bounce back, bouncing back, strength, grit, flourish,
We know we have the basic human needs of water, food, air, and shelter to survive. We could continue to exist while feeling fearful, depressed, angry, and disconnected from one another. But we humans have evolved beyond merely existing. We want more. We want to succeed. We want to flourish. We want joy, love, connection, fun, meaning, and life purpose.
We all have mental health challenges calling us to find solutions and rebound with resilience. During challenging times some of my connections asked questions about attending to their mental health. Here are five of those conversations in which I attempted to put on my best mental health counsellor brain.
Emotional Agility: Get unstuck, embrace change, and thrive in work and life, authored by Harvard Medical School psychologist, Susan David ranks high in my reading inventory. I place it with the likes of Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ and Brene’ Brown’s Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience.
Have you had days when you thought a sneeze would blow you over? You felt dis-stressed, depressed or plain worn out. I have had days from burnt toast to a family member crashing his car that exhausted me. I’ve asked myself, We can bounce back more easily when we have developed some everyday grit or resilience. The end result of building resilience is that we have increased strength, skills and adaptability to handle life’s pains, strains and challenges. We are able to bounce back.
Research that supports resilience to COVID-19 serves us in most situations. Attending to our mental health is important no matter what.
Oh! The Coronavirus You, along with millions of others, are probably on alert due to the potential danger of the Coronavirus and political unrest. Sport, theatre and charitable events have been put on HOLD or cancelled. Churches, schools and even courts with juries have put a ban on their gatherings. Others negatively affected are small […]
Are you fed up with COVID-19? You are not alone. You are not the only one either needing or wanting to develop a COPING Mindset. I am with you.
When we accept existential paradox, we ease off our tendency to fight for the right answer, solution or direction. Are you ready to accept contradictions?
Willpower is necessary to reach goals. Yet we can experience willpower fatigue. Read how the research helped me maximize my limited amount of willpower.
When I attended a presentation by leadership trainer and author, Joan McArthur-Blair, the room was packed. The audience members were primarily career counselors. McArthur-Blair is the co-author (along with Jeanie Cockell) of the book, Building Resilience with Appreciative Inquiry: A Leadership Journey through Hope, Despair, and Forgiveness. I was pleased to buy a copy of […]
As a therapist, I witness people whose lives have fallen apart or have become unbearable to continue as is. I often hear the simple but dreadfully difficult question to answer, “Why?” People naturally long to create meaning from their emotional pain. Resilience is called upon when we face tough situations. We want to bounce back, […]
Many of us have moved from saying “Woe is me” to “WOW! I survived and I am even thriving.” We could ask ourselves, “Where did my resiliency develop? And if it did not develop in childhood, when did it develop?” If you do not identify yourself as being resilient to challenges, you may not recognize […]