Determine where you are experiencing stress, trauma or loss and how it has impacted you? Emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually? It is important to understand where you need to focus your awareness, your effort and your action to create resilience. Be aware of the strengths in your values, skills and interests to recognize and assess opportunities for change and growth as you move through the ‘Create Resilience’ process.
Assess is a crucial step in the ‘Create Resilience’ process, so take as much time as you need in your self-evaluation. It requires complete honesty, introspection and often solitude (suitably enabled by nature) to compile a self-inventory of your psyche’s impediments: e.g. fear, guilt, anger, shame, hate, low self-esteem, loneliness, hopelessness, distrust, disbelief, etc. and your physical health: e.g. illness, injuries, sleep habits, eating habits, physical activity, alcohol or drug consumption, stress management and social engagement habits.
It is important to understand how deep (e.g. single or multiple loss experiences) and broad (e.g. emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual) misfortune has impeded your ability to live a joyful life. This knowledge will ensure the remaining ‘Create Resilience’ steps can appropriately and sufficiently focus to mitigate and overcome your difficulty thereby fostering resilience.
Lastly, assess and document your values, feelings, fears, including a skills and interests strengths. You will use these strengths to help you recognize and assess whether a potential opportunity for growth will actually fit with your life’s purpose (i.e. where you love life fully by living this) and values (e.g. gratitude, forgiveness, justice, compassion, etc.) in the long run. The strengths inventory should include the things you value most, that is things you would donate money to or volunteer for (e.g. environment, nature, charity, sports, career development, etc.) and skills and interests, that is things you are good at, enjoy or could easily learn, (e.g. communicating, organizing, gardening, cycling, etc.).
Refer to and refine your assessment results often as you complete the next six steps of the ‘Create Resilience’ process.
Alternatively you may want to engage the services of a LIFE COACH to complete professional profile assessments that will better help to affirm all your strengths and areas of improvement. This process includes identifying areas of your conscious and subconscious to improve and completes with new beliefs, prioritization of your goals and how to measure your return on investment.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” – Reinhold Niebuhr
Resilience for Joyful Living 