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Grit Grit is defined as "unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger" (Merriam-Webster). Within myself and those around me there seems to be a vast amount of sense of hardship and danger related to the upheaval in the US Government and facing physical health challenges. Both of these situations present challenges on how to maintain a sense of strength and hope. With those two challenges in mind, I personally felt inspired by three statements:
Page 80: "When your options are very limited, look for the little things you can do, and focus on the feeling of agency regarding them." Page 80: "The more powerful the forces bearing down on a person, the more important it is to find ways to experience some sense, any sense of agency. If we can't exercise agency "out there" with words or deeds, we can usually make choices "in here", inside the mind." Page 81: "There are so many things in life for which all we can do is tend to the causes, but we cannot force the results." Summary of Resilient: Grit When knocked down by a difficult event, Rick Hanson says "the first thing you draw on to get up off the floor" is agency. He speaks of how to move from powerlessness/helplessness to a sense of the ability to be an active agent in your life. The above quotes direct us to consider and address the causes and when no other action is possible look at changes possible within your mindset. Rick links the ability to have grit to four qualities. He encourages the use of HEAL to build skills and confidence related to resolve, patience, persistence, and fierceness. He also observes the impact of vitality on our ability to maintain grit. He notes that the perspectives and moods of adults are highly influenced by pleasure and pain, energy and fatigue, and health and illness. I have certainly found this to be true. To move towards a deeper sense of vitality, Rick asks us to consider increasing our feelings of acceptance and appreciation towards our body. We face fewer hurtles to overcome with that state of mind as we set and act on small actions to take to care for our bodies and energy, And as our bodies thrive so will our sense of tenacious grit in the face of life. Resilient: How to grow an unshakable core of calm, strength, and happiness by Rick Hanson, Ph.D. with Forrest Hanson, copyright 2018 Chapter 4, pages 77-93 Comments are closed.
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