4 steps for cultivating resilience

Resilience isn’t always about overcoming trauma or tragedy. Hardships come in various forms: a lack of motivation, a job loss, aging parents, a difficult colleague or a goal that seems forever out of reach. Here’s how Lisa Lisson learned to defeat obstacl

1 GET RID OF NEGATIVITY

Lisa was positive from the get-go. The night of Patrick’s heart attack, it took 45 minutes for first responders to get a pulse. By the time he got to the hospital, she was told it didn’t look good. But she remained positive, believing he’d pull through. Channelling positivity allowed Lisa to keep a clear mind, consider the choices before her and make the best decisions for Patrick and her family.

2 LEARN TO COMPARTMENTALIZE

“When I left the hospital, I trained my mind to put whatever happened while I was visiting Patrick aside. I moved it into its own compartment and told myself, ‘Now I’m going to be with my kids’ or ‘Now I’m going to meet a friend for wine,’ ” says Lisa. “You need to park it in the back of your mind, not carry any guilt and allow yourself to move on and come back to it when you need to.”

3 LIVE IN 24-HOUR INCREMENTS

“Thinking about the past and worrying about the future was robbing me of the beauty around me,” says Lisa. So she practised being in the moment and coached herself to leave the past behind her and not to get too caught up in what the future might hold. Living in 24-hour increments will ground you and keep you from feeling overwhelmed.

4 FEEL GRATITUDE

Looking for silver linings builds resilience. “I had to find the positives,” says Lisa. “What happened was terrible, but what if Patrick had the heart attack while driving with the kids in the car? I could’ve been a widow and lost all my children.” Instead of focusing on what’s been taken away from you, be thankful for what you have.