I remember a Peanuts cartoon from years back. Here’s Charlie Brown, shoulders slumped, head down and arms at his side as Lucy approached. He says to Lucy, “This is my depressed stance. When you’re depressed it makes a lot of difference in how you stand. The worst thing you can do is straighten up and […]

I my last article I talked about how our brains and bodies respond to stress. Today I want to explore the goal of stress management which is achieving an optimal state of arousal in the middle of a threat. As you can see from this diagram, the mind can be in optimal arousal (necessary to […]

Stress is our natural response to a situation or event that we perceive as challenging, even threatening. Stress is good insofar as it motivates us to take positive action or prompts us to adapt to a threat. But it can become harmful when we lack the confidence or ability to adapt in a healthy way. […]

How Resilient Are You? If you’ve been following me then you know that I’ve been writing about resilience. So today, I’m offering you a resilience survey to do a self-assessment on four dimensions of resilience.  As you do the assessment, you are establishing a baseline for not only thinking about resilience but measuring your growth […]

I define resilience as our ability to handle hard things. It has to do with the thought and behavior patterns that we develop in the face of adversity and hardship. In my article, today, I want to share some general thoughts about the nature of adversity and then explore ways we can predict resilience and […]

I realize that there is a strong connection between resilience and the discipline to do hard things. Knowing that I can do hard things gives me the inner strength to face all the challenges of my life–be they physical, social, emotional or mental. So in this post I want to share about a personal experience […]

I’m happy to let you know that my new on-line video course (Managing Stress and Building Resilience Masterclass) went live last week. It’s already getting a great response and reviews. And the good news is that you can buy it for $9.99 (an incredibly low price if you purchase it in the next four days). […]

I hope it was meaningful for you to read the stories of Jim and Chris in my last couple of blog posts. Actually, I could have shared so many other stories (and will in the future). As I observe people in my life, I recognize and honor that so many of you have faced challenging, […]

In my last post, I shared a story of a friend who showed resilience after suffering a serious bicycle accident. It is an example of recovering from an acute stressor. And yet sometimes, even when no trauma is involved, life feels harsh and relentless. Just getting by day-to-day takes something out of us. So let […]

I’ve spent a lot of time, these past several months, thinking about and researching the topic of resilience. As a matter of fact, I’ll be launching a new course on this topic in the next month or so. The purpose of the course is to help you become a stronger person, mentally and emotionally. I’ll […]