Tips and techniques for building mental resilience

Tips and techniques to build mental resilience.  

Practise daily mindfulness.  

Somatic CoachingDaily mindfulness to build mental resilience.  Take a breath in and notice the air as it travels up your nose and feel your lungs expand. Experience this without story and without judgement.  Notice how your skin feels, how your mouth tastes, listen to your heart beat, hear the sounds outside of your body, notice your environment and return to your breath and the beating of your heart. Remain in this mindful state for as long as you can and notice your thoughts.  Just notice and return to the state of mindfulness.

This can be practised anywhere and whenever you remember to.  With daily practice you will return here often and build the resilience to deal with any challenges that life throws at you. The more you practise mindfulness the calmer and more resilient you become.

 Practise daily meditation. 

Daily meditation to build mental resilience. There are many ways to meditate. Sit still and focus on an external object like a candle flame and when the thoughts arise observe them without judgement and let them float away as you return again to the flame of the candle. The object of focus does not have to be external you can imagine a shape and hold this object in your mind’s eye, focus on this and let any thoughts float away.  Sometimes a simple sound like “shshsh”  said aloud or in your mind can gently quieten the internal chatter.

You don’t have to sit still to meditate. Any activity that needs concentration will bring you to a state of meditation and silence the chatter.  Popular meditative activities include yoga, tai chi, painting, walking, running, dancing, singing, drumming and gardening.

Be aware of your emotions.

How to Be MindfulWhere is the emotion in the body?An emotion is experienced as a feeling that can be felt in the body. Learn to be curious about your feelings.  Where is the feeling in the body?  What happens if you move it to a different part of the body?  For instance if you feel it in the stomach move it up to the chest or vice a versa.  How does the emotion change?

How is it moving?  A feeling must be moving for you to feel it.  Is it sinking down or rising up?  Is it turning?  If so which way – clockwise or anti clockwise?  What happens if you slow the movement down or speed it up. What happens to the emotion if you you reverse the movement? Interesting how much control we actually have over our emotions.

What were you thinking? What were thoughts crossed your mind immediately before you noticed that your emotions had changed?  An emotion lasts for 90 seconds unless we feed it with a thought.  So think about something different and notice how your emotions change.

Emotions are a message.Listen to the message. What is it telling you?

If you and/or your team would like to build resilience we can provide 1-2-1 or group coaching.  Call us on 2020 8740 8802 .

Look down on the situation. 

Rise up or disassociate.   Imagine that you have grown Unknownwings and can rise up above the situation. Look down and observe what is happening.  You are the observer completely detached from the situation. Without judgment notice what is happening.  Look at the situation from many different perspectives.  Be curious and wonder how the situation is being perceived by others. Remain detached and gather up any new information learned from this.

Take a break.

Be kind to yourself and take lots of breaks.  Take a break to drink water, eat fresh wholesome food, walk in the park, move, stretch, sleep, hug, laugh and smile – release the feel good chemicals in the brain.

Be fully present in the moment.

Practising the above will bring you fully into the present moment.  We only ever have power in the moment that we are in.  When we feel anxious it is usually a sign that we are thinking about the future and worrying about things that may never happen. Acknowledge this without judgement and return to the present moment.  Notice where your thoughts are going and breath out and return to the present moment.

Developing resilience in leaders.

Tips and techniques to build mental resilience.  

Practise all or any of the above techniques to build your mental resilience.  Very soon you will notice that you achieve more and stress less. Resilience is a powerful leadership characteristic. Mental resilience will enable you to think clearly when faced with adversity, be more decisive and waste less time worrying.

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Phone 020 8740 8802 or email jackie@ignitingminds.org.uk  Click here to learn more about Igniting Minds.