Category » Applied Philosophy & Psychology
In recent SMART Recovery meetings, two states of being were thrown into the ring: being sober versus being in recovery. As the illustration above indicates, sobriety alone, often referred to as “white-knuckling it” (i.e., hanging on for dear life), is sheer desperation. Recovery, when fully embraced, is a full colour, values-based, outward-reaching life of well-spirited […]
Last week’s post concluded the list of seven factors of resilience culled from Gonzales (2012), Barker (2020) and Rodin (2020) shaping up as follows: Accept the harsh reality and prepare to deal with it. Moderate expectations and efforts through self-discipline. Undertake a rigorously honest but positive resource assessment. Game it, turn it positive, and relax. […]
Sir Winston Churchill suffered childhood neglect, depression, and frequent financial reversals yet he soldiered on to become the current Queen’s favourite prime minister (and advisor), a great writer, and arguably the single human being most responsible for winning WWII for the Allies. Apparently, after each adversity, he would say, “Keep buggering on.” I believe Churchill […]
All three lists, from which I’m synthesizing these seven factors of resilience, included at least one of meaning, beauty, and narrative. None were included as aesthetic afterthoughts but as tools for building and using resilience. The Dying Gaul (pictured above) was introduced to me by Professor Pierre du Prey in 1979, Queen’s University, with a […]
Tenacious Action—the ability to focus, direct, and sustain effort is the climax of the resilience story. All other steps are for nothing unless the result is strategic and tenacious action. That claim dredges up assumptions, some of which people have discussed in SMART recovery meetings. The first is the idea of human paths as vectors. […]
This series of blogs began with a goal. Via books, my inbox, and social media, three lists appeared. Each list claimed to have the critical steps for building or practicing resilience. The goal: synthesize those steps into (seven) sometimes repeating exercises, to make resilience more accessible for those wanting to increase the presence of this […]
The third factor, in building resilience, is a rigorously honest but positive resource assessment.
In Stoicism, from which Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is derived, there are four virtues. The first is moderation or self-control. In Eric Barker’s blogged example of the usefulness of resilience, he described an elite U.S. Marine, part of the BUD/S (Seals) in a predicament deep underwater, entangled in chains, with an explosive device in his […]
Last month, via blogs and LinkedIn posts, two lists of attributes concerning resilience, came my way. The first was from Dr. Judith Rodin and the second from Eric Barker. I am grateful for both lists and for the good will behind sharing these during the pandemic. As one of hundreds of facilitators of SMART Recovery […]
Since the lockdown, many of you have raised boredom, scheduling, and interrupted routines as factors messing with your recovery. In my own quest to know the basics of the Western canon, I recently began reading Montaigne, a French aristocrat who retired to his estates, four-hundred-years ago, where he ended his life writing. And guess what? […]