I have just finished reading “Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges”, (Southwick. S., Charney. D., 2012)

In this book the authors suggest ‘ten key ways’ to build and enhance resilience. One of the interesting aspects of this book is that it is much more academic than self-help. I’m not opposed to self-help books, but at times it is necessary to make sure the authors ten ways, or seven steps, or nine actions are built on verifiable research and sound academic understanding.

Steven Southwick and Dennis Charney (2012) have constructed this book around many in-depth interviews with a wide variety of people who have gone through some seriously challenging events.  Both authors also come from contexts where scholarly excellence is valued and expected. There is a very strong evidential basis for their conclusions. 

Most of all, however, this is a list of ten actions that I can, should I choose, to incorporate into my life. Rather than the somewhat esoteric or therapeutic suggestions found in some texts, these ten ways are things I can pay attention today. The choice is mine.

This factor all by itself is incredibly supportive. The notion that I can make some changes to my resilience by my own actions is freeing. It frees me from the gloomy prospect of hours of clinical psychotherapy, counselling and the re-hashing of my past life. Of course I am not disparaging Psychological activities. Indeed, I am a strong supporter of many types of counselling and psychological support.

But the idea that there are many things I can do for myself is liberating. It gives me choice. It gives me options. It gives me hope. 

You will need to read the full book yourself to gain the total overview but, briefly, the ten factors that Southwark and Charney advocate for enhancing resilience are these:

1. Optimism. This is shown by a positive attitude towards life and, especially, a belief in a brighter future.
2. Face Your Fears. Fear is a normal human state and by facing your fears self-esteem is enhanced.
3. Develop a Moral Compass, ethics and altruism. This comprises a set of core beliefs that are strong combined with clear ethical basis. Assisting others is strongly related to resilience
4. Religion and Spirituality. This aspect includes religious practice but is not exclusively so. A strong faith (in the future or in others), coupled with a spirituality provides strong protection.
5. Social Support. Going it alone is the exception to the human norm. Being a member of a strong inter-connected network of human beings provides significant resilience 
6. Find a Resilient Role Model. Stories of people who have done ‘heroic’ things, or survived incredible pressure, or have shown extreme altruism give clues as to how we can live and grow. These models can come from people we know ourselves. Imitation is a very powerful mode of learning
7. Physical training. The evidence shows that people who exercise, who train, who push themselves are more resilient to a wide variety of pressures.
8. Brain fitness. We need to challenge our hearts and our minds.In doing so we build our emotional intelligence, moral integrity and cognitive functioning.
9. Cognitive Flexibility through Cognitive Reappraisal. Traumatic experiences can be re-evaluated by altering the perceived value and meaningfulness of the event. We can receive a benefit from stress and trauma: we can reframe, assimilate, accept and recover. These skills can be learned. Failure is an essential ingredient for growth
10. Meaning, purpose and growth. These aspects are strongly connected to optimism, ethics and faith. A life that has a clear meaning and purpose is a resilient one. 

These all look like things I could pay attention to and find ways to improve.   

“Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges”, 

Southwick, Steven and Charney, Dennis

Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (July 23, 2012)