Flexibility builds resilience and impacts everything that matters

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

- Maya Angelou

Flexibility builds resilience

and impacts everything that matters

What is resilience?

Being resilient doesn’t mean you won’t experience life’s stresses, traumas, or difficulties. Often when we move through considerable amounts of stress and uncomfortable moments, that is an opportunity for us to build resilience.

It is not a personality trait that only some hold and others do not. It is a repetition of behaviors, thoughts, and actions that are practiced and mastered when faced with life’s difficulties. It is an attitude that anyone can develop or learn. Consider resilience as a muscle, the more your exercise it, the stronger it gets.

There are 3 main types of resilience we can draw from as we move through our lives, to help us confront stressful situations with confidence in knowing that everything is going to be okay.

Inherent Resilience – this is an innate resilience you have when you are learning to grow and explore the world. This is usually developed at a young age like seven years old through play and learning to take risks.

Adapted Resilience – this type of resilience is built throughout our lives as we experience life's trials and tribulations. It is the courage to date again after a failed marriage or starting a whole new career after being let go from a company after 30 years.

Learned Resilience – this type of resilience is when you draw strength from your past challenges to develop tools and strategies to manage current stressful situations, it is the result of overcoming and moving forward from your hardships.

My experience building resilience

As a Kinesiologist, resilience trainer, and keynote speaker, it has become my passion to help people every day, to transform their mind, body, and life. When we can effectively embrace the changes that we all experience in our lives, without feeling exhausted, lost, and unwell. We can find the inner courage to transform to reach our fullest potential.

My work on resilience and flexibility has been inspired by my own experience and journey of transformation, learning how to walk again after an MS attack paralysed me at age 29 years old. I learned that flexibility in our mindset impacts everything that matters, such as:

- Our body’s ability to repair

- How happy and resilient we are

- How connected we feel

- The choices we will make

- How we show up in our lives

The Art of Bending Like Bamboo

When we are flexible, our ability to adapt and think clearly during difficult situations gives us the mental clarity to make focused and solution-focused decisions. With this mindset, we can let go of the past and old stories that no longer serve us anymore. We have the ability to move forward without feeling the full weight of a situation. As resilience builds up, we can lean into uncertainty with confidence, getting out of our comfort zone, where we will grow. This is the best environment to maximise repair, joy, and innovation.

I believe that we have two decisions when working with stressful situations; escape or elevate.

Escape: When we betray our inner voice and detach from guidance.

Elevate: When we overcome our obstacles and fears, we achieve lasting results and transformation.

Sometimes when we’re amid a hardship it can be difficult to think clearly because we’re stressed or angry. Understanding how resilience is built when we are in a state of calm and collectiveness, helps us to be better prepared

Mental Resilience : change the narrative

When writing, research suggests we’re forced to confront ideas one by one and give them structure, which may lead to new perspectives. This helps with changing our current thoughts and behaviors relating to past events and challenges.

Face your fears

With personal fears that affect our daily life like public speaking, heights, flying, etc, these fears need to be addressed in practical form. Slowly and repeatedly, I suggest exposing yourself to these fears in small doses and over time, once you have overcome the challenges you’ve set yourself, you will be able to take on the fear in a large proportionate. Starting with smaller changes translates to the bigger ones

Practice Self-compassion

Be mindful, remember you’re not alone, and be kind to yourself. If you find it difficult to initially practice self-compassion, try practicing it by thinking about how you would talk to a friend. Assess your struggle or challenge and consider it from a perspective as though you are helping a friend get through this. What advice would you give them? When we are kind, we are less stressed and more present. This mindset is our most creative one that fosters adaptability and change.

Meditate

Research has shown that a daily meditation practice lowers stress and allows us to think clearly when stressful times arise in our lives. When we quiet our mind with slow breathing and consciously thinking about the present moment, it helps reduce our tendency to ruminate about the past (depression) and future (anxiety). When we incorporate meditation into a daily practice it trains us to be more present, this gives us the tools to face stress with a more structured and deliberate focus instead of an overwhelmed one. This mindset shift can be the catalyst for execution and can be really empowering.
Check out more resources on meditation on my resources tab.

Journaling

Journaling can be a way to process our day, to empty our mind of yesterday’s thoughts old and redundant ideas, closing the tabs in the mind. It is an opportunity to set up our intention to focus on what we want, helping us to make things happen for ourselves. Learn more about the Bend Like Bamboo journal here.

Cultivate forgiveness

Many people think that forgiveness is about reconciling or forgetting about how someone has hurt them. But it is less about that and more about freeing your mind of a grudge. It allows you to release anger and cultivate empathy, positive emotions, and feelings of control.

If you struggle to practice forgiveness, give this 5-minute exercise a chance and see how it makes you feel and if it shifts your energy and focus. https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/letting_go_of_anger_through_compassion?_ga=2.87795288.176730072.1620974708-1862391774.1620803331

Physical resilience

Exercise

Are you moving your body daily? A movement program is a great way to build strength and endurance, promoting fitness and gut health. Movement is also another way to elevate our mindset and mood, boosting emotional resilience.

Nourish

Every meal is an opportunity to nourish yourself on a cellular level. Food is fuel and information to our cells, we rely on nutrients to function daily, but even more so to repair. When we eat better, we feel better, allowing us to be more adaptable and resilient. There are clever ways to make cooking at home fun, healthy and practical.

Do something that scares you every day!

This is a great way to get out of your comfort zone. How do you stretch your limits? Pushing yourself creates more energy, passion, and purpose. It also helps you to change your mind about what can be possible in your mind, body, and life. Optimising flexibility in our minds and bodies helps us to feel better prepared for the bigger challenges when they come. This gives our brain proof that good things do happen when we get out of our comfort zone, and it promotes neuroplasticity.

Why you should focus on building resilience.

We have all experienced a stressed, fatigued and negative mindset. A state that causes us to feel easily overwhelmed, triggered, taking on the full weight of a situation on our shoulders, making it difficult for us to navigate solutions. As opposed to feeling calm, joyful, and positive. When we can feel possibility within ourselves, our world truly opens up. I hope you enjoy this month’s blog on resilience, with additional tools to help you to feel more resilient. It is important to believe in yourself so that you are able to face the more difficult times that can arise from change.

What we believe is what matters, and with a flexible mindset, we can overcome any obstacle and discover what we are made of.

If you want to dive a little deeper into practicing and learning about resilience, you can download my Bend Like Bamboo online resilience course here: https://bendlikebamboo.teachable.com/p/resilience

If you’d like me to facilitate a workplace wellness workshop on resilience you can check out all the info here: https://www.amandacampbell.com.au/workplace-program

“When you eat better, you will feel better”

Amanda Campbell

Work with Amanda

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