3 Ways to Become More Resilient to Stress

Resilience is the ability to recover from injury, setback, or trauma.  While it’s easiest to avoid anything that causes harm, it’s impossible to avoid everything that can harm you.  Illness, emotional upset, trauma, loss and anger are apart of life. In this article, we will explore three ways you can increase your resilience to stress in all forms.

While you have no control over the world around you, you have complete control over yourself. You can prepare your self for life’s challenges long before they cross your path.

I think of resilience as a savings account of energy.  You are free to use the currency in any way, and while its in savings, it can accrue extra interest depending on the environment.  When it’s time to make a purchase (a major life change, a birth, a death, a move, a new star, and ending for example), the funds will be used. 

If the account has a low balance, it may go into the red once the inevitable stresses of life hit.  A negative balance in your Resiliency Bank will draw form other accounts.  The available accounts to draw from are the mind, body and spirit.  

You can make deposits into your Resilience Bank all the time!

Many people turn to meditation during times of stress, or when they have many questions about life. Many feel that meditation is only needed for a short period of time.

Meditation is fantastic during times of stress. Being able to stop the hectic pace of life even for 3 minutes is better than continuing forge ahead without taking a break.

Making deposits to your Resilience Bank before stress hits allows you to increase your resilience stress even more. When your life get’s stressful, it is possible you may not have time to stop and meditate. Stress often accompanies major life transitions, such as a birth, a death, a new job, a move, a marriage or divorce. Even if the transition is something you’ve hoped and prayed for, you will undergo many changes that are out of your control.

Making daily meditation a practice that comes to you naturally is a way to make automatic deposits to your Resilience Account. Having a high amount in your Resilience Bank assures that you will have more resilience to stress when it inevitably occurs.

A formal meditation practice is an excellent and guaranteed to increase your resilience to stress. Mindfulness, either a formal meditation practice, or as an informal practice also increases your resilience to stress.

Mindfulness is a deceptively simple way to increase your resilience to stress at any time during your day. I am a full time physician, seeing patients in a hospital owned clinic daily. My days can be busy, often leaving very little time for me to pause and meditate. Practicing mindfulness during my day, such as setting an intention with my patients, creating healthy boundaries, and performing mindful hand washing help me increase my resilience to stress.

Reiki is a holistic healing modality that allows for energy to be channeled into the mind and body for healing. If you are new to Reiki, feel free to check out my primer on Reiki here.

Reiki treatments on a regular basis can help you stay rested, prevent disease, and stay healthy. Many people seek Reiki during times of illness and emotional distress. Reiki is healing at these times, but consider staying with Reiki even once you feel healed.

Practicing self Reiki is an easy way to receive Reiki at any time. If you already are a Reiki Healer, I have created a 9 Minute Guided Reiki Session that can be used to conduct short sessions with no need for a timer.

Conclusion

Investing in your Resilience Account with Meditation, Mindfulness, and Reiki is worth your time. Need some inspiration? Check out my program here!