10 Mindfulness Exercises for the Health Care Workplace

(Article)

For the busy health care worker, it’s not always easy to prioritize self-care. But the ability to pause and reset one’s focus is almost essential. Studies associate mindfulness — that is, the act of paying deliberate attention to the present moment, with an attitude of non-judgment, acceptance, and awareness — with improvements in empathy, cognitive performance, and health and well-being. This article offers 10 exercises to begin incorporating mindfulness into your daily life. Each exercise is quick and can be done at work throughout the day.

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Resilience Is About How You Recharge, Not How You Endure

(Article)

LEADS Domain: Lead Self

Many of us struggle with being overworked and overwhelmed. This article talks about the importance of regular recovery periods to build our resilience. The lack of recovery periods - and misunderstanding what recovery periods really are - dramatically reduce our ability to be resilient and successful. The article points out that rest and recovery are not the same thing and that stopping does not equal recovering. The article shares strategies on how to build your resilience.

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The 5 Best Ways to Build Resiliency

LEADS Domains: Lead Self

There are countless stories of individuals that survived and even thrived after enduring tragic events. But where does this kind of resiliency come from? And why don’t more of us have it? That is a question that has kept researchers busy for decades. Why is it, they’ve wondered, that some people seem to bounce back from traumas with relative ease — even thriving after negative events — while others crack and crumble? This article turns to top researchers to find and share the five most powerful ways to go about building your resilience.

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5 Ways to Boost Your Resilience at Work

(Article)

LEADS Domains: Lead Self

Currently, a quarter of all employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The World Health Organization describes stress as the “global health epidemic of the 21st century” making resilience more important than ever. More than five decades of research point to the fact that resilience is built by attitudes, behaviors and social supports that can be adopted and cultivated by anyone. Factors that lead to resilience include optimism; the ability to stay balanced and manage strong or difficult emotions; a sense of safety and a strong social support system. The good news is that because there is a concrete set of behaviors and skills associated with resilience, you can learn to be more resilient. This article offers five strategies for building your resilience at work.

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How to Give to Others without Burning Out

LEADS Domains: Lead Self

In our over-stressed world, many health care providers, social workers, and caregivers are suffering from slow yet painful burnout. Many of the rest of us, working long hours and raising families, seem to be approaching burnout, too. Sometimes we may feel that we’re too exhausted to keep giving to others, even though giving is a primary source of happiness in our lives. So how can we keep giving without burning out? We’re told that self-care is the answer: Give yourself a treat; you deserve it. Take some time for yourself. Say no. As it turns out, the trick is to be other-focused and kind, but to balance that with taking care of yourself as well. This article offers some practices to help you do that.

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Make A Gratitude Adjustment

(Article)

Feeling grateful is one key to happiness, so count your blessings for a boost. Making a daily habit of saying “thank you” has many emotional and physical benefits including lowering stress, improving sleep and increasing your energy. When you focus on what you have as opposed to what you don’t have and begin appreciating even the little things, your self-esteem is bolstered, emotional healing is enhance, and you gain a greater sense of connectedness to the world.

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Managing Workplace Stress

(Article)

Work overload, high demands, and low control often result in unfulfilled goals. Translation: stress. And since most of the time we cannot change these stressors, such as an emergency meeting called by a client or boss, it is essential to learn how to manage the way we respond to workplace stress. These three proactive stress busters are essential tools in a stress management toolbox.

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Just One Thing: Grow a Key Inner Strength

(Article)

To deal life's challenges, we need resources. Rick Hanson explains how to find the resources that lie inside yourself. This article offers a basic road map for how to deal with issues—for healing, well-being and effectiveness, and personal growth.

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Ways to Relieve Stress

(Article)

The best way to manage your stress is to learn healthy coping strategies. This article includes stress-relief techniques focused on relaxing your mind and your body. You can start practicing them right away. Try one or two until you find a few that work for you. Practice these techniques until they become habits you turn to when you feel stress.

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Change Fatigue at Work - Four Ways to Foster Personal Resilience

(Article)

In order to stay relevant and successful, many organizations are faced with constant change and the need for innovation. One of the challenges with perpetual change is that it has become increasingly difficult to keep people motivated and productive. Companies large and small are finding that “resilience” has become a critical career skill. The question becomes: how can individuals be more resilient and how the organization can be adaptable. This article offers four ways to increase personal resilience.

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How to Transform Stress into Courage and Connection

Stress doesn't always lead to fight-or-flight, says Kelly McGonigal. It can also activate brain systems that help you connect with other people. Recent research shows that tending and befriending is a common response to stress and acts as a catalyst for courage and connection.

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Reframing

LEADS Domains: Lead Self

Reframing involves changing your perspective on a situation to give it a more positive or beneficial meaning to you. While the process is simple it may not be easy. This tool offers concrete strategies to help you reframe a negative thought and replace it with a positive one.

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Personal Power Grid

LEADS Domains: Lead Self

The Personal Power Grid gives us a framework to assess situations based on the control we have and the actions we take. The Grid enables us to choose where to focus our attention and expend our energy. It’s a valuable tool when people are focused on the negative or are feeling disempowered and want a tool to help them proceed in a constructive way.

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Identifying Your Values

LEADS Domains: Lead Self

You are able to enhance your resilience by clarifying your values and striving to live in alignment with them. Your values are the inner rules (standards, principles) you use to make choices and to run your life. By selecting and prioritizing your most important values, you have a greater sense of stability even during times of change. This tool helps you identify your most important values and gets you thinking about how you can demonstrate them despite challenges.

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First Step in Reducing Your Stress

(Tool)

The first step in creating a plan to manage your stress is being aware of your stress patterns. If you have not paid attention to them, begin to track the times you feel stressed. This tracking tool helps you record: when you feel stress, what triggers it, your response, the coping strategies you used, and if those strategies were effective. With this information, you are better able to identify which strategies to use in response to stress in the future.

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