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Conversations on Practices for Recovering Resilience

Conversations on Practices for Recovering Resilience

In this series of conversations, you will learn practices that help leading experts in resilience and well-being recover their own resilience.

Learn more tools to strengthen resilience in Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty and Even Disaster.

Learn from Dr. Jonah Paquette how remembering what really matters can turn even the darkest times into real gifts.

Dr. Jonah Paquette, clinical psychologist, author of Real Happiness and The Happiness Toolbox, national trainer in positive psychology, mental health, happiness and well-being.

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Learn from Dr. Chris Germer how mindful self-compassion helps us both care for and comfort ourselves when we’re knocked down by life, but also helps us get back on the horse and ride.

Chris Germer, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the co-developer of the Mindful Self-Compassion protocol, and author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion and co-author of The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strengths, and Thrive.

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Learn from Ron Siegel to steady our awareness can help us bounce back by moving out of anger and blame and not taking things so personally.  Here’s a practice for steadying awareness from the book Resilience.

Dr. Ron Siegel is a clinical psychologist, an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, and an internationally known meditation teacher. He is the author of The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems; Mindfulness and Psychotherapy; andWisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy.

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As we learn in this interview with Tara Brach, when we bring loving kindness to all aspects of ourselves, we wake up and come back to our inner resources, our larger consciousness, our larger beingness. 

Tara Brach, PhD, is an internationally known meditation teacher and author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge. She is founding teacher of Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. and offers podcasts teaching the value of meditation in relieving emotional suffering, serving spiritual awakening and bringing healing to the world.

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As we learn in this interview with Laura Markham, parents need to be able to shift their own inner states of reactivity in order to re-connect and empathize with their child’s (or anyone’s) emotional reactivity. 

Dr. Laura Markham, PhD, is the author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids; Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings; and The Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids Workbook. She is a nationally recognized expert on parenting, helping parents develop the tools and skills they need to connect, emotion-coach and be fully present with their children. 

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We learned in this interview with Natalie Bell, re-centering ourselves, finding safety and comfort in nature, can be a powerful resource when things fall apart.

Natalie Bell is the founder of Mindful Wellness. She teaches mindfulness and mindful self-compassion in the Los Angeles area; she offers corporate trainings in mindfulness nationally, and the Power of Compassion program online. 

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We learn in this interview with Dr. Elisha Goldstein, resilience is not a noun, something to achieve, but a verb, something to live. 

Elisha Goldstein, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, co-founder of the Center for Mindful Living in Los Angeles and creator of the online Course in Mindful Living. He is the author of The Now Effect: How This Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life.

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We learn in this interview with David Richo, we can learn to befriend inner parts of the self that have experienced grief or hurt and re-integrate them into the larger, wiser, whole adult self.

David Richo, PhD, is a psychotherapist and author of more than 20 books, including How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Living and The Five Things We Cannot Change and the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them.

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In this interview with Dr. Christine Carter, we can plan ahead, we can build resources ahead of time, so that we’re not surprised by something going wrong; we’re skillful.

Christine Carter, PhD, is a sociologist and Senior Fellow at U.C. Berkeley’ Greater Good Science Center; she is the author of The Sweet Spot: How to Achieve More by Doing Less and Raising Happiness..

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In this conversation with Sylvia Boorstein, we learned to apply the practice of “may I meet this moment fully; may I meet it as a friend” to moments both mundane and profound, when we’re in pain, or disappointed, or feeling like we’re making a mess of things. 

Sylvia Boorstein, PhD, is an internationally recognized and revered teacher of mindfulness and co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. She is the author of Solid Ground: Buddhist Wisdom for Difficult Times and Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There.

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In this conversation with Ron Frederick, engaging with and listening to our emotions can guide our choices of how resiliently we respond to life events, to other people, to ourselves.  Here’s an exercise from Resilience that helps us better attune to and convey the most basic of emotions: anger, fear, joy, sadness, even disgust.

Ron Frederick, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, author of Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want, and co-founder of the Center for Courageous Living in Los Angeles.

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In this interview with Deb Dana, a deliberate sigh can help re-set the nervous system.  Here’s an exercise from Resilience in using a sigh to return the nervous system to a state that is calm, present, positive, and resilient.

Deb Dana, LCSW, is a clinical social worker and trauma specialist, author of The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation and creator of the Rhythm of Regulation clinical training series.

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In this interview with Dr. Richard Miller, we can find a moment of refuge or sanctuary that taps us into our own well-being as an inner resource for our resilience. Here’s an exercise from Resilience to find that moment of refuge.

Richard Miller, PhD, is the founding president of the iRest Institute and co-founder of the International Association of Yoga Therapy. He is the author of Yoga Nidra, iRest Meditation, and The iRest Program for Healing PTSD.

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In this interview with Michelle Gale, connecting with others in friendship and community helps us recover the emotional equilibrium that supports our resilience.  Here’s an exercise from Resilience that deepens that connection, and thus helps us experience and claim our own resilience.

Michelle Gale is the author of Mindful Parenting in a Messy World and, as a parent, corporate trainer and organizational consultant, focuses on the power of presence and living with intention.

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In this interview with Daniel Ellenberg, we strengthen our resilience when we find our courage to turn inward and accept all parts of ourselves, even those parts that feel the pain of loss and injury.  Here’s an exercise from Resilience in Shifting Mindsets to stop “bad-i-fying” or “small-i-fying” yourself and claim your courage to cope.

Daniel Ellenberg, PhD, Daniel is a psychotherapist and seminar leader in the San Francisco Bay Area, president of Relationships That Work and co-author of Lovers for Life: Creating Lasting Passion, Trust and True Partnerships.

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In this interview with Susan Kaiser Greenland, practicing a gratitude walk can be very helpful for people of all ages to re-frame difficult emotions or experiences and hold both the difficult and the good with balance and equanimity.  Here’s an exercise from Resilience that explores our gratitude beyond the personal to the larger “Web of Life.”

Susan Kaiser Greenland is the author or The Mindful Child and Mindful Games and developer of Inner Kids.

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In this interview with James Baraz, we can shift out of feeling stuck or overwhelmed by radically shifting our perspective.  Here’s an exercise from Resilience in “What Story Am I Believing Now?” that helps us create exactly that shift.

James Baraz is the co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, author of Awakening Joy and Awakening Joy for Kids, and the creator of the online course Awakening Joy.

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In this interview with Dr. Chris Willard, offering ourselves mindful self-care can be a crucial practice in recovering our resilience. Here’s an exercise from Resilience to offer ourselves that mindful self-care.

Dr. Chris Willard is a psychologist and educational consultant specializing in mindfulness; he leads workshops nationally and internationally and teaches at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of Growing Up Mindful and Raising Resilience and four other books on mindfulness.

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