Resilient Wednesday Weekly Memo

My friend Facebooked a new picture of her 9-year-old daughter, Katie with a clarinet in her hand announcing that she was taking on a new challenge in the musical world. Along with her extracurricular activities in Tae-Kwon-Do, computer programming, robotics, and playing with her dog, this youngster has a constant smile on her face especially […]

We’re concluding our summer holiday in Amsterdam after a wonderful two weeks exploring the Rhine River. One of my observations about my own resilience is that it usually takes me about 4-5 days to really unwind and get into full relaxation mode which means I am not thinking about my regular life. This aspect of

We are on holiday in Europe and during a lake cruise in Lucerne, on our way to the top of Mt. Rigi, we started chatting with a Brit who has become a Swiss citizen. Sitting with his little 7-year-old daughter in his lap, he told us that he thought Switzerland had the finest quality of

Several years ago I was at the library looking for a book to check out when I noticed one written by Texas journalist Tim Madigan. I knew Tim from my time in Fort Worth, so I was intrigued. After picking it off the shelf, I saw that it was the story of his 8-year relationship

My friend Pam returned home from the beach late at night and immediately went outside to water her garden. Starting the sprinkler she returned inside to unpack and take care of other details. Soon she headed off to bed exhausted after the long drive home. At 6 AM she awoke with an “oh no” realization

While life may throw her share of stress and challenges our way we also do a fine job of creating more adversity in our own lives than may be necessary. In meeting with some business-coaching clients this past week I heard things like “I’ve really have to attend all those meetings. I’m the only one

Are you a morning exerciser or evening exerciser? In The Resilience Advantage I point out that, in many situations, people who exercise in the morning do so to get an extra burst of energy going for their day while folks who exercise in the evening often do so to blow off steam after a stressful

When we like to talk about skills associated with building resilience—creating the right mindset, building body wisdom, connecting with community, for many of us creating hope is often a default to dealing with our sometimes unbelievable challenges and adversities. This past Sunday, I attended a prayer vigil at Freedom Corner up in Pittsburgh’s Hill District.

It is much easier to be resilient to your big and small challenges if you have a little bit saved up in your resilience bank account. Like a rainy day fund that you might use to help pay for a car repair or for that extra vacation, having some assets (whether they be financial, intellectual

My first mistake of the day was to forget to take our puppy Cody out for a last pee before I put him to bed at 12:15 AM earlier today. He decided, instead, that it would be better to pee on the carpet in front of his crate than on the carpet in his crate.