• Wellness Initiative Vision
• Wellness Message from President Hrabowski
• Ways to Create a Healthy Environment
• Wellness Initiative Collaboration Team
• Success Stories
• Wellness News

• Take a Break!
• Practices for Cultivating Healthy Relationships
• Wellness Tips/Articles
• Wellness Links
• Videos

« June 2014: “Lessons in Recalculation from our GPS” | Main | August 2014: “Suspend Your Desire to Fix” »

July 2014: “Create Resilient Relationships”

Resilience is a trend that is getting a lot of attention these days. Resilience is the ability to positively adapt to or rebound from adversity or creatively manage ongoing stressful situations. We think of resilience as an individual capacity but it is also needed in relationships. Whether we are talking about personal or work relationships, all relationships experience adversity in many forms. Having a general awareness about our collective ability to adapt and rebound to stress is important. In looking at some of the research on resilience, several core concepts emerge around creating a resilient mindset: 1) the belief in your ability to act; 2) an ability to see the situation clearly; 3) an understanding that setbacks are temporary; 4) seeing the opportunity or gift of the setback; 5) shifting negative beliefs; and 6) the ability to skillfully respond instead of react. Intentionally practicing any one of these with your partner can help enhance your relationship’s resilience.

During the next month, when adversity arises in your relationship, invite a conversation with your partner around one or more of these concepts. You might want to consider using the above concepts to structure the conversation. Regardless of how you use them, pay attention to how having this conversation shifts your experience of the adversity and deepens your relationship as a result.

Posted on July 7, 2014 8:31 AM Permalink