How to Cultivate Resilience in Troubled Times
Six practices to help you cope with anything
Good morning, and welcome to Mind, Meaning, and Magic.
There’s been a lot going on in the world, of late. More than one client that I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks has been struggling to make sense of recent events, both in the U.S. and abroad. It feels like the level of chaos in the world is increasing, and the threat of violence leaves everyone feeling a little less safe.
The subject of resilience came up in two different sessions this week, so I knew I wanted to write something about it. It feels like people are asking right now, “how can I shore up my resources in order to cope with what’s happening in the world, and what might be ahead?”
Cultivating resilience is the answer, but reslience has many facets.
In reviewing my collection of journal articles on the topic, I came upon one of my favorites: Psychosocial facets of resilience: implications for preventing posttrauma psychopathology, treating trauma survivors, and enhancing community resilience.
This article defines resilience as “adaptive characteristics of an individual to cope with and recover from adversity.”
It lists six core characteristics that have been found to contribute to resilience: optimism, cognitive flexibility, active coping skills (versus passive), physical health, social support network, and personal moral compass.
Let’s talk a little about each one.
Optimism
Defined as “maintenance of positive expectancies for important future outcomes,” optimism is often seen as a personality trait, though it can also change over time. This doesn’t mean being a Pollyanna, however. It’s important to be realistic, but believing that things will turn out okay, or get better in the future, helps us get through hard times with our spirits intact.
Cognitive flexibility
Flexible thinking helps us adapt to changing circumstances. It has several dimensions. The first is acceptance: accepting reality as it is—including the things about it we don’t like. After all, if we haven’t accepted the reality we’re dealing with, we won’t be able to come up with a useful strategy for coping with it or changing it. Second, there is positive reappraisal or reframing, in which we re-evaluate a stressor as having some kind of silver lining. For example, a concerning health diagnosis could become an opportunity to make healthy lifestyle changes. I wrote more about acceptance and positive reappraisal back in March.
Active coping (versus passive)
Active coping means creating your own resilience. It involves both thought and behavior, including being mindful of your thoughts, trying to maintain a positive attitude, and actively seeking help from others. In other words, proactively doing things that are likely to help in your situation.
Physical health
Being physically healthy can help you feel psychologically tougher and better able to handle stressors. Not everyone can have the same level of physical health, and we all deal with illnesses or injuries at times—it’s part of the human condition. But taking good care of your body—including sleep, nutrition, and physical exercise—promotes greater resilience. Physical exercise, in particular, can help build mental toughness as well as preparing us for stressful situations (or even disaster situations).
Social support network
In my experience as a therapist, this is one of the most important factors in resilience. As humans, we are social animals, and we did not evolve to survive alone. We need family, friends, and community around us to help us thrive. You can actively build resilience by taking the time to strengthen your bonds and cultivate deep, positive relationships with the people you care about.
Personal moral compass
Some of the most important work I do with clients is around clarifying core values. When you know who you really want to be as a person, how you really want to show up in the world, it can help you cope better with all kinds of adversity. This dimension of resiliency also includes altruism (helping others) and religious or spiritual beliefs. Having a personal sense of connection to a higher power and engaging in practices like prayer, meditation, and attending religious services are are all highly correlated with positive outcomes.
By practicing these six elements of resilience, you can prepare yourself better both for stressors in your personal life and for dealing with chaos and uncertainty in the world at large. As the study authors note, we can also take the steps to build more resilient communities so that we can thrive together even in difficult times.
What practices have helped you cultivate resilience? What helps you cope during difficult life circumstances? Let me know in the comments, below.
That’s all for this week! As always, I appreciate your feedback on Mind, Meaning, and Magic. What was your favorite thing I shared this week? What would you like to learn more about? Let me know by replying to this email or leaving a comment on Substack.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Cordry, LMFT
PS: You might have noticed I’ve only been publishing every other week this summer. As I’ve been traveling, recovering from lingering Covid symptoms, and catching up with work, I decided to practice flexibility and give myself some additional time between newsletters to read, generate ideas, research, and write.
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