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<\/div>2. Practice mindfulness meditation<\/h2>\n
Meditation has been scientifically proven to impact your brain<\/a> in ways that bolster resilience.<\/p>\n Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Sara Lazar discovered that consistent meditation practice could physically change your brain in positive, measurable ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n As we previously shared<\/a>:<\/p>\n Sara discovered thickening in four areas of the brain- areas responsible for emotional regulation, empathy, compassion, perspective-taking, learning, cognition, and memory. She also found that the amygdala, which controls humans\u2019 \u201cfight or flight\u201d instinct and influences fear and stress, shrank.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Decreased stress reactions and increased compassion, perspective-taking, and emotional regulation all strengthen your mental resilience. But that’s just the start.<\/p>\n There are many types of meditation. But, developing a regular practice of mindfulness<\/em> meditation can have even more substantial benefits.<\/p>\n Mindfulness focuses on experiencing the present moment and accepting the present moment as it is.<\/p>\n While this may seem deceptively simple, its implications are enormous for mental resilience. Mindfulness practice strengthens self-awareness and acceptance and helps you to de-clutter and improve your productivity<\/a>.<\/p>\n And, as vulnerability and resilience expert Bren\u00e9 Brown explains<\/a> :<\/p>\n Resilience is more available to people curious about their own line of thinking and behaving…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, mindfulness strengthens the very skills that Brown has found to be most impactful to enhancing resilience.<\/p>\n Finally, mastering acceptance empowers you to bypass the timely and resource-intensive reactions of denial, anger, self-pity, self-righteousness, and avoidance. This frees you to act more quickly (and with a clearer head) when challenges arise.<\/p>\n Carve out 15 minutes per day to engage in mindfulness meditation. And, don’t worry – it’s not as scary, weird, or complicated as you may think. This website<\/a> can help you get started.<\/p>\n We all have a finite amount of cognitive resources.<\/p>\n So, if you want to become more resilient, you have to get more thoughtful about how you use those resources.<\/p>\n While you can’t prevent bad things from happening in life, you can avoid welcoming more stressors into your world.<\/p>\n For example, many startup myths hold entrepreneurs back from success<\/a>. Knowing what those myths are and avoiding the stress from such myths will help you become more mentally resilient.<\/p>\n Practices like doom-scrolling<\/a>, taking on more tasks than you can handle and spending time with people who emotionally drain you will naturally deplete large amounts of your mental resources.<\/p>\n Take a good hard look at your life and identify the stressors you’ve voluntarily accepted. Then set new boundaries to eliminate them.<\/p>\n Get used to saying “no.”<\/p>\n You’ll likely receive push-back from the people who have been benefitting from your previous status-quo. So, be prepared to stand your ground.<\/p>\n You’ll find that once you’ve established secure boundaries that minimize unnecessary stress, you’ll have more mental resources for dealing with the unexpected challenges life throws your way.<\/p>\n Gratitude has gotten quite a bit of press recently.<\/p>\n There are gratitude journals,\u00a0 gratitude calendars, gratitude challenges (popular around Thanksgiving), and more.<\/p>\n And, there’s a good reason why gratitude is experiencing this boom. Developing a gratitude practice has been found<\/a> to have a positive impact on people’s overall mental health as well as their mental resilience.<\/p>\n The bottom line is that our ability to stay positive in the face of adversity helps us to continue moving forward. And, showing gratitude for the good in our life, when regularly practiced, enables us to do just that.<\/p>\n So, how does one establish a gratitude practice?<\/p>\n There are many options, so identify a practice that’s meaningful and sustainable for you.<\/p>\n This list is just a starting point. Cultivating gratitude in your daily life is a personal journey – so, experiment and find what works for you.<\/p>\n And, rest assured that whatever form your gratitude practice takes, if you stick with it, your mental resilience will grow stronger.<\/p>\n Humans are social creatures.<\/p>\n And, one of the most powerful resources we have for cultivating mental resilience<\/a> is a supportive social network.<\/p>\n When things go wrong, we instinctively reach out to friends and family. And, for a good reason – it helps.<\/p>\n Jill Suttie, Psy.D. explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n Having good social relationships is clearly a winning strategy in life, tied to greater psychological and physical well-being. Thus, it\u2019s not surprising that social relationships also matter when it comes to resiliency, in part because they help us feel less stress when we are suffering.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A\u00a0 2020 study<\/a> from The British Psychological Society draws the same conclusion:<\/p>\n Our findings highlight the important role that social connections play in promoting resilience by buffering against negative physical and mental health outcomes, particularly in times of adversity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The support we receive from friends and loved ones help us weather storms and rebound stronger.<\/p>\n But, don’t wait until something goes wrong to create a connection. Relationships are like bank accounts – you have to pay into them before you can make withdrawals.<\/p>\n So, nurture your relationships with both regular communications and by providing support to others.<\/p>\n When you invest in your relationships, you’ll find you have a network of people willing to support you when things get tough.<\/p>\n Resilience is vital to your success. And so is grit.<\/p>\n3. Be smart with your mental resources<\/h2>\n
4. Cultivate a gratitude practice<\/h2>\n
How to cultivate a gratitude practice:<\/h3>\n
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5. Build strong social connections<\/h2>\n
The importance of grit<\/h2>\n
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