Resilience as a Vital Sign

Back in May 2012, the North Bay Biz Journal published an article called "Resilience as a Vital Sign."  This article takes on fresh meaning today, as Sonoma County moves on with our wildfire recovery.

Dr. Kirk Pappas shares a compelling personal story, which led him to inventory what he called the  “David Letterman Top 10 List of Ways to Build Resilience:

1. The optimist question: When challenged, are you able to remain hopeful, visualizing good things instead of worrying about fears?

1. The self-reflection question: Are you in touch with your feelings so you can find pleasure in daily life by exercising your mind, body and spirit?

1. The self-discovery question: Are you curious, always looking to learn something new? Many people who’ve been challenged with hardship find personal strength by learning a new skill, language or getting interested in new things that continue to stimulate their minds and bodies.

1. The realistic question: Do you have goals in life and continue to make progress, even small steps, toward them? Even a small, daily improvement can help build resilience.

1. The making-the-connection question: Do you have relationships with others? Having friends, family members, spiritual groups or even being sports fans together can help make the connections to improve resilience. (Go Giants!)

1. The knowing-you-aren’t-really-in-control-of-everything question: Do you accept change as part of daily life? Once you’re able to do that, you can bounce back from inevitable challenges more easily.

1. The can-you-accept-yourself-and-even-like-yourself question: Can you engage in self-reflection and find the positive in yourself despite shortcomings?

1. The perspective question: Are you able to be objective and keep things in perspective so when you do have a challenge, you see your own frailty? Are you able to view things in a broader context of the long-term outcome?

1. The forest-through-the-trees question: When you have a challenge, do you view it as an insurmountable crisis or in an objective light (perhaps as spilled milk)? Can you look beyond the crisis to the broader perspective?

1. The make-an-active-decision question: Are you able to assess what’s going on and make clear and definitive choices as to the next steps after evaluating the options?"

Grace Harris, CPI, recently recirculated this article to members of the ACEs Connection.  

We wonder, do these ideas for building resilience resonate with you?