Resilience & Post-Traumatic Growth

Resilience is an ability to recover from difficulties—ideally relatively quickly! Research into neurobiology points to the idea that we would all be better off if we cultivate our own resilience regularly—even when we are not in a pandemic. The pandemic has definitely increased our experiences of both trauma and stress states, making cultivation of resilience even more important. 

Resilience is not “pushing through”—it is more about expanding ourselves and our capacity to get out of stress, trauma, and moral distress states as quickly and easily as we can.  Because 60% of our qualities are learned—not genetic—resilience is a capacity that can be cultivated.  

Cultivating Resilient States

Our bodies contract and tighten when we “push through” and they are in more ease when we are practicing resilience.  If we cultivate resilient states, we can then have more resilient traits, which are more enduring. 

Stress, trauma, and moral distress all affect where we can put our attention. The brain’s negativity bias results in getting stuck more easily in stress and trauma states, as well as negative beliefs. This means that we have to be deliberate in trying to move our attention, which is part of mindfulness. Learning to control where we put our focus goes a long way in supporting resilience as it is part of state-dependent neuroplasticity to learn to shift focus from the loops of “what is wrong” and to practices of resilience.  When we are intentional about where we focus our attention, it is a type of mindfulness.  We are literally creating new neural pathways, which can become our new and more resilient default response. This is an outcome of mindfulness training.  https://www.mindsightinstitute.com

In order to change our neurobiology, it is important to know how the that the brain learns best. “Little and often” supports brain change.  It takes 10-20 seconds of experiencing a pleasant sensation to turn off the amygdala, which is the smoke detector in our brain, alerting us to danger. So, this means taking 10-20 seconds as many times a day as we can will make a difference to our nervous system being able to calm and move into a state of more ease.  200 seconds a day—20 seconds 10x/day—is doable for most of us to help ourselves.  Over time, this can cultivate the experience of developing a resilient trait. https://www.rickhanson.net. This can lay the foundation for post-traumatic growth. 

Post-Traumatic Growth 

Post-Traumatic Growth is a new field that comes from the research that people can actually expand and grow from trauma, even when it initially seems to upend their lives.  They transform, using the trauma experience as a portal into post-traumatic growth. The transformation is connected to five domains: improved relationships, openness to new opportunities, increased sense of one’s strength, a deepened sense of spiritual connection, improved or greater appreciation of life and finding meaning or purpose after the trauma. https://ptgi.uncc.edu/what-is-ptg/

The trauma is not something the person would wish for, but it is about making the decision to grow, despite the challenge.  When people have post-traumatic growth, one of the hallmarks is the ability to really take in the goodness of life, even with the trauma.  This requires acceptance of what is happening.  And gratitude, awe, self-compassion, mindfulness, and deeper connections (by taking more risks and being more vulnerable) are ways to support this concept. This might simply look like saying to yourself “I am determined to get through this and grow, despite how hard this feels right now.”

This commitment to whole-hearted living can support you in living more fully and making changes in your life that result in post-traumatic thriving.