How To Be More Resilient – Lunch & Learn with Tamara Childs

Tamara kicked off the session with a mindfulness exercise to get everyone in a relaxed and focused space. She even shared an amazing resource with the team from Palouse Mindfulness. 

Below are the FIVE top takeaways from Tamara’s very impactful webinar.

 

MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness is simply being here and now. It’s the experience of getting outside of our ‘thinking and feeling’ brains and getting into our ‘noticing’ brains. Mindfulness practice is fantastic in helping us calm down our amygdala. The amygdala is responsible for activating our sympathetic nervous system—our fight, flight or flee system that we spend way too much time in.

A simple and effective way to calm down the amygdala is with mindful breathing, like with the easy practice below.

Mindfulness Breathing Practice: 

1. Breathe in for 4 seconds
2. Holding breath for 2 seconds
3. Exhale for 6 seconds
4. Holding for 2 seconds 
5. Repeat

 

HOPE

Hope is the substance that helps us to wake up and face the day with a smile on our face and go forward. 

Hope has a couple main ingredients:

• Belief that You Can Cope: I’ll be okay no matter what the future brings.
• Optimism: Seeing uncertainty as an opportunity for success; “Good things and new opportunities are ahead!”

Anxiety and despair can create tunnel vision, so instead, use your mind to incorporate a complete picture of truth to help nurture hope. 

Use this strengths-based framework below to foster hope and weed out anxiety and despair: When it comes to the past… recall past successes and times you overcame challenges.
At present… balance accomplishment and rest—lean into the discomfort.
And for the future… Engage your sense of wonder!

 

SOCIAL CONNECTION

Humans are pack animals. Togetherness is essential for each one of us to feel safe and connected.

We all desire to be seen, heard, and feel a sense of belonging. So, it’s important to consider the following questions: 

1. Who do you want to have in the front seat of your life?
2. Who do you trust and thus are willing to be vulnerable with?
3. How can you build and nurture social connection and belonging in your life?

Random Acts of Kindness

Nothing fosters social connection better than being kind to others. Think about how you can be kind and selfless by performing a random act of kindness for someone.

Random acts of kindness (or RAKs) have been scientifically proven to improve mood and the sense of well-being.

Unsure of how to be kind? What gifts do you have that you’d enjoy bestowing upon others? You could…

• have people over and be hospitable
• share your skills and abilities
• lend a listening ear
• give a much-needed hug

 

VIGOROUS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY