Author: Judith Plastow

Being resilient comes with macho connotations of mental toughness, of refusing to be beaten in challenging times. However, the reality is it’s much more about having a more nurturing attitude to ourselves, recognising and celebrating our own abilities but knowing when to slow down if we need to. It’s about having the self-compassion to acknowledge … Continue reading Summary: Resilience and Building a More Positive Relationship with Ourselves (Series 3)

As we all know our physical and mental health are closely connected. We all recognise the importance of looking after ourselves, but it’s all too easy to let things slip and even more so in times of stress. Whilst the bullets listed probably won’t be surprise anyone, the importance of each can’t be underestimated in … Continue reading Building Resilience: Suggestions on what we could be ‘Doing’ (Series 3)

Focussing on changing our mind-set can make a real difference. This can be achieved by becoming much more aware of what we think and how we respond to different situations and taking active steps to change this. Ways to do this have been introduced in very different settings – the Penn Resiliency Programme in schools … Continue reading Building Resilience: Suggestions on more helpful ways of ‘Thinking’ (Series 3)

There has been much written on stress as the scourge of our modern age. Unfortunately there is no one magic bullet to build resilience: different things will work for different people. It’s worth trying several things and in combination to see what is best for you, also bearing in mind this may change over time. … Continue reading So how can we build resilience? (Series 3)

The word ‘resilience’ comes from the Latin meaning to jump (salire) back (re).  These days it is often talked about in relation to stress management but there is a subtle difference between the two. Resilience is the more proactive focusing on building personal defences against setbacks experienced professionally or personally.  These defences enable us to … Continue reading What is resilience and what does it really mean? (Series 3)