b'Life with MSPlanning forResilienceBy Carol Lewis Resilience is a concept that can be appliedto virtually everything, including ourselves, thegroups we belong to, and our communities.Resilience means being strong and stable, aswell as being exible and able to bounce backfrom adversity. It is bending, but not breaking, In body (physical resilience): How is the body?under stress.Are you doing all you can to be the healthiestThink of a palm tree that is exible and you can be, even with physical challenges? able to sway with the wind. After a storm, it Work on optimizing your physical healthreturns to its original shape, though perhaps within the guidelines appropriate for you.a little more windblown. Much like the palm Befriend the body. Address sleep, diet or eatingtree, we can cultivate resilience throughout issues, and physical activity. You might join anour lives. This is true no matter what issues exercise class thats right for you. A mindfulwe are dealing with or encounter. movement class like yoga, Tai Chi, or Qi GongA Plan for Resilience has the benets of developing mental andFactors that make us more resilient can emotional resilience as well as physicaleither be skills we use to regulate ourselves, resilience.oroutsideresources,suchassupportive In the emotions (emotional resilience): Whatfriends, activities, or group membership. The emotions do you nd yourself experiencingfour areas of awareness discussed in the often? Are these emotions interfering withprevious article can provide some structure you being your healthiest, most resilient self?for an examination of both current resilience Its important to be able to experience theskills and resources, and areas that need to whole range of emotions. But it is equallybe addressed. A resilience check-up and plan important to be able to manage (not control)can be done in each of the four areas. thoseemotionseffectively.CultivatingIn mind/thoughts (mental resilience): What mindfulness skills, or present momenthabits of thinking support your well-being? awareness, can help us have a healthyCultivate healthy coping thoughts, compassion relationship with our emotions, neither pushingtoward yourself and others, and gratitude. them away or being swept away by them. UsingMindfulnessandcontemplativepractices a gratitude diary also builds emotionalalso build mental resilience. resilience.msfocusmagazine.org 18'