Resilience Booster

Dr. Dennis Charney is dean of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He is known as the reigning king of resilience studies in America. After years of study, he has come to the conclusion that everybody can boost his or her resilience by following a ten-step plan that he developed with Dr. Steven Southwick, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine.

The first and most important part of the Resilience Prescription is to practice optimism. Some people are born optimistic; others learn it. Either way, studies show that optimists respond better when they’re diagnosed with breast cancer and they experience fewer problems requiring hospitalization after heart surgery. Even though other studies have revealed that unguarded optimism can make your problems even worse, the key is to stay positive and hopeful while confronting reality.

The second step is to identify a resilient role model. You can choose someone you know or someone who inspires you. Lance Armstrong is a good example. So is your aunt Millie who has beaten breast cancer. Imitation is an excellent way to learn to be more resilient.

Third, develop a moral compass and unbreakable beliefs. Resilient people find strength in God, in ideals and principles greater than themselves.

Fourth, practice altruism. By helping others, Dr. Charney says, you can help yourself feel better in tough times.

Fifth, develop acceptance and cognitive flexibility, meaning the ability to learn and adapt your knowledge and thinking to new situations.

Sixth, face your fears and learn to control negative emotions.

Seventh, build active coping skills to handle your problems.

Eighth, establish a supportive social network to help you.

Ninth, stay physically fit.

Tenth, laugh as much as you can.

Interestingly enough, you don’t need to try all ten steps at the same time. Focus only on a few and you’ll see results. Bare minimum, pick out just one and take a very small step towards implementing it into your life. Practice the “Pringle Principle.” For any of you who have ever eaten a Pringle potato chip, you know that when you take that first bite from the can, you can’t stop until you’ve eaten half the can. The same applies here. When you take a small bite out of the steps to create resiliency, you often set in motion the seeds of change that lead to much bigger progress in the future.