The Thought That Counts : Episode 16 - Managing Stress to Develop Resilience 1

Robin Hills (Director, Ei4Change) has been asked to contribute a series of bite-sized, inspirational soundbites for Bolton FM.

Featured every day for a week as The Thought that Counts, these were broadcast on the Breakfast Show and on the Lunchtime Show.

This podcast explores managing stress to develop resilience:

• Resilience and Emotional Awareness
• Feel in Control
• Create a Personal Vision
• Be Flexible and Adaptable
• Get Organised

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Transcript

0:17

Here are my latest contributions to my local radio station's, "The Thought Th at Counts" slot, which is broadcast on the Breakfast show and the Lunchtime show over a period of a week. Each broadcast lost about 90 seconds. My contributions are all based around some aspect of emotional intelligence. I've put my contributions together as hints and tips in this podcast. On this occasion, my reflections explore managing stress to develop your

resilience, covering: 0:48

Resilience and Emotional Awareness. Feel in Control. Develop a Personal Vision. Be Flexible and Adaptable. Get Organised. I hope you enjoyed the podcast in these "The Thought That Counts". The Thought That Counts. Resilience continues to be frequently referred to in the media. Resilience isn't quality that you either possess or you don't, as there are varying degrees of how well a person can handle stress and how you manage stress will depend on a range of circumstances, such as what else is going on in your life currently, your mental and physical health and how you cope with similar circumstances in the past. Resilience is the idea that you can build your tolerance level to pressure before it turns into stress. You can do this by living a healthy lifestyle and changing how you think and behave in certain situations. This means that, fortunately, you can grow and develop your resilience. Being aware of your emotions, you can understand what you're feeling and why. Because you're more in touch with your own inner life, you'll be able to understand and support the feelings of others. Having this emotional understanding will enable you to better regulate and cope with any difficult emotions and to respond appropriately to others. It helps to know that certain emotions will enhance or facilitate your resilience, such as engagement, optimism and excitement. Recognise the emotions that drain or impair your resilience, such as frustration and confusion and change these into a positive force. Frustration means you're on the verge of a breakthrough. Confusion can mean you're about to learn something. Expect the breakthrough and expect to learn. The Thought That Counts. Do you feel overpowered by current events and circumstances? Do you feel that your life is unmanageable? Do you give in to unfolding situations too easily? To become more resilient, feel in control. Emotions that drain and stop you feeling in control are hopelessness, discomfort and disappointment. Esteem, contentment and optimism will facilitate or enhance your resilience. You can boost these to feel more in control by viewing the world as complex and challenging but filled with opportunity. Hold a positive perception about yourself. Be confident in your ability to meet any challenge with hope and realistic optimism and defend yourself well. Be realistic about what you can and can't do. Learn to say "no" so that you don't commit to too much. Challenge your own self limiting beliefs. Set yourself small, short term goals that you know you can achieve. Tell yourself you can do it and prove yourself to be right. Communicate your intentions clearly to others, and then delegate and encourage their support. When you can't control what's happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what's happening. That is where your power lies. The Thought That Counts. Do you know where your life is taking you? Is your life disordered and out of control? Are you stressed because you feel others are taking advantage of you? To become more resilient, c reate a personal vision. Emotions that drain and stop you from creating a personal vision are frustration, inadequacy, and anxiety. Esteem, engagement and passion will facilitate or enhance your resilience. You can boost these by having a clear vision of what you want to accomplish and achieve. Know what you believe in and confront your own self limiting beliefs. You'll face challenges so approach, adversity and stress with a sense of hope. Let your belief and purpose carry you forward in life. Set yourself clear goals and objectives so that you can focus on what you want to achieve. Establish a plan that will accomplish your goals. Ensure that this plan is made up of small, achievable steps. Even if events take you away from your plan for a short while, remain committed. Remind yourself of what you want to achieve and why. Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others. By having a personal vision, you will excel and learn not because you're told to but because you want to. The Thought That Counts. Are you too rigid and controlling? Do you get stressed when events don't go the way that you expect them to or want them to? Do you want things to be perfect and get upset when they're not? To become more resilient, be flexible and adaptable. This will make your life a lot easier. Go with the flow as resistance will lead to those emotions that drain and stop you from adapting and being flexible such as fear, disappointment and anxiety. Esteem contentment and optimism will facilitate or enhance your resilience. You can boost these by being sensitive to changes in your environment. Accept that situations are going to change. Anticipate change so that you can be prepared for it with a series of contingency plans. Adapt quickly to what's happening around you but remain true to your purpose or vision whilst making room for other's ideas and opportunities. Positively move forward rather than dwelling on how unreasonable or unfair the changes may seem. Remain focused on your personal goals and adapt how you work to accommodate the change. Learn from life, constantly. Be flexible and adaptable and never stop learning. The rate of change will never stop and neither should you. The Thought That Counts. Do you feel your life is disorderly and chaotic? Do you feel that your life is a mess? Are unfinished projects and piles of things to do contributing to your stress? To become more resilient, get organised by creating structure and methods for bringing order and stability on your terms. Emotions that drain and stop you from getting organised are hopelessness, f ear and discomfort. Esteem, pride and enthusiasm will facilitate or enhance your resilience. You can boost these by getting more organised. Set realistic goals for yourself, and create a plan, or draw up a list of tasks. Be realistic about how you can manage your time. Create systems and processes that make you more efficient. Expect things to work out. Tackle any big projects by breaking them down into smaller chunks and start to work on them one chunk at a time. We all have to do things we don't want to, so avoid putting off anything that eventually needs to be done. But be aware of and avoid anything that you find distracting. Manage the moment with calmness and clarity of purpose. Getting organised isn't about changing your personality or who you are, it's about changing your habits. I'm Robin Hills from Ei4Change. Empowering your Emotional Management. The Thought That Counts.