Have you heard that it takes 5 positive interactions to neutralize one negative interaction?
I first heard of this concept in a leadership course. It turns out that this concept is also applied in couple therapies, parenting, classroom learning, and the self-help industry.
In the times that we are in, I wonder how many people are focusing on increasing positive interactions and how many are just trying to get through the day!
The increasing stress that individuals and the collective are experiencing keeps the fight-or-flight system to go into overdrive, causing higher level of reactivity, anxiety, overwhelm, depression and so on.
In a recent study conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation, four in ten adults reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorders. This is a fourfold increase compared to early 2019. In the city where I live, a study from October 2020 reported that 8 out of 10 people experienced anxiety and stress, and 6 out of 10 people experienced depression and hopelessness.
Looking for the positives can be helpful in trying times. But when we do that mechanically, it is rather superficial as the heart doesn’t register the “positivity.” When we use positive thinking or other strategies to cover up the distress, it will catch up with us in time.
Being resilient helps us overcome adversities or recover from loss or trauma.
How well we are able to move through challenging times depends on how much reserve or resilience credit we have. If we don’t have enough reserve built up, continue to power our way through challenges will take a toll on the body, mind and spirit.
Building resilience credit is not only for the rainy days. When we keep building the reserve, our mental and emotional fields are less cluttered. As a result, we can see through situations when others cannot. This allows us to come up with new and creative ways to handle a variety of situations.
In these unprecedented times, being innovative and creative is a great skill to develop.
Creativity or innovative thinking is not something you can force into. It becomes more prominent when you develop the right internal conditions to allow what is already within you to emerge. Your mind, body, and spirit need to work together, not independently.
If you want to have clearer access to your intuition or untapped potential, cultivating resilience is also the key.
Unregulated stress responses cause blockages in your energy field, which distorts your interpretation of intuition or guidance. The inaccurate interpretation can lead you astray, causing you to make choices that lead to more detours.
Resilience is often interpreted as using our will power or strength to overcome adversities. Powering through is a partial interpretation. An orientation that is often overlooked is allowing.
When we stop fighting, controlling and resisting, it is amazing the brilliance that can come through. Essentially, we are getting out of our own way so that our spirits can be freed to express their genius.
To dive deeper into cultivating resilience, come to my free webinar next Wednesday, March 24 – The 3 Keys to Be Resilient that Will Change Your Life. It is time to stop reacting and start gaining greater access to your untapped potential.
Click here to register for the event – https://carmenlee.synduit.com/UMSW0020
This will be a fun and insightful experience. I look forward to the breakthroughs that will change your life.
Cheers,
Carmen