we are in control of our physiological wellbeing through our mindset. Positive psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses on optimal wellness and flourishing. Along with neuroscience, positive psychology birthed the term ‘neuroplasticity,’ where we, as individuals, can rewire our thought processes and also influence our physiology at a cellular level. Neuroplasticity essentially refers to the ability we have to rewire our brains- to think and feel differently- and to increase overall wellbeing. Psychologists used to think the brain and personality were fixed, but we now realise that is incorrect. We can be our own neurosurgeons (neuroplasticians) and change our thinking with our thoughts.

Modern day stress can wreak havoc on our well-being, but being able to take control and influence our thoughts has a positive impact on our bodies. The term ‘epigenetics’ is a phenomenon whereby we can influence the growth of disorder through negative thinking, and conversely, influence health and wellbeing through positive thinking processes. Neuroplasticity gives us the ability to recover from stroke, learning disabilities, brain injuries and damage, and mental illness such as depression.

Harnessing creativity is another important factor in positive psychology and the promotion of well-being. Creativity is cultivated through taking time out from the chaos and being in a positive environment. The positive psychology movement advocates for making time for daily or regular doses of creativity, which literally plays a fundamental role in changing our mindset. Using affirmations (such as positive self-talk) is also important to safeguard against any negativity that can hinder creativity. Creativity allows you to get into the ‘flow’; this is a state of being that psychologists describe as being completely focused, devoid of knowledge of time and distraction.

Neuroplasticity, is also called brain plasticity. We have the ability to rewire our brains. We do this with our thoughts and with what we say. If we did not have this ability, we would not be able to develop from infancy or recover from a brain injury. The brain is therefore not fixed or in a static state as once was thought.

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