Good News – about Resilience, and good news, in general

Last week I taught at Kalaidos/Careum in Zürich once again and part of what I taught was on resilience. Did you know that there are 4 pillars of resilience?  Well, there are:

·     People can learn and change

·     Positive thinking (self-efficacy) is key

·     Accurate thinking (or “logical” but not pessimistic) is key

·     We need each other (refocus on our humanity, and the humanity of the “other”)

Let’s put some flesh on this by giving examples from life.

People can learn/change

According to a friend, you can learn until you die (or just about).  That means, although it may be a slower journey than when you were twenty, you can still learn.  You can change- it takes effort, maybe a lot of effort, but change is possible. So, don’t get into the bad habit of saying, “oh that’s just the way I am”; instead, look for the smallest step to the next change-goal.

Think like “the little engine that could”- positively

Self-efficacy is one of the key pillars to resilience.  People who feel like they are not victims, and are in control of their environments and situation are more likely to have better resilience.  The “Yes I can” motto, even if it’s not true all of the time gets you much farther than the opposite.  Often it’s the attitude that gets you started and then keeps you going when a rough period occurs.

Think realistically, though, too.

A friend told me a story of a woman who went for a walk with my friend and gathered medicinal herbs. The woman thought that if she talked nicely to the stinging nettles they would not sting her, but of course this was not the case, and the woman had a bad rash at the end of the walk.  Her thinking was not realistic or accurate. We need an accurate picture of our situation.  For example, I am no longer 20 and cannot/should not live as I did then. That would be (very) unwise.

We need each other

One of the main points of key research points out that having trusted relationships can really help with stress and then resilience.  Kelly McGonigal (of “How to make stress your friend” and other books/TEDtalks) has done the key research which has now been corroborated by others.  

We need each other and a healthy person has human support for tough times.

Last night I experienced some feel-good positive thinking in a very helpful way:  I went to SINGA’s entrepreneur awards night in Zürich (the one in Geneva is on the 30thof October, for those on the other side of the “Rösti-Graben”).  

The SINGApreneurs that presented were very cool and so very awesome!  The two award winners were amazing: @Entrepikit (https://www.entrepikit.com) and @thebraidboxswiss (https://www.thebraidbox.ch)  – congratulations to all, winners and other participants!  Everyone was so thankful for SINGA (https://singaswitzerland.ch/en/singafactory-en/ ) and their support to start the businesses.

I feel honored to be a small part of this band of energetic and creative entrepreneurs and the people who help them along the way.  For those with a little cash on hand, one of the entrepreneurs @wethesouk (https://www.wethesouk.ch) is doing crowdfunding for an awesome project: https://wemakeit.com/projects/give-our-past-a-future/

Or if you have even more money, my friends at SINGA are looking for more funding, as their Migros backing is ending soon.  The need a few big sponsors, and a lot of little ones, FYI.  SINGA does a lot of good by helping immigrants start new companies, which, of course add new jobs to the Swiss economy.  Last night I was reminded of my own “why” for start-ups, and I was re-energized to help those starting their own companies.

What has helped your four pillars of resilience to be strong this past week or so?

Have a great day!

Patricia Jehle               patricia@jehle-coaching.com