Stress

Based on various research and studies, I summarize here the various research and studies into a 7-mechanism model of resilience that offers a comprehensive picture of a state of resilience that leads to optimal performance with manageable stress.

We tend to think of resilience as an individual quality — I or you, he or she. However if you are surrounded by happy, hopeful, optimistic, resilient individuals, you are also likely to manifest those qualities. In Joker One by Donovan Campbell, a Marine lieutenant led a platoon of 40 men in Ramadi, the site of some of the heaviest sustained fighting in Iraq.

I was at Weaver Street Market, waiting for a friend who was a little bit late for lunch, and caught sight of an older gentleman sitting at an outdoor table with his white-tipped cane under his seat. Around his neck, he wore a sign that said, “I like company. How about a 5-minute conversation?”

I’ve recently become aware of a question that’s important to many of my coaching clients: “What are the skills for resilience I can use throughout my life?” I’ve been thinking about this…

I watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart religiously. Instead of CNN, Fox or MSNBC, my news source of choice is Comedy Central. Why, you may ask? Don’t I want to be a well-informed citizen? Shouldn’t I be reading the New York Times and taking things seriously. Maybe. But in today’s environment, I desperately need a laugh.

What is a good amount of eustress in a flourishing person? Eustress helps us increase our skills and confidence and gives us the frisson of adrenalin as we set ourselves goals that we feel mildly terrified by. But there’s a fine line between eustress and distress. In fact, physiologically the body knows no difference between the two, but psychologically there is a world of difference.

It was not an easy decision for his parents to let Blake leave high school and it continues to be a hard choice. They are attacked by critics —most of whom they’ve never met. If the Peebles had taken the expected path and insisted that their son stay in school, no one would be giving them flack – even if their son was bored, depressed or learning less. Many would tell them they were doing the right thing.

Are you always the same person?  In some situations, you may feel stressed but strong, moving forward knowing that an adversity is at least partly within your control. In other…

In these economic times, we’ve heard you ask about how to deal with our stress and bolster up our resilience.  We hear this in the discussion sections: “I see doom…