Strength In Resiliency
– ©2003 Lee Churchill

If the thoughts running through your head when you are faced with adversity are negative or self-critical they hurt your ability to respond with courage or grace. Understanding how your thinking affects your emotions and behavior is a key skill in the resiliency program. Learn to avoid thinking traps when things go wrong without blaming yourself, others or jumping to conclusions. Evaluate why you behave the way you do when confronted by specific or recurring problems so that you can search for new solutions.

Stop wasting time and energy worrying about the "what ifs" of your future so that you can be better prepared to deal with problems that really do exist. Learn techniques to relax when you are overwhelmed by emotion or stress.

Resilience determines how high we rise above what threatens to wear us down, from battling illness, to bolstering a marriage, to persevering after a national crisis. Resilience is about making connections with other people, avoiding seeing crises as insurmountable problems, accepting that change is a part of living and moving toward your goals with decisive actions. Looking for opportunities of self-discovery, nurturing a positive view of yourself, keeping things in perspective, maintaining a hopeful outlook and taking care of yourself is the master plan of resiliency in the modern day world.

Considering all the current stressors in our collective, as well as our individual lives, this is a good time to start the Resiliency Group. Come Thursday April 10th at 730, and subsequent Thursdays, for this new group.